[CaseCom]

At the beginning of "SNL" tonight they had a sketch where Lucy Liu was helping the other cast members write for the show... and they were using a blueberry iBook.

[bleen]

Yeah, There were some other SNL skits like the Office Computer Repair Man, in the room was in a bunch of iMacs.

[starfleetX]

"Office Computer Repair Man"?? Surely you jest...
because he's
Nick Burns, your company's computer guy!

Oh, man, if you folks just knew how close "Nick Burns -Your Company's Computer Guy" is to my real work life, you'd just die.

The only difference:
I have about 1/2 the belt gadgets and I actually shave.
lol

[Damien]

The Mac shop I work for here in Manhattan supports the Macs that the cast and crew of SNL use. They use Macs almost exclusively in their writing and production of skits, so it's only natural for them to end up as props in the skits.

No, I'm not Nick Burns. According to the author of the skit, Nick Burns is a composite of people he knows. Nick Burns is funny because we all know techs like him. If you know of any "technology-related stories" that might be made into a skit, email me a synopis and I'll forward them to the author of the Nick Burns skit (with the understanding that you'd not be credited).

Damien.

[bleen]

My appologies on the comment. I rememebr the skit but forgot the title ;-)

[Elderloc]

Future:

I know what you mean, I can really relate to that skit on SNL. I live with that guys very pain, every day I work.

Why do people still get excited over seeing Macs on TV? What does it matter? It's not going to get anyone to runlut and buy a Mac. This is a bit ridiculous. I am amazed everytime I see this. That's like me jumping around the room every time I see a VW in a movie. What's the BFD?

[CaseCom]

We like Macs, and seeing them on TV and movies means that other people like them too. So there.

Actually, product placement in movies and TV is big business these days. But most Macs are used in TV and movies because the producers like them or think they look good.

Funny you should bring up VW. I can imagine New Beetle enthusiasts getting excited over New Beetle sightings ... "Look! One of the 'Friends' drives one!"

Lighten up a little.

I know many people who first saw Macintoshes as viable computers when the saw them on shows like Felicity. Macintosh sights in the media play an important role. Besides, with the iMac's and iBook's very distinctive look, seeing a computer on a desk goes from "prop" to "personal statement".

The Nick Burns character is hilarious, but I do have a bone to pick with some of the details he throws out. Specifically, a few weeks back he scolded another techie for using Retrospect for backups, because it "doesn't back-up your third party apps". My copy of Retrospect does! To add insult to injury, there was an ArcServe box sitting on the shelf while they were discussing this. ArcServe isn't even available for the Mac.

[Damien]

I think you're missing the point of the skit a little bit. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate to be funny. Remember that SNL is a comedy show above everything else. All comedy shows stretch the "truth" a bit for a laugh. Their caricatures of everything (politicians, celebrities, even us computer techs) are for the purpose of humor, not necessarily education.

Yes, there was an ArcServer box and they were talking about Retrospect. Yes, the details the character spews are not correct. But, it doesn't matter.

Besides, don't you know techs like Nick Burns that spew technical-sounding nonsense in order to sound impressive or like they know what they're talking about? I mee them every day. And, perhaps that's the skit's author's intent?

It's still damn funny. Oh, and the offer stills stands--if you have any humorous tech stories you think might make a good SNL or Nick Burns skit, forward them my way and I'll make sure the SNL writers get them. I've gotten two already, both rather pretty good.

------------------
Damien Barrett
http://www.mrbarrett.com

[andi*pandi]

my old company's computer guy was named Nick.

He wore a marvin the martian tshirt, and his office was a dark cave... you practically needed a password to enter. The more strident your plea for help, the more he would run away from you in the halls--no whining! was his motto!

That said, he was pretty cool, liked macs, and played an excellent game of Marathon.

Me, after an annoying scsi issue: "but I need to scan NOW, dammit!"
Nick: "Don't be such a user."

heh heh.

[druber]

it's a pretty funny sketch, fun testing your mac knowledge to see where he gets stuff wrong. also funny how much he pounds the keyboard to get things done, almost never uses the mouse. i forget the keystroke, but you used to be able to set the numberpad to move the mouse. hated it.

i'm sure the sketch's writer could just surf these forums or one of the new-user newsgroups and fine plenty of sad newbie stories to exploit. had a friend who got her floppy disk jammed in a b&w g3, which was of course a zip drive and not a floppy drive.

[Richard Pinneau]

Damien:
"Besides, don't you know techs like Nick Burns that spew technical-sounding nonsense in order to sound impressive or like they know what they're talking about?"

Well, yeeeaaaaahhhhhh!
What are we all in this forum for, anyhows?

If anyone would like to see the skits with "Nick Burns" you can view them here in RealPlayer or MPG.
http://infomedia.jt.org/mm/category.phtml?catg=burns

or
http://snl.jt.org

I know too many people just like him.