The veteran ABC News journalist addresses past skits about her on 'SNL', reveals her 'true voice', and shares some tips for a long career in journalism.
- May 12, 2014
AceShowbiz - "Saturday Night Live" paid tribute to Barbara Walters before she officially retires this coming week on "The View". The variety show played clips of numerous Barbara Walters impressions over the years before the real Barbara Walters appeared on Weekend Update segment with Cecily Strong.
"What an honor it was to see my groundbreaking career in journalism be reduced to a cartoon character with a ridiculous voice," the veteran ABC News journalist said after watching past skits of "SNL" cast members spoofing her as Baba Wawa. She showed her funny side, poking fun at herself.
Sharing some tips to achieve a success in journalism, she told Strong to "develop a signature voice that no one will forget." The 84-year-old then revealed her "true voice," which is the one people have been using to make fun of her. She also suggested Strong to soften the focus of the camera lens when reporting softer news and ask tough questions such as, "If you're a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?"
Her No. 4 tip was, "It is fine to make people smile, but the real money is in making them cry. Nothing brings in the viewers like seeing a celebrity reduced to tears. You may think, awww, I'm really feeling bad for them, but all I'm thinking is 'ca-ching!' "
In the episode which aired on May 10, host Charlize Theron kicked off the show with musical monologue. Backed up by some regular cast members of "SNL", including Strong and Taran Killam among others, she sang about not being able to sing.
The "A Million Ways to Die in the West" star wore a fat suit in a sketch called "Tourists" and appeared with Kate McKinnon as emcees of a feline adoption program. Theron and Killam also got covered in fake blood and guts when the two met next to a dead whale, which later exploded, in "Bikini Beach Party".
