TMC
01-05-2022, 05:37 AM
https://www.newyorker.com/news/afterword/betty-whites-comic-reversals
White would likely have found humor in People magazine prematurely celebrating her 100th birthday (https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/04/betty-white-hometown-honor-day-birthday/), says Susan Orlean. "White would have likely found this all quite funny, because she had a comic heart and an ironist’s appetite for weird reversals," says Orlean. "There was something about her that always made it seem as if she was in on the joke, whether she was playing a dim-bulb sexpot or a sassy elder or simply declaring her actual affection for vodka on the rocks and hot dogs. (There is a hot dog named for her at Pink’s Hot Dogs, in Los Angeles. 'The Betty White Naked Dog' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WobYioOcws) is a wiener on a bun, no condiments, per her preference.) Having someone really old host Saturday Night Live (https://www.themarysue.com/remember-when-betty-white-hosted-the-best-snl-episode-of-the-2000s/), as she did when she was eighty-eight, would have been cringey if it were making fun of the idea, but White surely knew what she was doing. She was a funny person on a funny show who happened to be older than the usual hosts, and she was gleeful about it. There is a classic Hollywood joke, which is way too close to the truth and too painful to be purely a joke, that tracks the arc of an entertainment career. It goes: 'Who the hell is Joe Blow?' 'We need Joe Blow!' 'Get me the next Joe Blow!' And, finally, 'Who the hell is Joe Blow?' White herself lived a bit of that arc: when The Mary Tyler Moore Show was casting someone for the part of Sue Ann Nivens, the producers called for a Betty White type—that is, the next Betty White. Instead, they hired Betty White."
White would likely have found humor in People magazine prematurely celebrating her 100th birthday (https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/04/betty-white-hometown-honor-day-birthday/), says Susan Orlean. "White would have likely found this all quite funny, because she had a comic heart and an ironist’s appetite for weird reversals," says Orlean. "There was something about her that always made it seem as if she was in on the joke, whether she was playing a dim-bulb sexpot or a sassy elder or simply declaring her actual affection for vodka on the rocks and hot dogs. (There is a hot dog named for her at Pink’s Hot Dogs, in Los Angeles. 'The Betty White Naked Dog' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WobYioOcws) is a wiener on a bun, no condiments, per her preference.) Having someone really old host Saturday Night Live (https://www.themarysue.com/remember-when-betty-white-hosted-the-best-snl-episode-of-the-2000s/), as she did when she was eighty-eight, would have been cringey if it were making fun of the idea, but White surely knew what she was doing. She was a funny person on a funny show who happened to be older than the usual hosts, and she was gleeful about it. There is a classic Hollywood joke, which is way too close to the truth and too painful to be purely a joke, that tracks the arc of an entertainment career. It goes: 'Who the hell is Joe Blow?' 'We need Joe Blow!' 'Get me the next Joe Blow!' And, finally, 'Who the hell is Joe Blow?' White herself lived a bit of that arc: when The Mary Tyler Moore Show was casting someone for the part of Sue Ann Nivens, the producers called for a Betty White type—that is, the next Betty White. Instead, they hired Betty White."