Saturday Night Live

Destroy: The writing staff.

Now *that's* funny.

I hate Jimmy Fallon.

D: Jaret's Room, Mango, Adam Sa...I mean, Jimmy Fallon's guitar parodies

I think Jimmy Fallon is rather funny, but not nearly as funny (nor original) as he seems to think he is.

Actually, I think the plight of SNL is that they have some extremely talented cast members, but don't have the solid writing to back it up like in some days of yore. There are sporadic bits of amazingly funny stuff ("I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"), but it's just not SOLID.

Weekend Update is awful, sorry. There's no bite to the jokes. they seem happily surprised if a joke does well, and if it doesn't they lean reaaaal hard on the "it's not funny; isn't that funny!?" thing that is the death-knell of television comedy (cf Johnny Carson, Conan's monologue)

Everyone keeps banging on about SNL and I've never seen it - indeed, living in the UK with no Sky means I probably never will. Is there like a SNL Best Of DVD around? Or should I not bother - is it over-hyped rubbish?

I liked the bit about Larry David. The part with him and Dick Ebersol standing by the elevator sounded just like something out of "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

make talk about the old snl. converse about the dim bulb sketch.

The M'OD bio "Mr Mike" is worth a read. He bitched when the original cast started to do recurring characters, cuz he thought that was too much like Carol Burnett etc.

the writers' terror of offending anyone makes most of the sketches heavily dependent on unfunny gimmicks and repetition, much like conan o'brien's show these days.

(i ACTUALLY roffled the first time i saw this sketch)

-- joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 04:22 (2 years ago) Link

was actually bumping thread to say i have a crush of shame on kristin wiig

why shame?

maybe shame bc she's totally annoying?

yeah, that

shes kinda horsey too

i dunno i used to get real madtv vibes & think she was really untalented but now i kinda think shes the funniest person on the show

she never tina fey

the hot air balloon thing sealed it for me

she def. cracks me up with the penelope skits.

the hot air balloon was totally a rip-off of Tim and Eric style bad TV. Tonight wasn't so funny. Cold open was pretty weak and the game show too. Steve Martin and Tina were good in the intro. I also liked Tina's Hillary rant. What's the story on the new girl?

i watched snl tonight for the first time in a while!! it was not that good but when is it ever. tina fey was only really good in the monologue.

the there will be blood thing cracked me up tho.

and ya what IS up with that new chick?> is she secretly fergie

bret michaels sketch was awesome. the girls on snl roxxor.

so's maya rudolph gone?

I couldn't remember seeing new girl in the earlier episodes this season and then noticed half way through the show that maya hadn't shown up at all.

new girl is not funny

two of these are new to me, i know dratch and wiig basically.

goddamnit darrell hammond is going to outlive us all

I love Fred Armisen, and I understand that they're kind of in a pinch, but his Obama is horrible.

darrell fucking hammond.

he is responsible for like 25% of the suckage in any given year

fuck, i was just thinking that. he's been on for 13 years, hasn't he...

xp

glad i misssed the obama thing. his gene simmons was way off at first but it got funny.

His fake Gene Simmons hair is sadly better than Gene Simmons's real Gene Simmons hair.

maybe shame bc she's totally annoying?

-- tehresa, Saturday, February 23, 2008 10:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

kristen wig is beautiful and funny.

this week has been the week of gnar ilxor girls telling dudes which girls they should like.

Mike Huckabee -- great timing!

xp: huckabee was pretty good. a shame about his beliefs and politics.

the fake ad was funny. the new girl did a hateful rachel ray, so she's ok with me. but overall should've been better with a couple months' vacation. i hear they're only doing eight more episodes for the season.

the hot air balloon was totally a rip-off of Tim and Eric style bad TV.

but kinda funny instead of not funny at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AUHHOVtNqo

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c3921788d9d5011789462b940066

just because...

hilarious to suggest that women need to vote for hrc because bitches need to stick together, and pretty funny too to imply that the mainstream media gives obama a free ride at her expense; if '30 rock' goes this way it will get boring very quickly, but i doubt it

i dunno i used to get real madtv vibes & think she was really untalented but now i kinda think shes the funniest person on the show

-- and what, Sunday, 24 February 2008 06:37 (9 hours ago) Link

truth. snl has always been the original american idol. there's often these moments when a new performer "breaks". wiig's moment was doing nancy pelosi, up until then she had been a waste of space, but the second she started doing pelosi's intensity eye stares she had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand.

saturdaynight dead

for me it was knocked up... mega lolz at her in that

Tina Fey as Daisy on Rock of Love 2 was scary accurate! Actually all of them were scary accurate.

That pill commercial had me screaming with laughter! "Buy yourself a hat and hold the f*** out of it." haha

i laughed at the first bleep but nothing else in that

reminded me of arrested development

Tina rolling into work with an axe was basically exactly what I wanted to see.

I love Fred Armisen, and I understand that they're kind of in a pinch, but his Obama is horrible.

-- Johnny Fever, Sunday, February 24, 2008 8:32 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Link

totally.

and why are they in that pinch, i wonder.

OMG the birth control pill commercial! Tina Fey with an axe! HOTT.

i thought i heard kenan was gonna be obama

I totally get the pro-HRC slant displayed last night. The have a killer Bill impersonator and a killer Hillary impersonator but no Barack impersonator. They should just acknowledge that and let Kenan do some ridiculous completely un-Obamalike character, maybe as a split with Armisen so they end up with a Jeckyll/Hyde routine.

So glad it's back. I don't think the audience got the milkshake sketch but Hader's impression and phrasing was awesome.

the "I'M FINISHED!" followed by the little musical doop-dee-doo had me rofling.

For some reason last night I remembered Toonces after forgetting about it for a long time. One of their best bits ever, imho.

remembering toonces, a memoir by hurting 2

Toonces y Yo, por Duelendo Dos

xpost Tina Fex with a PINK axe. So perfect.

only skit i saw was the milkshake one and i thought it was a disaster. i think the idea of plainview hosting a real food network show has potential, or it'd at least be better than bill hader literally reciting lines from the straight from the movie while kenan does the aw-shucks thing. armisen's chigurh was awful.

carrie underwood was cool though

kudos to whoever shook this shake, Magnum

"new girl" is casey wilson from ucb la

carrie underwood's first song was great

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Rose_Wilson

"Casey Rose Wilson is an actress most widely known as a featured member of the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL)."

she is so widely known for that.

i didnt know there was a new girl on snl so every time i saw this young hot chick in the sketches i assumed it was carrie underwood and i was like damn shes better than amy poehler

hilarious to suggest that women need to vote for hrc because bitches need to stick together, and pretty funny too to imply that the mainstream media gives obama a free ride at her expense

it was funny.

yeah it's not like it was convincing but it helps to keep perspective re: the election.

