SNL does multitouch comedy to perfection with CNN's 'Magic Map'

Saturday Night LIve's Fred Armisen takes CNN's "Magic Map" to its logical -- and hilarious -- conclusion. What would happen if New Hampshire got moved down to Mexico? Two more pics after the break, and video hopefully coming soon.

Update: Country... we've got video.

[Erb @ Oct 24th 2008 12:27AM]

What would happen if New Hampshire got moved down to Mexico?

I'd be easier for them to hop the border, duh!

[Erb @ Oct 24th 2008 12:28AM]

It'd*

[NHAnimator @ Oct 24th 2008 8:07AM]

We'd have to change our license plates to read "Vivir libre o morir".

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 24th 2008 11:54AM]

Well once bush finishes his plans for a north american union we wont need to move NH.

This does explain how fox news created their election results on live TV during the bush-gore election stating that bush won before the counts were finished. You think they got their hands on an early prototype?

[waiownsyou @ Oct 24th 2008 12:29AM]

Oh just go watch the full episodes at http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/episodes/

[Yankees368 @ Oct 24th 2008 12:34AM]

You can't watch it, as it is not posted yet.

[racr @ Oct 24th 2008 1:38AM]

try this:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-freds-mapfix-it/784121/

[Tim @ Oct 24th 2008 12:31AM]

That was fucking hilarious. SNL's been fading of late, but they've made great use of this election. I thought the display was really impressive; Does it genuinely support multitouch, or is it just a well-timed video, i.e. iphone magic tricks? Either way, very funny. Minnesota IS very heavy, after all.

[kojo87 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:47AM]

i thought it was just well timed video until he scrambled all the states around. that looked pretty legit.

i think SNL got a lot better this season but you can probably give the election most of the credit for that. i know i'll keep watching

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Oct 24th 2008 1:42AM]

I was wondering that as I watched it the first time. Upon watching it the second time, I found that it would be extremely difficult to do the drawing of the cat with such perfect synchronization.

This was ripe for parody. This was ripe!

[bboston7 @ Oct 24th 2008 5:16AM]

It's real. We have them in my school. They are called smartboards. They plug into a computer and the projector and you can do whatever you want. They are like $2,000.

[Shannin @ Oct 24th 2008 8:03AM]

@bboston7:
what this board is is not the smartboards you have in you school, the one they are using is truely multi touch. Its the Perspective Pixel interactive media board. They are also about $100000 not $2000.

You can get more information here: http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

[Shannin @ Oct 24th 2008 8:04AM]

oops i made a mistake:
its perceptive pixel not perspective pixel

[JohnTitor @ Oct 24th 2008 12:35AM]

didn't watch the episode, but from the pics it looks like a Smartboard, not a microsoft Surface like the Magic Map

[Darak @ Oct 24th 2008 12:54AM]

MSNBC uses Microsoft Surface, CNN uses a board. That is the exact same board as CNN and the exact same software, which poses the question: How did SNL acquire better tech than MSNBC?

[martin @ Oct 24th 2008 1:13AM]

why is a smartboard better tech then surface? I'm not trying to be an ass I really want to know.

I always though that since smart boards are just projections then you can do some of the things that surface can (like put your cel phone on it and it "talks" to it).

[kojo87 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:47AM]

you'd think SNL would have access to MSNBC's tech since they are on NBC. and MSNBC has a Microsoft Surface probably because the MS in MSNBC stands for Microsoft.

[0megapart!cle @ Oct 24th 2008 3:18AM]

MSNBC has had no practical relationship to Microsoft for like, decades. Catch up man.

[Heshmati4 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:04AM]

You gotta love SNL!

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 24th 2008 2:56AM]

Actually, no, I hated SNL for the last 9 years or so.

They've FINALLY started picking their game back up and it's starting to make me laugh again.

But damn sure not like the 90s seasons did.

[Stanley @ Oct 24th 2008 1:07AM]

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-freds-mapfix-it/784121/

[Brant @ Oct 24th 2008 1:21AM]

I think they misspelled the company's name at the end of the show... they say "Perspective Pixel", instead of "Perceptive Pixel".

[rTwelve @ Oct 24th 2008 3:35AM]

maybe someone should FIX IT

[DJ SlipStream @ Oct 24th 2008 1:36AM]

All right, go Cleveland!!

[smi1ey @ Oct 24th 2008 1:36AM]

Holy cow that was freakin hilarious! Oh yeah, and I want one. :)

[andrew @ Oct 24th 2008 1:38AM]

Really quite funny. Good job gold star SNL. Too bad it's squandered every single thing about this election so far. Talk about missed opportunities... SNL is really on the slide.

[andrew @ Oct 24th 2008 1:43AM]

Too bad he didn't circle or throw out the states that weren't apart of the "real america"

[Eleazar @ Oct 24th 2008 1:55AM]

Funny and true at the same time, it looks like in general they were able to develop multitouch technology but still can't come up with something clever/useful other than the pinch thingy.

[Kory Twaites @ Oct 24th 2008 2:14AM]

EPIC!!!

[ManekiNeko @ Oct 24th 2008 2:47AM]

Is it me, or does that guy look like a slightly more nebbish Phil Hartman?

