How many of you caught funnyguy Seth Rogen hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend? I thought one of the funniest skits was the "2007 National Douchebag Championships" (featuring SNL MVP Andy Samberg, pictured) but when I asked my colleague Nicholas Fonseca about it, he revealed he has major issues with the d-word. Here’s how our conversation went down over e-mail:
Lindsay: Dude, did you see the douchebag awards SNL sketch this past weekend — so so funny!
Nicholas: Oh! No, I haven’t had a chance to get through the show on my TiVo yet. Busy weekend. But hang on a second… did I just read that correctly? Lindsay, the d-word makes me break out in hives. It’s so uncomfortable. Did they really use it on Saturday night’s show? Oy, I might have to sit this one out, lest I require being hosed down with some industrial-strength calamine lotion. I can already feel my hands getting itchy as I type.
Lindsay: Really, itchy? It’s so commonplace on TV nowadays, I’m surprised you’re not used to it by now!
Nicholas: But when did this become acceptable? It’s used on SNL, it’s been heard on My Boys, and it’s a favorite on Family Guy. Like it or not, there are young kids watching all of those shows. Can you imagine being the parent who has to explain its meaning to an 8-year-old? Where do you even begin? Aughgh… see? I’m starting to feel not-so-fresh just typing about it.
Lindsay: Nicholas, stop being such a douchebag! (See, it’stotally legit.) The origin of the word is pretty gross, you’re right.But I can’t think of a better way to describe a sketchy guy with toomuch chest hair and a knack for gold chains, can you?
Nicholas:I guess "dickweed" never really caught on, did it? Look, I’ve alwaysbeen partial to "asshat," which is just goofy and explicit enough in mybook. Why can’t people use that one more often? It doesn’t reallydenote anything, so there’s not a lot of explaining to do. I’m stillstuck on the d-word, though. Don’t you find it odd that networks willoften bleep out a word like "ass" on its own, but have let this oneslip through the cracks? I maintain that it conjures up some really badmental imagery. We don’t need that, do we?
Lindsay: Well from doing research (thanks Google!), it’s believed that the first time "douchebag" was every used on air was in a 1980 SNL skit titled "Lord Douchebag."So looks like it’s here to stay. Can’t say as much for "dickweed" or"asshat," though — in fact, the latter, I’ve never even heard of. Wherein the world did you grow up?
Nicholas: In the same state as The O.C.,bitch! Come on, Lindsay, don’t you remember Summer Roberts using thatparticularly delicious putdown back in the day? And as for yourhistorical research: Fine. I accept the fact that the d-word is here tostay, but I reserve the right to make sour faces, loud gagging noises,and a general ruckus whenever I hear someone bellow it from my TV. Orstart a discussion with it over e-mail. Is that fair?
Lindsay: Well,I’m a girl and I think that using the word is more than acceptable. Soit can’t be that wrong. P.S…. I hope I don’t get in trouble forGoogling the word "douchebag." Can’t be nearly as bad as the time IGoogled "Kim Kardashian sex tape," can it?
Nicholas: Okay. Iguess I give. Clearly, I’ve got nearly three decades of TV historyworking against me. (Curses on you and your filthy mouth twice, SNL!)And no, you’re not in trouble for that. And if anybody dares to giveyou grief, just tell them it was "for work." Because, my dear, youreally do have a job where Googling "douchebag" serves a real purpose.
PopWatchers, help us settle the argument once and for all: Is it okay to use the d-bag term on network TV or not?
Comments (1-30) of 46 Add your comment
Well, if a parent is letting their kid watch a show that allows the word to be said in the first place, then they deserve to explain it to them. If it came up in High School Musical 2 or something, then I’d take issue.
Not only acceptable, but perfectly funny. My friends and I made special “Douchebag” shirts that we on occasion wear. People seem to think we are implying we are, but it’s you, the people who prefer “asshat” that it means. If you don’t like, you probably also hate other everyday words like tampon, hygene, Summer’s Eve. So sad… learn to accept it.
Who lets their 8-year-old watch Family Guy, My Boys or SNL, anyway? If they do, then they deserve to have to explain what “douchebag” means.
By the way, I thought that that skit was one of the funniest ones they’ve done in a while.
I take your point…douchebag falls under “words I can’t think too much about the real meaning of” (concise, no?) Same with “scumbag”. If I just accept it in the context – e.g. “jerk” I’m fine – when I think what it actually is as a noun – ugh.
Quit being a douchebag, Nicholas.
I didn’t think the skit was funny. Maybe it was at first, but it went on way too long.
I don’t have a problem with “the d-word” but I do think it’s weird that douchebag (female) is acceptable to networks standards & practices people but scumbag (male) is not. Maybe I start using nastybag as an all encompasing putdown.
The more you hear it, the less it offends. At one time, you couldn’t say “toilet” ot show a couple in the same bed.
Why are you mentioning this? You ignored the last weeks digital short, I Ran(So Far Away). The Iranian president spoke in front of the UN on Tuesday saying gays in America was a hobby and there were no gays in Iran.
