Saturday Night Live, NBC, May 8, 2010, hosted by Betty White, with musical guest Jay-Z.

Art (from the neck down): coopstuff.com

First of all, let me say, I’ve loved Betty White as much as you have. And for the same reasons. But since last night’s Saturday Night Live, something’s different. I’m not sure what: Betty White, our perception of her, television, or us. Or me.

Used to be I could say about Betty White, she was the lady who might not repeat every joke she overheard, but you knew she got them all. You could tell by the gleam in her eye. And when she related the more risque aspects of life, she’d do it in the style of last night’s opening monologue. She was referring to the Facebook feature “poking” (which I’ve never used). In her day, “…that only took place on a hayride. Under the blankets…” Then she broke a stare of fond memory, and shook her bouffanted head. “Where was I?”

Subtle. That was the Betty White I knew prior to about 11:45 last night. The art of manipulating the unsaid. The implied. The audience had to come equipped with its own dirty mind, or the joke wouldn’t work. Read More