[David @ Oct 24th 2008 3:32AM]

LOL!!!
"Check out Michigan.. I can make it bounce."

[maniacprovost @ Oct 24th 2008 3:47AM]

Everyone else thought it was funny? Huh.

[Dan, London @ Oct 24th 2008 5:08AM]

Do you have to be American to find this funny? Just wondered, because I'm not American, and it came across as massively under-written, weak, and generally indicative of the feeble state of US "satire"; the "comedy headlines" at the start were pathetic.

[Zoroaster @ Oct 24th 2008 5:32AM]

You'd have to be a CNN watcher at least. John King is always just messing around with his magic map. And half the time it seems like he's just zooming around and making up hypotheticals as an excuse to indiscriminately change things. But yeah I agree that it still wasn't that funny. But you didn't have to get all dickish about it.

[cody @ Oct 24th 2008 10:26AM]

+1

american comedy has to be dumbed down for fear that people may not get t3h funny

[Dan, London @ Oct 24th 2008 5:45AM]

Sorry if I came across as "dickish"; just genuinely thought this was dead unfunny. But I expect you're right, that I'm watching it without the requisite background knowledge, as I've rarely/never seen CNN.

Once again, apologies for dickishness.

[Phonixfire @ Oct 24th 2008 6:39AM]

No need to apologise, I'm with you ;)

I smiled a little during the map-thing, but the rest was just... Ugh.

Seriously though, this is exactly what the people who tried to be funny in my 3rd Form English class (Year 10 - everyone was age 13-14) came up with during drama. It wasn't funny then either... Maybe I just don't get American humour, who knows... All I seem to be able to enjoy is South Park (well, and Flight of the Conchords obviously, but their British radio show was better =P).

[Squid7085 @ Oct 24th 2008 10:43AM]

Most Americans don't find British comedies funny either, although, that has changed a bit in recent years with some British comedies becoming American comedies. Both cultures have a completely different idea of what is funny, have you ever seen a stand up comic talk about going to perform in the UK or Europe, most of them tell about how different things we laughed at and some things that were riots in the states aren't even funny there. It has nothing to do with our comedy stuff being "Un-Funny," I am sure if we watched some of the things you find hilarious we wouldn't' find them that funny either. (Actually we might laugh, but thats at the accent. :-)

[Zoroaster @ Oct 24th 2008 11:21AM]

Don't worry about it. I think things seem more dickish at 3 in the morning. Because reading your comment now doesn't irk me at all. It was just the "feeble state of US satire" that got me. Like another commenter said, comedy is really variable with culture, so I don't think one should expect to "get" the comedy of another country. Even so I think satire is making a comeback in the US and we've got some quality stuff out there, this just isn't a good example of it.

[BJ is Gooder @ Oct 24th 2008 11:36AM]

I thought it was pretty funny - I think that different countries have different ideas of what's funny...

Benny Hill and Mr. Bean are probably the most unamusing 'comedians' I've ever seen.

[Dan, London @ Oct 24th 2008 7:38AM]

Glad someone agrees! And Flight of the Conchords isn't even American, so they can't claim that one either!

[absinthe party @ Oct 24th 2008 8:14AM]

Yeah, but we're stealing that shit right proper.

[Miles Burton @ Oct 24th 2008 8:15AM]

That is some serious funny fail. Does anyone think ANY of that program had even a drop of humor in it. I feel sorry for you guys if that's your saturday line-up....







...mind you, ours isn't much better....

[Derek @ Oct 24th 2008 8:25AM]

Spike Feresten has this just a few weeks ago. They STOLE this!

[Dallin @ Oct 24th 2008 8:36AM]

The screen used is not a smartboard. We have smartboards in my school also and they are very cheap and not very good. They also are not multi-touch. These screens are made by perceptive pixel, a fairly new multi-touch platform much like microsoft surface.

[hawk00 @ Oct 24th 2008 9:26AM]

i hate those things. the one school i worked at insisted on getting them for every teacher, who all used them as whiteboards to play movies on, woo! way to spend 3000$!

[jupiterthunder @ Oct 25th 2008 12:57AM]

@hawk000

School districts can be infamous for jumping on (purchasing) technology so they can say they pushing an initiative or meeting a goal, but failing to make it fully accessible or train teachers to use it beyond a rudimentary level. And not all teachers are inclined to learn on their own. There are just so many things demanding a good teacher's time that getting waist-deep in new tech doesn't reach the top of the priority list.

The flip side of that is the more prominently it is used the more outspoken voices you hear expressing how much of a waste it is.

[Juice5942 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:11PM]

Didn't they have one of these on the last episode of Mythbuster too?

[wud_e @ Oct 24th 2008 2:52PM]

These latest Weekend updates have been pretty funny for SNL. I can't stand the show, I'm a MadTV fanboy, but I have to say Starting with the Sarah Pailin skits and now these latest weekend updates they've been pretty funny. Fix it!

[jahedur @ Oct 24th 2008 6:26PM]

in british b love SNl watch it every week, and this was hilarious. "Look at Michigan, I can make it bounce!" classic