this new girl is pretty ridic

SNL is running weirdly hot and cold this year (or at least since the strike). Last week was largely awful, but this week most of the sketches are genuinely funny. Amy Adams is probably helping a little, but I've finally decided Amy Pohler is a genius.

i kinda go back n forth on poehler being a genius or the most unpleasant person ive ever seen in my life. i only caught the last 20 minutes tonight & nothing was funny but that new girl is bangin

yeah so far I like the new girl, she really made that stupid dancing sketch work.

really liking Bill Hader lately.

and what:

we shall meet. pistols at dawn for the hand of casey rose wilson.

last two mostly sucked except for digital short and the School of Excellence, but tonight was much better. I do get sick of recurring characters, like Penelope, and that was a mostly weak Tim Calhoun...the best Tim Calhoun skits may be my favorite things ever.

still annoys me that 'digital short' is now a thing that people talk about like it's a big deal buzzword. it's a pre-taped sketch, BFD.

yeah we definitely don't need anymore Penelope sketches, though. shit is getting as repetitive as the Will Ferrell cheerleader shit at this point.

still annoys me that 'digital short' is now a thing that people talk about like it's a big deal buzzword.

People don't do this anymore. Dick In A Box was like 1.5 years ago.

Can anyone who is older than me and from New York enlighten me on what Tookie Styles was influenced by?

jean k jean haha

It's really too bad Amy Adams isn't a regular cast member, because I could see myself laughing through at least 10 more of those "Mirror Image" sketches.

she's pretty funny.

vampire weekend is da troof

Kind of bummed they didn't do "Oxford Comma" : (

they were the worst band ive ever seen on snl i thnk. whiney: petey green?

chaki old bean i expect we'll disagree like gentlemen on this matter.

yah but you have to admit keyboard player's scarf was total ball licker style, they had no energy, and the singer was contrived and has a terrible voice as well as the worst guitar tone ive ever heard.

the guitar tone was laid on kind of thick i'll give you that.

LOL, xp

kristen wiig is scraping the bottom of the barrel with those frumpy middle american women. the target skit was terrible

her suze orman needed some work too

tracy morgan is my boy

feeling the tpain/mariah song. i missed the first one

the song is so 4 years ago, in a good way

so sick of broadway monologues

maybe you're just sick of broadway

yeah, I was like, "another broadway monologue?". And then the first skit was a game show, which I almost always hate, though Jonah made this one actually pretty funny.

bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch. lolololol

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/16/snls-antispitzer-bias-_n_91736.html

<3

SNL did what SNL has long done -- feature whoever's hot that week. That's the show's function. Satire has nothing to do with it. Everybody feeds on the fix. That's where money and power reside. Dem partisan Alec Baldwin willingly traded japes with Palin, bringing her into the fold. Little wonder she felt free to groove to Amy Poehler's rap about her stated positions. SNL added to Palin's luster. Who wouldn't dance along to that?

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2008/10/laugh-you-assholes.html

wahlberg was a funny idea, though

wait a minute - television show features zeitgeisty, talked-about celebrity??????? stop the pressezzzzzzzzz

yeah, just like SNL Bob Hope specials in 1975

'Cast (in alphabetical order)':

America
Aretha Franklin
Bob Hope
John Wayne
Flip Wilson

At least somebody finally has the balls to stick it to those jerks at SNL.

</sarcasm>

the iMdB in no way lists all the Hope specials; there were at least 4 a year.

the palin rap was pretty funny since it mocked almost everything she's associated with bar downs syndrome; she looked clueless sitting there through the whole thing. amy poehler, meanwhile, was pretty impressive (through the whole episode, actually, since she's clearly like, at term)

i'm surprised people like the rap, i thought it was pretty embarrassing. and i'm usually kind of a captain save-an-snl. i love poehler and she did her best with it but reviving the rodney dangerfield joke rap song in 2008 is pretty lame

that excerpt seems to presuppose that a) SNL should seek to materially detract from Palin, presumably because she's Palin and snl/perrin don't agree with her and b) proper satire should always negatively affect the "luster" of the person being satirized, neither of which seem to be the self-evident points the tone of the article suggests.

So how many new people did Palin win over with the SNL thing? Guesstimates?

not Colin Powell!

OK, new question..

Number of people won over by Powell's O endorsement
minus
Number of people won over by Palin in SNL
----------------------------------------------------
= ????

= PROFIT

surely nobody was seriously "won over" by the fact that maccain's vp can woodenly recite four sentences off a cue card. right?

n/a OTM re: the rap and I never say this about anything ever but in this particular case Dennis Perrin OTM as well

seriously the "lolz white people rapping" thing is so fucking lame

yeah i don't get any of you guys who think anything to do with snl political stuff is that funny. i always feel like i'm reading in a foreign language when you guys discuss it. especially white ppl rapping badly, which they LOVE. that is so 1998.

also seriously you guys are negative nancies: who on earth would be won over by a short appearance on a shitty sketch show that doesn't already like sarah palin? she's a completely polarizing figure to like 95% of the country.

I saw a part of the Palin SNL and I felt I was watching Mad TV, so I stopped watching.

I fell asleep before it even started.

i would watch pregnant amy poehler do anything

v v cute btw

I thought she and GOB didn't consummate the marriage?

Rap was kinda cringe-worthy, but I will always laugh at McGruber and even a weak Jean K. Jean. (Would pay theater prices for a crappy Jean K. Jean movie.)

the best was the appearance of tim calhoun, my favorite reoccurring character in recent history

will forte is awesome

Also the Poehler "I'm No Angel" perfume ad was pretty A+

that excerpt seems to presuppose that a) SNL should seek to materially detract from Palin, presumably because she's Palin

Yes, presumably Swift would not have had an "it's all fun n games" stance twd the biggest idiot ever to run for national office

I never knew Swift did booking.

i just thought the moose was funny

the part where Baldwin whispers in Fey's ear and she sez "Bye-ee" and hurries past Palin made me chuckle, but otherwise, pretty lame.

some penetrating commentary here, courtesy of those nitwits on "Fox & Friends" and that load Frank Luntz ("great observer of all things media"). howdare Baldwin et al. not show Palin the courtesy to read from the cards better! WTF?

yeah xpost perfume ad was lols

Best thing to ever happen to the show was when they aired the first ever episode to honor George Carlin and not a single thing was funny - nothing, finally disproving the "it used to be good" cliche. I especially like it when people say "it used to be funny when Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley were on it" because those were the lowest rated seasons ever.

I think it's been really really funny recently.

Also, Would pay theater prices for a crappy Jean K. Jean movie. = OTM.

especially white ppl rapping badly, which they LOVE.

When this started, I made like I had to go out for a smoke, but really I just couldn't take the bit. I hate it when they make me embarrassed on their behalf.

you probably just watched it

I believe Swift was Jack Paar's personal ass't back in the '50s.

S Chow = Rex Reed Award-winning reverse barometer of comedy

Ha, I didn't know that Jean K. Jean and Tim Calhoun were recurring characters. Both of them were hilarious.