Four days later, there was a love song from a Jewish comedian to him. Andy Samberg and co-writers had changed lyrics to a previous song, booked Maroon 5s lead singer Adam Levine, and shot various locations around NY in four days.
Not a word about that, but they say douchebag and you’re all over it.
have to agree with mike. The latest digital short was beyond hilarious and timely, much more deserving of coverage than a sketch using the word d-bag (although it was funny in its own right)
For some reason I thought the muppet sketch was the most inspired. I really think the entire thing was built around Seth Rogen’s uncanny resemblance to Rolph.
That word is funny only to fratboys under the age of 23. One day you’ll grow up and realize it’s a really idiotic insult…sort of like calling someone a tampon, or perhaps an enema.
You’ve never seen the Lord Douchebag sketch with Buck Henry? It’s one of the most classic SNL skits ever and was part of many a “Best Of” special! It takes place at a Renaissance-era party and everyone who enters is announced by one of the servants. They’re all inventors whose inventions were named for them (Earl of Sandwich, etc.) and then Lord Douchebag comes in and discusses his invention. Very funny.
Nicholas sounds like a douchebag.
As someone in college, I see douchebags everywhere I turn. If everyone can BE a douchebag, why can’t we CALL them douchebags?
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/79/79tdouchebag.phtml
I’m surprised I’ll be the first one to mention this, but South Park also uses Dbag a lot. This one might not sound so surprising (does anyone remember the Political Satire of a Turd Sandwich vs. A Total D***** episode?).
What might also not surprise you is South Park already did the Dbag of the Year award. It was the “Crossing Over” John Edwards episode where he was proclaimed to be “Dbag of the Universe” at an Intergalatic Competition similar to the SNL one.
Even if it was a little ripped off, it was still worth it to hear Samberg say “Put on the Cereal-Tip, gotta have my Pops!”
8-year-olds whose parents let them watch Family Guy hear a lot worse than “douchebag” uttered by the real people in their lives, count on it.
Didn’t see the sketch, but the word is so overplayed, it’s no surprise SNL finally got around to noticing it.
Personally I’m surprised some people are still offended by just the word ‘douchebag’ when there are so many other ‘obscenities’ being let on the air nowadays. I mean, the last South Park ‘Tourettes’ episode literally said every major curse word under the sun with the exception of the dreaded f-bomb. Personally I think the confusing thing is why the f-word still isn’t allowed on the air while every other word is- being equally offensive, if not more so. So, as obvious as it is, I don’t have that much of a problem with the word ‘douchebag’ at all; Frankly the people who still whine about stuff like this should really take the sticks out of their rear ends and use those same sticks to adjust their television to a different station since the stuff they’re watching offends them so much. For some reason whiners STILL haven’t picked up this concept even after close to 80 years of TV being on this earth.
MacGruber was funny. Muppets were funny. Ultrasound HD was funny. But the douchebag skit was poorly conceived, poorly executed, not funny, and certainly not worthy of discussion. Ugh. I have lost all respect for Ms. Soll for thinking otherwise.
Seriously, what Brian said above. Buck Henry did a douchebag sketch on SNL almost 30 years ago. This is hardly new territory for them. If you’re (still) shocked by this word, you should get out more. And 8 year olds watch this show? Sounds like their parents need to act more like parents & get their kid’s butts to bed.
I LOVED the douchebag intervention episode of My Boys—-hilarious!!
Does douchebag conjure up bad mental imagery for me? No, because for the longest time I had no idea what the term originally meant. Parents don’t have to explain what a douchebag is; kids will pick up the slang meaning pretty quick. I eventually had to figure out what a douchebag actually was by looking it up online LONG, LONG after I should’ve known.
That was one of the least funny skits on the show.
dickweed is a much better word and so much more fun to say.
It’s the same things with saying “sucks”…as in, “This sucks” or “You suck”. My mother forbid us from saying it when we were younger, but it just becomes so commonplace that it becomes part of the lexicon and you forget the origin of it.
I think if you let your 8 year old watch Saturday Night Live and then complain about the language, then you are a douchebag.
My friend John was 12 when the original SNL skit “Lord Douchebag” came out – he walked around for weeks calling people douchebags afterwards – not having the first clue what one really was. I, of course, being the good friend that I was, kept my mouth shut and quietly laughed behind his back. Hey, what are friends for?
Most of the comments were more intelligent than the article. Why is an 8 year old watching SNL? Andy Samberg cracks me up (T Shane). There is a lot worse on TV in Prime Time! The Cavemen are Douchebags.
If there’s nothing wrong with using the word b!tch, there’s nothing wrong with the word douchebag. First of all, it isn’t even a swear word. It’s not hateful or demeaning either. I figure a douchebag is worse than a jerk but not quite an @sshole or is an @sshole and you just don’t want to swear.
What 8 year old is even up late enough to watch SNL and Family Guy? Is Fox airing Family Guy before 10pm?
I was not offended by the term, and it is so common now – especially in college! Last week’s SNL was better. Seth Rogen’s sketches were a huge disappointment. I especially hate Macgruger.