Several “Saturday Night Live” stars drifted to the Right after leaving the NBC series.
Or, at the very least, stopped singing from the progressive hymnal.
Jon Lovitz. Rob Schneider. Jim Breuer. Dennis Miller. And, most notably, Victoria Jackson.
The comedienne known for her Betty Boop-like tunes and athletic handstands may be the most conservative of the bunch. Jackson says other “SNL” graduates also left the Left, except they’re keeping it to themselves.
“They don’t wanna lose work,” Jackson says, a position she rejected a while ago. “Why are we whispering that we love our country?”
Jackson’s latest film finds her alongside performers who might agree with some of her political musings. She co-stars in “Jingle Smells,” a clean Christmas comedy following a garbage man (actor and “The Michael Knowles Show” producer Ben Davies) who becomes an accidental hero to the local children. Veteran actor John Schneider plays Davies’ patient pappy.
It’s the first narrative feature to debut exclusively on Rumble, a freer speech alternative to YouTube.
A critical “Jingle Smells” subplot follows the cancellation of an action movie star (wrestler James Storm) for declaring his love of God and country.
The film casts Jackson as a progressive snowflake raging against the actor’s opinions, while fellow “SNL” alum Breuer plays a news anchor sharing the latest updates. (The comic behind the “Goat Boy” character has dared to question the COVID-19 narratives, drawing fury from the progressive Left.)
Jackson jumped at the chance to mock the woke mindset, and she hoped to improvise some of her lines on set. Except she says she couldn’t make it funnier than the script in hand, so she stuck to the plan.
The Cancel Culture subplot speaks to Jackson, who likely has lost work for her unabashedly conservative views and aggressive takedowns of former President Barack Obama.
She hopes that what Elon Musk dubbed the “woke mind virus” is abating.
“I think things are starting to thaw .. and the pendulum swings back and forth,” she says before striking a more serious note. “I also believe in the Second Law of Thermodynamics … the world is in a state of entropy. I do expect things to always be getting worse.”
Jackson worked on “SNL” from 1986 to 1992, a time when the show hit both sides of the political aisle.
That’s no longer the case.
“In the ‘70s they were the rebels,” she says of the cast, dubbed the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players. “Now, to be a rebel means being a woke leftist propagandist,” she says, adding the arrival of Obama on the scene permanent changed the show’s approach to politics.
“We made fun of all the presidents equally [on ‘SNL’], but when Obama was the president, they wouldn’t make fun of him. I think it’s racist to treat a black person differently, and they treated him differently,” she says.
“SNL” alum Jay Pharoah, who played Obama on the show for a spell, later admitted the show, “Gave up on the Obama thing.”
Jackson calls Nashville home these days, and she’s happy to be in such a creative city. Fittingly, she has new album out this month called “When I Get to Nashville,” which features her old pal Schneider’s voice on the title track.
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The 18 songs tackle some of the tumultuous issues she’s faced in recent years, including the death of her parents and brother plus a fight with breast cancer. She often uses her personal life in her art, relying on faith to get her through the tougher times.
“God is taking care of me … even bad things he’ll make something good out of it,” she says.
Jackson’s colorful career includes TV work, movie roles and a spot on one of comedy’s most cherished institutions, “SNL.” Now, the one thing she’d like to check off her Bucket List is in her new city – an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry.
“I’m waiting for someone to call and say I’m booked,” she says.
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