What does it matter when I watched it? Sunday morning, if you're keeping score.

yeah the first season of this show isn't funny at all now. the second and third only marginally better. I do think the eddie murphy years are still pretty great, and the season Lorne Michaels left, with chris guest, martin short, and billy crystal is still probably the funniest this show ever got. I think this current cast seems to have the best, non-ego centric chops of any cast since then (by which I mean they seem like good ensemble players and not people aiming for a career doing terrible movies).

the show really is not funny now

did you see any of the last five years of this show? compared to that it is a woody allen film

Tim Calhoun is my alltime fave snl character and I was excited to see him again, but it was maybe the weakest entry in Tim Calhoun history.

That was the least funny of all the Jean K. Jeans thus far, too. (Possibly because they're running out of Euro references and can never live up to the Nutella joke.)

Challenging opinion: there is not nearly as much variation in the quality of SNL seasons as the arguing public would like to pretend.

this season has been pretty good so far. the only thing that has especially bugged me is that going "lol crystal meth" has become their new default punchline -- the Phelps episode featured I believe 2 references to meth in the first 15 minutes, and then another one in the Weekend Update.

SNL is like the Tonight Show, or Today - it's a franchise in a non-prime time slot. Whether it is funny or not is beside the point to the network execs who keep it on the schedule. It will probably survive another 25 years because it is super cheap to produce - and what else are they going to put on at that time slot that could draw more viewers?

http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/images/Palin-Fey-SNL.jpg

calhoun is a recurring character from a while back (i think i remember forte doing him as one of his first parts when he was added to the show) but they use him sparingly

The Guest/Crystal/Short/Shearer season was easily the funniest, but it was also very traditional and unzeitgeisty.

yeah but that makes it still funny, 25 years later

Challenging opinion: there is not nearly as much variation in the quality of SNL seasons as the arguing public would like to pretend.

― nabisco, Monday, October 20, 2008 1:53 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dunno, can you show me anything from the last 10 years or so that's as funny as norm macdonald weekend updates or frank gannon p.i. p.i. or the sly stone car accident bit or grayson moorhead securities or

Jay Mohr: Hey, look at this polar bear cage. Hey, you think I can swim the little moat both ways before the bear eats me?

Adam Sandler: Five bucks says you can't.

Jay Mohr: All right. Read 'em and weep, my friend!

[Mohr jumps the railing into the polar bear pit. He disappears from view and we hear a loud splash as he hits the water below.]

Norm MacDonald: "Read 'em and weep"? You say "Read 'em and weep" before you lay down your cards in poker, not before you jump into a polar bear cage.

Tim Meadows: Yeah, okay, Mr. Dictionary.

Norm MacDonald: "Mr. Dictionary"? How does knowing about poker make me "Mr. Dictionary"?

Tim Meadows: Ah, no, I wasn't talking to you.

the norm macdonald weekend updates were some funny shit

unfrozen caveman lawyer, who's more grizzled, sinatra group...

I've loled more at this season than I have in a long time. Space Olympics, Wahlberg, etc. Plus I have a mega-crush on Casey Wilson.

george f will's sports machine XD

mike myers/heather locklear racist infomercial

[ "Grayson Moorhead Securities. A Tradition of Excellence." ]

Narrator: On Wall Street, trendy investment fads have come and gone over the years, but not at Grayson Moorhead, where we've always stuck to the basic principles set forth by Arthur Grayson nearly 80 years ago.

Arthur Grayson: Our clients must be our first priority.

[ "The Tradition Endures" ]

We will take our client's money and invest it. Part of the profit we will keep for ourselves; the rest we will give to the client.

[ "A Tradition of Security" ]

We will make a list of our clients, and how much money each of them has given us to invest. We will keep this list in a safe place. If we have time, we will make a copy of the list, in case something happens to the first list.

[ "A Tradition of Listening" ]

Listen to your client. It's the only way to know what he's saying.

[ "A Tradition of Trust" ]

If a client is talking, and you're not listening, and he notices, and he accuses you of not listening, just say, "Sure, I've been listening, I've heard every word you've said." If he then says, "Alright, tell me what I've been talking about." Just say, "You've been talking about your investments. Which stocks to buy and so on." That way the client will think you've been listening, even though you haven't.

[ "A Tradition of Integrity" ]

We will invest only in white-owned businesses.

Narrator: Not all of Arthur Grayson's principles are followed today, but at Grayson Moorhead we still believe in the basics.

Arthur Grayson: Don't leave the client's money lying around. Keep it in a safe place. For example: where we keep the list.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/94/94bparadox.phtml

ONE BIG DOOR

ONE BIG DOOR.

― some dude, Thursday, June 26, 2008 12:17 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I have no tolerance, gang, for anyone who commits arson.

I was just looking at the transcript page for a 97 episode that featured a Goat Boy sketch, a cheerleader sketch, AND a Roxbury guys sketch. there really was a time when Norm was totally holding shit down by himself.

― some dude, Thursday, June 26, 2008 3:00 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i will still ride for lazy sunday but yes white people rap lol is played whoooo

Natalie Portman's rap is classic too.

Winston-McCauley Funeral Home

Winston-McCauley Spokesperson.....Phil Hartman

Spokesperson: Care, compassion, dedication. These are the things we can promise you at Winston-McCauley Funeral Home. And there's one other thing we can promise: that we will not have sex with any dead body. How can we guarantee this level of service? First, we rigorously test our applicants for aptitude and intelligence.. and also to make sure they don't have the urge to have sex with dead bodies. And, if any of our employees fails to live up to our standards, he can be suspended, without pay, for up to six months. And, if that's not enough, you have my personal assurance that if you can prove that your loved one was the victim of post-mortem sex, I will discount your bill with us for a full $1,000. That's the Winston-McCauley Guarantee.

Announcer: Care. Compassion. Dedication. And absolutely No Sex. Winston-McCauley Funeral Home.

God, you kids were weaned on shit.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76imrmike.phtml

Predictable.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NCYPQ42NL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/91/91tgannon.phtml

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=132501307

o_0

Jim Belushi was doing lol white people rap on SNL 23 years ago. Yikes.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/06/06ihiphop.phtml

I love this skit a little too much.

Natalie Portman's rap is classic too.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, October 20, 2008 2:12 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

take it to stuff white ppl like; that was like the most unfunny viral bullshit of the past several years as far as i'm concerned.

i will say the mark wahlberg talks to animals sketch was a) hilarious b) gave me a little more respect for andy samberg.

S Chow = Rex Reed Award-winning reverse barometer of comedy

Hmm, that's not very funny either.

Tim Calhoun always reminds me of this guy slowed down a notch:

(Also LOL at Bud Cummins listed as being from ARizona.)

The show has always had a couple good sketches and a ton of bad ones. It's hit and miss but there's usually at least one good moment - even Tim Kazurinsky had Dr. Jack Badofsky.

xxpost I have been making everyone I know watch the Walhberg skit. Sometimes the reaction is like, "AWESOME" and sometimes it's like "Oooooo-kay" but I think it's just great.

