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Live from New York… It’s Mitt Romney?

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This has to happen. In what could be one of the most interesting Saturday Night Live episodes in recent memory, it has been reported that Lorne Michaels, the producer of the legendary sketch comedy show, has offered the Romney tent a chance for their candidate to show off his comedic flares in front of a live studio audience.

The proposal is still pending and, with two episodes left at the tail-end of the season that have no hosts assigned, we could have a match. That’s right: Mitt Romney could be an SNL host. Imagine that… it’s hard but try.

Now, the Massachusetts ex-Governor has provided us with a sense of humor already: in his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, he described himself (more accurate then anyone else has, actually) as “the guy in the picture that comes in your photo frame.” And we already know he has the awkward card nailed down and a singing bit akin to Ed Helms’ character, Andy Bernard, in “The Office.”

A Presidential candidate hasn’t hosted the show since 1996 – the last was mega-millionaire Steve Forbes, who ran as a Republican and didn’t even make it to the general election. This hosting gap in time could be attributed to the publicity risk the cherished position holds: not being funny in the eyes of the nation could sink one’s poll numbers.

But, it can also portray a much more human side to voters and Romney is in desperate need of one of those, especially with against a President who has established his comedic credentials once over.

After 2008, SNL set an extremely high bar for future political commentary surrounding an election cycle: Tina Fey’s infamous Sarah Palin impression was, at the time, the most-watched viral video on NBC’s website. It was a highly influential piece of political humor at the time – a point made in a scene in HBO’s “Game Change,” where pseudo-Palin Julianne Moore is seen sadly watching Fey play the part of the Alaskan ex-Governor on television.
Although 2012 has had Herman Cain and Rick Santorum for laughs, the staff recognizes that the election could be a snore-fest; as columnist Maureen Dowd at the Times writes, the Romney/Obama match-up is “a Tin-Man-versus-Spock race.” And Jason Sudeikis’s Romney impersonation is not close enough to the real thing.
Fingers crossed on the Romney tent’s willingness to laugh a little. At least we know one thing for sure: Kid Rock will be on the top of the list for possible musical guest.