Posted Sunday, January 21, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
In a relatively under-baked skit that aired after Weekend Update last night, "Saturday Night Live" spoofed four of the 20 cities up for the running for Amazon's HQ2 headquarters, including Atlanta.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, played by Kyle Mooney, opened the skit at his desk and Alexa shepherded in various delegations from Miami, Boston, Atlanta and Newark.
While Miami brought in Pitbull and Boston highlighted Casey Affleck, Atlanta's party featured Paula Deen. She is actually based in Savannah but hey, Georgia is Georgia is in the minds of New York writers, right? And Aidy Bryant does a ridiculously amusing Deen, who has been accused of using racist terms and hasn't quite shaken that reputation.
"I'm Paula Deen y'all," Bryan drawled. "I'll be careful what I say."
The mayor's office was represented by "SNL's" longest-running cast member and Atlanta native Kenan Thompson, who knows the local vernacular: "What's good partner? Man, you need to come to the A, you feel me? Let's do the damn thing, man!"
Leslie Jones is part of the "Office of Business Development," which is not actually a thing in Atlanta but whatever.
"Atlanta is made for business, man," Thompson's character pronounced. "Our airport is only 20 minutes from downtown."
"Two hours with traffic," Jones added.
"We had the Olympics there back in 1996," Thompson said.
"The one with the bomb!" Jones threw in.
Thompson: "Atlanta has these wonderful places where from all walks of life come together."
Jones: "It's called the Waffle House." (That got a good laugh)
And they provided two gifts: a can of Coke and a sandwich from Chick Fil A, which the audience cheered. (Yes, even New Yorkers like Chick Fil A.)
Of course, there had to be a Deen butter joke thrown in for good measure: "I brought my delicious signature three-butter pudding, y'all. It's the dish the American Heart Association rated, 'Don't!' "
Then they offered an Atlanta T-shirt via Amazon drone. As it flew overhead, they got frightened and left.
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