I've been talking to my animals like this lately. "So you're a cat, huh? What's up with that?"

Also, a person's reaction to whether Kristen Wiig is funny is a litmus test for something I haven't figured out yet.

I married a monkey was kazurinski's other good bit. although the monkey was probably funnier than him.

There are totally fluctuations in quality, but I find it weird the way conversations about it are constantly about how the show has been LOL Saturday Night DEAD for X period and is suddenly back on its feet, despite the fact that someone else is always claiming it was totally on for X period and actually sucks now. I can't really account for this except to guess that (a) there are just periods of head-writership where the tone appeals to some people and not others, and (b) no matter what year you're talking about, there are always a few funny-ass things and a lot of crap that doesn't work, and your decision about which of those things to focus on probably has less to do with quality and more to do with whether you want to like the show at that moment or not. (Cf the fact that people who go on about how crappy it's been for X years are saying this to explain why they don't watch it anyway, so ...)

I might also suggest here that the periods of the show's goodness or non-goodness actually have less to do with the quality of the writing or the greatness of the performers and more to do with some weird sense of confidence radiating from the show itself. E.g., the period where Fey + Fallon were doing Weekend Update was fun to watch, but I don't remember it being because the writing was head and shoulders above anything else -- it just seemed more like the show was kinda loose and confident and unclenched and enjoying itself, which makes the whole exercise more pleasant (and lets one enjoy, e.g., some crappy sketch where Horatio Sanz starts giggling and the whole thing falls apart anyway).

SNL quality is inversely proportional to the length of the sketches. The shorter they are, the better the show.

SNL is better this season than it has in the past couple of years, but I think that's more due to the cast making dodgy writing better rather than the other way around.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90hgame.phtml

also awesome

xpost: omg it's just like conversations about *insert long-running television show here*!

i will say the mark wahlberg talks to animals sketch was a) hilarious b) gave me a little more respect for andy samberg.

Me too. When Wahlberg started talking to the donkey I think it was a perfect moment.

I'm not going to argue about when the show was at it's peak because that just seems as interesting as new discussions of rockism.

kristin wiig can be really funny, but most of her characters (target lady, lady who can't keep a sectret, lady who has to out-do everyone) are reall unfunny, mad tv type shit, that for some reason recur way too much.

you probably just stroke it

kristin wiig can be really funny
Did she do any television between Joe Schmoe and SNL?

The period where Fey + Fallon were doing Weekend Update was fun to watch, but I don't remember it being because the writing was head and shoulders above anything else -- it just seemed more like the show was kinda loose and confident and unclenched and enjoying itself, which makes the whole exercise more pleasant (and lets one enjoy, e.g., some crappy sketch where Horatio Sanz starts giggling and the whole thing falls apart anyway).
Ha, like the Jerry McGuire sequel sketch?

Horatio Sanz is a crime against humanity.

I liked the thing where he pretended to be Billy Joel giving somebody a ride home.

hey chicken, some people wanna eat you, but i just wanna talk to you <--- high level of comedy forever

I liked the time I watched a season premiere episode and didn't see his name in the opening credits.

Sanz is one of the only people I would get really Shakey Mo about if he died. The others would be people like Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney.

that was my favorite line, ally!

Eh, better Horatio Sanz than Carlos Mencia.

i partied with horatio sanz & hes a bro + suprisingly introverted/reflective

Dan, that's like saying better Stalin than Hitler.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/80/80a.phtml

This is the all-time worst show they ever had.

i was too busy hating fallon to get around to hating sanz

Eh, better Horatio Sanz than Carlos Mencia.

pretty much this. I guess the years he was on snl i just wasn't watching (was pretty much done with it post-Norm), because the only thing I remember with Sanz is SNL Best-of parody that's all "he's not dead yet - but he will be!" and maybe some lame skit where he's in a Mariachi band. Defintiely not good, but mostly benign. But everybody hates this guy so much! I guess I'm lucky I never caught much of him...

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/80/80acarters.phtml

This sketch in particular actually made my parents turn off for the entire rest of the season.

horatio improv >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> horatio snl

S Chow = Rex Reed Award-winning reverse barometer of comedy

Hmm, that's not very funny either.

― Spencer Chow, Monday, October 20, 2008

See, it works!

WHY DID AMY POHELER MAKE GUN NOISES WITH HER FINGERS INSTEAD OF A FAKE GUN

Secret Service?

made visual connection with Fay-lin's gun-finger pew-pew-pew?

Fey-lin

See, it works!

Still neither.

Speaking of Fallon hate, soon he will be gracing our televisions every night at 12:40

I hope he lasts as long as the Chevy Chase late night show, but otoh nbc seems to have a real tolerance for these kinds of useless time wasters. Carson Daly's show has been on for years and years.

Amy Carter: [ chipper ] Like the slaves!

still can't wrap my mind around that. he's the W of comedy. hey, he sucked at everything else, let's make him pres.

I guess this analogy would work better if he were landing the Tonight Show gig. But hey, he's got nothing but time and Conan in his way now.

xxpost

i thought the wahlberg animal sketch was hilarious. i just hope they don't do something stupid and try to make it recurring or something.

Was Fallon -ever- funny? Why the hell did they pick him?

....fallon gets a tv show??

He's taking over Late Nite once Conan goes to the Tonight Show next year.

wow!

has that 1980 season of SNL been repeated at all? I kind of want to see those.

The Wahlberg sketch is already reoccurring:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/12/mark-wahlberg-slams-satur_n_133948.html?page=22&show_comment_id=16738196#comment_16738196

has that 1980 season of SNL been repeated at all? I kind of want to see those.

― akm, Monday, October 20, 2008 4:51 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1337_part_5.png

~barf~

it's a morbid curiosity

I posted xkcd because he psotred something baf too

this past episode = lots of my favorite characters (suze orman, jean k. jean) doing comparatively weak sketches. i loved "narc school."

always good to see "macgruber" too

"This is the all-time worst show they ever had."

no show that features a short film by jonathan demme is the worst show ever. worst show ever was dice clay nightmare.

I remember the 1980 ep with Malcolm McDowell being quite terrible (w/ MM sending up John Lennon a few weeks before his murder)

wow Laurie Metcalf was on SNL during the 1980 season????

I just learned that Gilbert Gottfried was in the cast that year, too.

yes, weirdly trying to fit in.

yeah there's kind of a whole bunch of famous people who were on SNL in the 80s but didn't have memorable tenures or get a real career boost from it (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robert Downey Jr., Damon Wayans, Ben Stiller, etc.)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was my favorite cast member from her season!

nobody ever says gary kroeger.

i still have his "my name is needleman! i'm an oral surgeon!" song going through my head.

