@nprofile1q... I'm not sure if it's a joke or not, but it seems obvious that the reporter can see what's going on here. But then People prints the article without criticism.
I wonder if they were trying to say something about People magazine at the time. It's always been propaganda.
Of course, so has SNL.
A while ago I watched the first several seasons, thinking that it used to be funny.
It wasn't. It's just that if you cherry pick sketches, there are some funny ones.