His instincts told him to be wary. Turns out that Rush Limbaugh's suspicions were well-founded.
On his radio broadcast Monday, the day after Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special on NBC, Limbaugh said SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels invited him on the show in the 1990s for a specific role -- to play Santa Claus.
But Michaels and one of his writers had something else in mind, Limbaugh said (audio) --
Did you watch the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary show? I didn't either, when I figured out that I hadn't been invited and I've never been, they wanted me on the show one time. And boy, I must tell you, I almost did it and had I done it, it would have been one of the biggest career mistakes I've ever made.
Lorne Michaels actually called me, this was back in the '90s, and he wanted me to come out and come out and play Santa Claus on their Christmas show. And I learned later that the whole thing was intended as a setup for Al Franken's book. He was still a writer there and an occasional performer and Lorne Michaels got on the phone and this was a pleasant conversation, I talked to him about what he wanted me to do -- we want you to be our Santa Claus. They didn't want me in a skit, they didn't want me as a guest host or co-host or whatever they're called. They just wanted me in there as a punching bag or whatever.
And my instincts, they've never steered me wrong, my instincts said don't do this.
Franken's book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations," was published in 1996, so the invitation from Michaels most likely came in late 1995, the same year liberals blamed Limbaugh for the Oklahoma City bombing. Expect to see this mythology regurgitated as the 20th anniversary of the bombing approaches in April, along with the left-wing delusion that Timothy McVeigh was a Christian extremist.
One thing about Saturday Night Live that hasn't changed much over the last four decades -- its default liberal politics. An executive with the show, quoted in the mid-80s book "Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live," aptly described it as "the post-Watergate victory party for the Woodstock generation."
But it's a satisfying irony that Michaels and Franken wanted Limbaugh to play Santa Claus when its their worldview that more closely aligns with that of the jolly elf.
In his trenchantly titled 1991 book "Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government," P.J. O'Rourke offered this timeless observation --
I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and this is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.
God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God's heavenly country club.
Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's non-threatening. He's always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who's been naughty and who's been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without thought of a quid pro quo. He works hard for charities, and he's famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.