Wayans wasn't given't enough to do, and when he tried to improvise, was fired. He and the way underrated Danitra Vance were in probably the best sketch of that whole season, "That Black Girl."

joan cusack and anthony michael hall were cast members?

Yup. I think AMH was the youngest cast member ever.

Hall joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) during its 1985–86 season at the age of 17. He was, and remains, the youngest cast member in the show's history.[6] His recurring characters on the show were 'Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant', an intelligent, talented teenager with a vacant expression and stilted speech, and 'Fed Jones', one half of the habitually high, hustling pitchmen known as The Jones Brothers (the other Jones Brother was played by short-lived featured player Damon Wayans). Art Garfunkel, Edd Byrnes, Bobby Kennedy and Daryl Hall were among Hall's celebrity impersonations.

Here's an interesting trivia question:

Who appeared on SNL first as a musical guest, then as a host, and then as a cast member?

mckean?

^^ Going with that.

Yep.

nobody ever says gary kroeger.

I seriously think he was the first cast member I ever saw (based on my dim memory that the first episode I ever saw was the Bruce Dern/Leon Redbone episode). That whole 83 to 85 or so era was the only time I watched the show semi-consistently.

I watched every Phil Ebersol SNL, visiting my dad on the weekends. We'd watch the show at his girlfriend's house and then at midnight when the show ended, go back to his apartment.

That guy lighting a cigarette with a blowtorch in the opening credits is the first thing I visualize whenever old SNLs get brought up.

cmon worst ep ever has to be nancy kerrigan

I miss Rich Hall. I remember the David Byrne clothing commercial skit!

well, it's dire just about every time an athlete hosts, but they keep booking them since they're apparently great for ratings (last week's Palin episode was the highest rated since the Kerrigan episode).

xpost

The Joe Montana episode had another one of my favorite sketches:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/86/86istu.phtml

^^ ok yeah, that sketch was classic

I think that Montana sketch was the first time I heard the word "masturbating."

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/91/pics/91asmalley.jpg

The Garth Brooks episode was shockingly amazing

OLD
FRENCH
WHORE

I remember reading somewhere that OFW was Tina Fey's favorite self-penned sketch.

The Garth episode was great. "Just regular cowboy stuff", "thank you for coming to Loews" etc.

how many people got their mental image of new york from SNL credits montages?

I got my earliest NYC images from the old "Late Night With David Letterman" openings.

I was talking about the original open, but this one is a bit crepey in hindsight (starts about 1:00 into clip.)

it was the Tomorrow show for me, but the late 80s era with Hartman, Dunn, Carvey, Hooks, Miller, etc. had the best "ooh like you caught me doing in NYC" montage.

I always remember the raver dude humping the convenience store ride for a split second.

For some reason old SCTVs seem to hold up better than the really old SNLs, the rare times they play either on TV

SCTV was always funnier. And you can get all the 1981-1983 SCTVs on DVD - and those episodes often include segments from the 1976-1980 period.

So how accurate are my images of Toronto, where televisions are constantly being defenestrated?

you mean melonville.

I thought SCTV was originally filmed in Edmonton(?) -- at least in the David Thomas years.

SCTV became markedly less funny when they shifted producers and moved to Toronto.

So "Second City" is in relation to Calgary?

Second City was always based around Chicago and anyone else who they were friends with.

SCTV started in Toronto, but temporarily moved to Edmonton when they reignited the series to the full 90 minute form in 1981 or so.

xp: not really true, I think ... The Toronto branch of Second City developed its own identity, tho some actors moved back and forth btwn it and Chi (Aykroyd & Radner, I think).

One SCTV producer left it for Letterman cuz he was sick of cast infighting.

most awful host of recent memory was de niro a couple years back

he recited from the cue cards like a 4th grader reading a history textbook aloud

at least pretend to try

that's one of the few recent ones I've seen. it was indeed an awulf performance.

awful, too

I remember that one. He was in some kind-of Peter Pan play sketch

peter and awulf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/will-ferrell-back-as-bush_n_137399.html

tina fey's Palin is morphing into laraine newman's sherrie the air stewardess

i thought the ras trent thing samberg did saturday was funny. i know it's basically just the white guy rapping joke. but it was specific and kinda funny.

Merciful Zeus, please end this election, if only so Tina Fey can shelve her annoying Sarah Palin impression. Every age gets the satire it deserves, and from the looks of things, we are in a cheap, plasticine era....

"Fridays" went into more political depth than SNL even pretends to plumb today. Some of the material on recent shows has been incredibly inane and pointless, like John McCain challenging Obama to a pie eating contest. Have SNL's writers stopped doing drugs? Or is this merely Vicodin comedy?

It'll be interesting to see how present-day parodists deal with the Obama administration. So far, they've given us really nothing. Fred Armisen's impression on SNL is not only bad, the writers have found no satirical hook. You'd think that a fiftysomething Repub like Jim Downey might have some angle on Obama, out of partisan hatred if nothing else. Liberals are too swoony at the moment to write any decent attacks on the next imperial manager, a condition I'm sure will continue well past Obama's coronation.

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2008/10/when-bippy-meant-something.html

(there's an ace Richard Pryor-as-prez clip from his variety show at the end)

(there's an ace Richard Pryor-as-prez clip from his variety show at the end)

huh? its the trailer for a billy jack movie, surely?

It'll be interesting to see how present-day parodists deal with the Obama administration. So far, they've given us really nothing.

he isn't president yet.

thanks for that

(there's a hyperlink of Pryor above Billy Jack)

i missed that.

you know what? i love Richard Pryor but his TV series was pretty dud, IMHO. though i enjoyed the roast that was included on the DVD extras. also, Perrin's Michael O'Donoghue book was fantastic.

only watched the last episode through weekend update but don draper's guide to picking up women was classic

be glad you missed the MAd Men skit, akm. It had Roger and Peggy and SNL still ruined it (with slight redemption at end). Sigh.

yeah it wasn't funny, I saw that one. guy doing Sal was the only really funny thing in it.

otm. the guide to picking up women had me cracking up. first time i've actually watched snl in maybe 5 years!

"blow people away everytime you say anything / take six hour lunches / disappear for weeks at a time"

Actually yeah, Sal was pretty great in that skit. Everyone was great except the "inventors" and it was just so over the top and terrible in true SNL form. I cheered when I saw Peggy and Roger.

It was the first time I even bothered to watch the show in ages and one of the few times when I've seen anything from it where I genuinely laughed.

That was my favorite part. Although Forte as the sex offender was also kind of lulzy, he's good at playing creepy guys.

Horrible, horrible episode. They obviously blew their load with the W sketch on Thursday night. I did chuckle at the Vincent Price skit though.

that picking up women sketch was weak sauce. i've seen enough of Mad Men to 'get' the joke, but there really wasn't much of a joke there, wtf is the big deal about it. i kinda love those Vincent Price sketches, as dumb as they are.

