Model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWYcobbgIU0 (It’s an SNL skit. I realize that someone else did a similar thing, but I swear there was no funny business here! SNL has a lot of really interesting content.

“Hey, I’m really not so sure about this. Like, I’m all for doing this skit or whatever, but I think it would be funnier if we were more honest here.” 

The brunette at the table’s corner spoke candidly after a long, frustrated sigh. They’d been in that room for far too long, writing a skit that the (arguably) most Southern person in the room found questionable at best. She stared down at her feet, brushing the nonexistent crumbs from the Pret croissant that she’d grabbed on the way to 30 Rockefeller Plaza that day from her sweatshirt. She usually agreed with the skits. Hell, she was usually the one cry-laughing as soon as it all came together onstage. This one, though, felt inaccurate in a strange way. The hair and the names and the accents were just spot on, but the key calling cards were nonexistent.

The man to her right shifted slightly, turning his head to face her. “Come on Keegan, it’s a caricature. It’s not really supposed to be completely honest.”

“Bill, I just…come on. Where’s the ‘bless your heart’ or the sweet tea? I mean, the box wine is pretty solid, but their issues? Someone needs to complain about their son butchering their crape myrtles. Someone needs to talk about the backstabbing bitch at their daughter’s cotillion. Like, come on. Caricature is valuable, sure, but I think that being specific to that area could also be really interesting. I get that bigger is better, but not at the expense of leaving a stereotype just half-done.”

Keegan gesticulated wildly as she spoke, quite nearly knocking her coffee directly into her lap. It was strange and almost eerie in a way, this process of going back to her own childhood. She could hear her mother now, screeching “good God” with her intense Alabama drawl. She knew that, if her aunts saw this, they wouldn’t be pleased. And it wasn’t really a question of crazy. They knew that they could be ridiculous. However, they also knew what made them ridiculous and it wasn’t losing a foot or stealing from the couch cushions. 

“We have to pander to everyone, not just the people that resemble the characters. Is it a spot-on characterization? No! But is it funny? That’s the question.”

Keegan sighed, rubbing her temples. “Good Lord…okay. Fine. It’s fine. The skit is fine. Just don’t change it. Don’t take it bigger. There’s a difference between a stereotype and an attack.”

And then, there was silence. At least for her. The meeting itself dragged on for a few more minutes at, at noon, they took their lunch breaks. As Keegan sauntered out of the room, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly, her heart racing at the unexpected contact.

“Hey, it’s just me. Don’t worry,” Bill stated, letting his arm drop to his side. 

“Oh, hey. Sorry about that.”

“You’re good, really. I get it. I just noticed something while you were speaking. I didn’t realize that you had an accent.”

Keegan cocked an eyebrow, looking up at him curiously. “Huh. Really? When did I have an accent?”

“I’m not sure…I think it was the “Good Lord” that got me. I guess I forget that sometimes. You know, the whole Alabama thing. Maybe we can try a more “honest” skit someday? I think you had some good ideas there.”

Keegan shook her head and smiled softly, thinking. “Maybe. Can there be sweet tea?”

“There can always be sweet tea.”

Notes: I really enjoyed writing this piece. I definitely think that there’s a lot of work to be done if it is going to go into my end project, but I love writing narrative and this felt like it had a lot of opportunity. This skit is something that I find really interesting. Like Keegan, I don’t think that it’s entirely accurate per-sé, but it’s definitely putting forth some effort. I feel like it’s missing a lot, and I thought that writing from the perspective of a Southerner could be really interesting. If I had more space, I would probably try to focus a lot more on the narrative itself and a bit less on dialogue, but I felt that the dialogue was an important part of telling the story