'SNL' wants laughs, not votes

Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of "Saturday Night Live," has a message for those convinced that the program's presidential campaign sketches have a secret political agenda. "You know, they're jokes," he said. "And when people are confronted with jokes, quite often they will over-think it." But as Michaels and his cast prepare to pull off six live shows in the next four weeks -- including three prime-time specials, beginning tonight -- "SNL's" creator doesn't hold out much hope that the show's political parodies will be viewed with equanimity. "You see it on a partisan level now, where people have no sense of humor about the other side," he said.