It would be easier to hearken unto Perrin's complaints about other writers, if he could write a decent phrase or two himself. Merciful Zeus? Fiftysomething Repub??

the last two episodes have been two of the worst in the past three or four years. the michael phelps episode was in that class, too. i think the thursday weekend updates are taking their toll.

It's not like SNL was that fantastic before the thursday weekend updates, though.

took their toll, past tense, last week's was the final Thursday WU. anyway I don't see it, those episodes were as hit'n'miss as any other.

I'm sure it's been discussed but why is Kenan on this show?

Because he's a good character actor and funny and has lots of experience doing sketch comedy.

i thought the point of the Palin rap was that it was a bad idea for a sketch and Palin was sitting it out. It was making fun of jokey white-rap sketches because it was extra retarded.

the vincent price skit was pretty funny.

i thought the point of the Palin rap was that it was a bad idea for a sketch and Palin was sitting it out. It was making fun of jokey white-rap sketches because it was extra retarded.

― Whiney G. Soundgarden (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, October 27, 2008 3:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you can't actually be serious, right

Palin was all "I'm not gonna do this" and Amy Poehler played it WAY WAY WAY up. And then eskimos came out. You were supposed to imagine Palin doing this idiotic sketch in rehearsal.

I'm not saying it was funny, but I'm saying it was at least smarter then the Honeymooner's Rap or whatever you guys think it is

i really, really don't think you are right about that, at all. amy poehler was selling it hardcore because it's not like the palin camp was going to agree to do anything worthwhile so do the best with what you've got. like, seriously, i don't understand how you'd even get this idea about this amazing meta-joke.

i'm not saying it's amazing.

This is going to be "Sleep, that's where I'm a viking" pt. 2

i really, really don't think you are right about that, at all. amy poehler was selling it hardcore because it's not like the palin camp was going to agree to do anything worthwhile so do the best with what you've got. like, seriously, i don't understand how you'd even get this idea about this amazing meta-joke.

he just described the premise, and then you agreed that that's what the premise was but acted as if you were disagreeing.

haha

Because he's a good character actor and funny and has lots of experience doing sketch comedy.

Any time I see him I hit fast-forward on my DVR.

so you're not familiar with his work enough to speak about it, is what you're saying.

There was a time when I didn't have a DVR, and that was when I decided that if I ever got one, I would adopt this crucial policy.

Aimless, "Merciful Zeus" is a decent W.C. Fieldsism to my eyes. And it's a fucking blog, how good does it have to be?

he just described the premise, and then you agreed that that's what the premise was but acted as if you were disagreeing.

― some dude, Monday, October 27, 2008 3:21 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I was taking issue with him putting the word "amazing" in my mouth.

I just saw Lorne Michaels summarizing the joke as something like "let's think up the absolute last thing Palin would agree to do on this show," so yeah, I think Whiney's description is accurate, along with his assessment that it wasn't particularly funny.

I know I kinda said this before, but it never ceases to amaze me how totally divergent people's estimations of this show's funniness are, even from weak to weak -- I thought this weekend's was as funny as it's been thus far this season. Draper's hula-hoop pitch totally got me (and NB maybe its creators are funnier if you've seen them as recurring characters); the guide to picking up women got me; and I feel bad for anyone who turned off after the news and missed out on "Jon Hamm's John Ham."

I'm also appalled that anyone would see Kenan as anything other than terrific in this cast...

Hahaha I meant "week to week"

i was referring to schef pretend-disagreeing with you, whiney, not vice versa, i realize you never used "amazing" or any other superlative.

and I feel bad for anyone who turned off after the news and missed out on "Jon Hamm's John Ham."

I dunno, that felt to me like they just threw up their hands and said "well, the host is only famous for one thing and we've already written 2 sketches about it, so let's just spitball some kind of extended pun on his name and hope for the best."

I think Whiney's description is accurate

http://cdn.stereogum.com/img/jean-k-jean.jpg
Zut alors!

I couldn't find the gif of him celebrating, so imagine he's me celebrating my OTMness.

Surprised how funny most recent one was. Ras-Trent and Don Draper's guide to picking up women probably the high points for me. I wish they had Kenan in more things, he is the funniest person besides Amy Poehler in the current cast.

Did they let Coldplay play THREE whole songs because the first two were like wtf and Lorne Michaels was all "yeah, can you play a song on regular instruments guys?" or is it because they are having to fill the gap left by chunks of their writing material going to Thursday nights?

Or do they just really like Coldplay?

they are a really famous band. it's not unheard of.

Might be Amy Poehler having her baby so they had to cut her sketches.

coldplay = musical version of snl. kindred spirits they are.

xposts

Yeah, I'm assuming a lot of the weird organization in this one had to do with Poehler's baby.

P.S. I don't much care about the creative origins of Jon Hamm's John Ham, I care about dude eating a slice of ham off a toilet-paper roll

xpBecause he's a good character actor and funny and has lots of experience doing sketch comedy.

― Whiney G. Soundgarden (Whiney G. Weingarten), den 27 oktober 2008 18:58 (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I could possibly agree on the experience part.

nabisco, you mean he fits in with an overall mediocre cast?

and I feel bad for anyone who turned off after the news and missed out on "Jon Hamm's John Ham."

It was funny, but not as good as Peter Sarsgaard's SARS guards. Also, put a Finger in Butts.

Dudes, it's bad enough to even discuss SNL on the internet; I am not going to argue with you about Kenan being hilarious. This is totally your loss.

guys the ras trent thing was so bad what are you talking about?

and i am basically in love with andy samberg.

yeah Poehler was supposedly rehearsing the day of the show before she went into labor. and she has a history of being in such a ridiculous number of sketches per episode that i'm really curious how they're going to fill the gap in the future. i mean Will Ferrell was a huge sketch hog, too, but there were a lot more people in the cast when he left at least.

xpost I liked the rasta thing, but is Samberg even appearing in any live sketches any more or is he just cordoned off to his little "digital shorts" (i.e. fancy name for the pre-taped sketches the show's been doing since 1975) world?

Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals was a live skit.

digital shorts isn't that fancy of a name. and he is in other sketches.

ah, i must've misremembered it as a pre-taped deal.

xpost

yeah, his comedy-songs-by-genre approach is really falling thin; there was maybe one laugh in the entire Ras Trent bit, much as I enjoy hearing people talk about Haile Selassie on TV

xxxxp haha agreed

white people mocking reggae is never funny

white dudes with dreadlocks are never not funny

someone over there has failed to understand that the successes of "lazy sunday" and "dick in a box" were not based on people finding comedy-music funny, they were based on the jokes actually being decent

Samberg also played Rahm Emanuel in the Obama Variety Half-Hour sketch, lol.

white people mocking reggae is never funny

he's mocking white people.

also the mahmoud ahmedinejad song! <3

i can't tell which sides everyone is taking on kenan thompson but "fix it" makes me lol.

It turns out I have gear-envy for Coldplay. Why doesn't musiciansfriend.com offer rusty bronze bells?

I personally think Kenan is fucking hilarious, even when he's only in a skit to make that goofy bug-eyed face he makes in every skit.

this was the first actal non-thursday entire episode of Saturday Night Live i've seen in years and it was pretty awful, i thought. it's a good thing jon hamm is so pretty.

he's mocking white people.

― mizzell, Monday, October 27, 2008 4:03 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't think ilXors get jokes, mizzell.

You know, I realized last week that this entire show is way more likable if you have a DVR and don't have to sit through ads or unloved musical guests to be disappointed by thin sketches -- the zapping-through experience is way, way more pleasant.

Some of you spend way too much time analyzing the impetus for a particular skit to remember to laff.

I.e., I think I enjoy the show itself far more than I would if I were actually spending 1.5 hours watching it

HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "I couldn't say it any better myself. But enough from me, I'm gonna hand this over to a guy you all know, the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden!"
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN - "Thanks, Jack. Congressman Jack Murtha, everybody! Let me tell you something, Johnstown! Two weeks from now, with the help of the people of Western Pennsylvania, we're going to elect a new President. President Barack Obama! (NOTICING SOMEONE IN CROWD) And I see we've got Pete Harrigan here today! Stand up, Pete! Good to see ya!
And let me tell you something else. And listen to me well. As sure as I'm standing here today, during his first few weeks in office, this brilliant young President, is going to be tested. Tested by an international crisis, the likes of which this nation has never before seen. A deliberately manufactured crisis, designed to test his mettle. Now, in this crisis, he will have to make decisions. Decisions that may at first, to the casual observer, seem ill considered. Our military may invade Pakistan. Or surrender to the Chinese. We may sell Hawaii to Saudi Arabia. Or just destroy it, so it can't fall into North Korean hands. But just reserve your judgment. We know what we're doin'. (NOTICING SOMEONE ELSE IN THE CROWD) Hey! Mickey Doyle! County Treasurer How ya doin?
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "If I could say something here. Earlier, what I said about Western Pennsylvania being ignorant. I was misquoted. I meant more, 'backward.' Your people out here just don't understand the modern world. 'Cause they're uneducated, and they don't have radios or that kind of thing. Also, they're racists."
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN - "Mark my words. If you take away nothing else from what I say here today, or indeed, in this entire campaign, remember this. If Barack Obama is elected, we will have a crisis. And when this crisis hits, and it will, in the second week of February, we may do some weird things. We may cede Florida back to Spain, or Alaska to the Russians. We may blow up every nuclear power plant in the country. We may set fire to Washington D.C.. We may round up all French-Canadians. But don't lose faith. It's all part of a plan. (SEES SOMEONE ELSE IN THE CROWD) Hey! There's Pat Reardon, a great assistant D.A. here in Greene County! Good to see ya, Pat!"
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "If I could, I want to say one more thing about the people of Western Pennsylvania. Has anyone here ever seen a movie called 'Deliverance?' No? Never mind, then."
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN -- "I'm going to say something else now, and I want you to mark well the words that I say. And remember that I said them here today. In the second year of the Presidency of Barack Obama, a young child shall come from out of the North, from a city of steel. And this child shall rule for a time. But the child shall rule falsely. In deceit. By the trident of Neptune, what I have spoken is the truth."
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "Joe, do you think this 'child' could be one of them Palin kids?"
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN - "Be silent. Mark well, as I stand here today, the Time of Trouble shall last one year, one month, one day, one hour and one minute. (SPOTS SOMEONE IN CROWD) Hey Phil! How ya doin'? Phil Malloy, head of the Steel Workers Local. But at the appointed hour, the Time of Trouble shall end. And peace shall come to this land for one hundred years. The mouse shall bell the cat, the lamb shall lead the lion, the poor and ignorant shall know wisdom and plenty."
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "You hear that, Western Pennsylvania? That'll be your time!" What happens after the one hundred years?
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN -- Beware the man with one sandal. He who is not of woman born. That is all I can reveal. The rest is classified.
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "Fair enough. You got that, people? Keep an eye out for a guy with one sandal, who's maybe a robot, or a test-tube baby or some kind of deal like that. But if you spot him, don't, you know, try to handle it yourself. Call the proper authorities!"
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN - "Gird your loins! By the beard of Jupiter, gird your loins!"
HAMMOND AS REP. MURTHA - "I think my loins are okay. I was just at the doctor."
SUDEIKIS AS SEN. BIDEN - "Good, good. As it has been spoken, so shall it come to pass. (SEES SOMEONE IN CROWD) Hey! Andy Brennan's here! One of our great county board members out in Fayette. Good to see ya, Andy."
CSPAN VOICEOVER - "We will now leave this event, and go to an Obama/Biden rally in Kansas City, Missouri, where former President Clinton is about to spend two hours recounting the achievements of his Administration, before he forgets to mention the Democratic candidate."
SUDEIKIS AS BIDEN - "And one more thing, Live From New York, it's Saturday Night!"

Some of you spend way too much time analyzing the impetus for a particular skit to remember to laff.

Dude, it aired on Saturday night, I think everyone's had plenty of time to develop thoughts on it since then

it took me about 3/4 of the way through before i laughed with that one. and that was because it reminded me of someone i know (i'm sure that's true for almost everybody)

wow xposts

You know, I realized last week that this entire show is way more likable if you have a DVR and don't have to sit through ads or unloved musical guests to be disappointed by thin sketches -- the zapping-through experience is way, way more pleasant.

― nabisco, Monday, October 27, 2008 4:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's really true!
See also: watching the higlights on hulu

I.e., I think I enjoy the show itself far more than I would if I were actually spending 1.5 hours watching it

― nabisco, Monday, October 27, 2008 4:10 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't think that SNL has gotten more relevant or zeitgeisty or good, it's just that everyone has the ability to watch and forward the good parts on YouTube on Monday

I have a friend who i've never known to watch SNL now going "YOU SMELL DAT PEHPAH?!" to me every five minutes like it's "Yeah, that's the ticket" in 1987

Are you guys all talking about how amazing Kenan is to try and trick me into agreeing with you so that I can "fit in," and then you'll all laugh at me for falling for it? Because I can't imagine any other motivation for promoting a man who hasn't done anything funny since his first season on All That, when the Good Burger sketch was still fresh to a ten year old?

Ha, that pepper one was genuinely funny, though, I think -- and I say that as someone who was initially uncomfortable with the idea that it was some kind of burlesque of a black woman, something I wouldn't normally trust SNL to do

xpost yes, Mordy, it is all a big conspiracy to make you enjoy something enjoyable about life

There's nothing enjoyable about Kenan. I'd even prefer Kel on the show instead.

Zut alors!

You know i was trying to figure out the racial subtext of the pepper sketch myself. Like what type of person that is, where he's (she's?) from, what's his upbringing...

What type of american is it supposed to be parodying?

xpost - Yeah, it seemed like it was a kind of "black woman" character the guy had, one that was way better and less problematic if the guy did it as just ... a character. It probably helps that I actually can think of a few people who look like him and talk like that; the mannerisms aren't that tied to race or sex, though I'm sure a lot of people watched that as if they were, and as if he were making fun.

Yeah, it was clearly a character he came to the show with. I guess they were smart for making it ambiguous. Makes it funnier too.

Casey Wilson is the first person younger than me to be on SNL. It kind of makes me feel like a squandered my life a little.

Haha I also recall trying to think of where someone might encounter a chubby white guy who talked like that, and thinking of waiters at Chicagoland Giordano's locations as not a terrible guess

(The main thing that made it look like it had originated as a black woman character was that he kept doing this hair-smoothing motion that is, umm, well, not normally done by men who are straight or white, anyway)

kenan is awful, [nabisco]. you are so wrong. dude has one gear and it's incredulous-and-aware-of-it. he's a horatio sanz knockoff at best.

and casey wilson is even worse. she has absolutely zero charisma, works too hard in every skit she's in and possesses zero charm.

the new dude i think will be good. i like that he has the gimmick of rewriting classic works, like his of mice and men skit (it was so-so but i liked the conceit) and the mary poppins one, which was pretty great.

i'm sad to say i could write a thesis on the past couple of seasons -- my gf is a huge fan, and thus i have been converted the past few years -- but really, will forte, bill hader and jason sudeikas (to a lesser degree) are all really great. and samberg, too. i'm really not so into fred armisen's shit, i have to say.

also, snl's decision that they needed to have right-wing skits is really fucking weird. i am *sure* there's just one dude lorne hired who writes these things, but they really, really, really don't work, because every one of them is basically "democrats are pussies," and how many jokes can you get out of that?

i am also concerned about the rest of the season only having two female cast members. they've done that in the past, and it's never been good. especially when casey is one.

and FINALLY, the digital short with samberg, kristen wiig and forte where they were competing in a normal-things olympics was easily my favorite skit of the year. every element of it is perfect.

the right wing skits have all been written by jim downey who has written for the show on and off since it started

the fact that most of them aren't very funny says more about how unfunny jim downey is now than anything else, I think

it's true casey wilson doesn't have a lot of funny chops, but I am not going to say anything bad about a decision to put her on tv.

Armisen's topical-comedian amazes me every time, and makes me long for a return of the "guy tells long, tangential story as settings change around him" thing he once did

The right-wing skits have poorly assembled targets, is kinda the problem -- the one about Times reporters going to Alaska seemed to fail based on few people really having that stereotype of journalists themselves

the alaska one in particular really bothered me. it was just really really meanspirited, above all else.

I think Casey Wilson has tons of charisma and charm. She's new enough that I'm going to give her the time to develop her own style and personality. Plus she is uber-cute.

and FINALLY, the digital short with samberg, kristen wiig and forte where they were competing in a normal-things olympics was easily my favorite skit of the year. every element of it is perfect.

omg yes

I was trying to explain this to someone and could not do it justice at all.

Agreed. Loved the Normal-Things Olympics sketch.

That one was okay, but I think the Space Olympics was even better.

i thought the times reporters goes to alaska skit was too long, but had some pretty great moments...primarily the look Samberg and Kenan give each other after learning there's no Thai takeout there, then walk out.

You know, I realized last week that this entire show is way more likable if you have a DVR and don't have to sit through ads or unloved musical guests to be disappointed by thin sketches -- the zapping-through experience is way, way more pleasant.

Yeah, I have been watching it Sunday mornings while I'm reading the paper, so maybe that's why I don't have a big problem with it.

Armisen's topical-comedian amazes me every time, and makes me long for a return of the "guy tells long, tangential story as settings change around him" thing he once did

yes this is amusing every single time even though it never changes

kenan is awful, sorry

I am constantly defending Nicholas Fein to my wife, she thinks that is easily Armisen's worst character, but even I thought this weekend was his worst ever. Felt like he was on autopilot or something.

Nicholas Fein is seriously the best new character of the last few years. Followed by Kristin Wiig's "lady who likes surprises"

Ugh. That is easily Wiig's worst character. By miles. I'd even prefer the constantly one-upping people character.

no!!!!!!!!!!!

the quest for SNL funniness-unanimity once again ends on a razor-sharp reef in a pit full of spikes

lock thread

I wish they'd bring Tracy back just once a month or every two months just to do one Brian Fellow's Safari Planet sketch.

and astronaut jones

I'm sure it's been discussed but why is Kenan on this show?

because he fucking rules

love him as mayor top hat in the lasercats sketch

ILX is like the only stronghold of Kenan support in the whole world

I love when he does Pierre Escargot as Def Comedy Jam standup though

I wish he would just do straight-up Pierre Escargot. Bathtub and all.

Nicholas Fein is seriously the best new character of the last few years.

"...agriculture in the '30s...."

Kenan is great. That weird Ziggy-style or whatever skit where he was dancing around on public access TV with all these controversial guests getting shot at was really great for some reason.

kenan drives me nuts.

Fix it!

To think that if this cast had been on ten years ago I could be picking up a $10 two-pack of the Nicholas Fehn and Tim Calhoun feature films at Target today

Actually I guess 85 minutes of Deep House Dish might be more likely

http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/fri_blog1.jpg

Deep House Dish is the one Kenan thing I don't like...which is shocking considering how I feel about deep house in general. It should be funnier then it is.

I just remembered the skit he did with Fred Armisen where Fred played a racist deaf comedian. That was awesome.

I'd say I'm actually a really big fan of the current cast, though I don't think the writing is that great right now, not as good as it was just a few years ago, but similar.

The last Deep House Dish wasn't as good as previous ones.

DHD was better in general w/ Dratch as the co-host instead of Samberg.

Nobody else can play a stage manager or show bandleader quite like Kenan Thompson.

the baby pug in the lasercats skit FTW

I just remembered the skit he did with Fred Armisen where Fred played a racist deaf comedian. That was awesome.

I'd forgotten about that completely!

wait, why did so many ppl hate 'ras trent'? i thought it was hysterical

rudeboy living in the shanty dorm

“I remember when I first met him—I kind of didn’t like him,” says Greg Rivera, Pentz’s college roommate and, today, co-owner of the Mishka streetwear company, which has made shirts for Mad Decent. “He also was a white kid with dreads. And most white kids with dreads, obviously there’s something up with them."

EXCUSE I!!!!!

I am imagining this show with a cast made up of all of the women ever to appear on the show who are still living and I think it would be balls-out awesome.

BRING BACK JAN HOOKS!

It seems like even besides Tina Fey they've been bringing back more and more former cast members like Maya Rudolph and Chris Parnell for one-off appearances lately, which I like, but also get a little bummed out by because I wish they were still on the show every week.

Denny Dillon thanks you, HI DERE

Chris Parnell should be on every show on television.

http://media.canada.com/idl/vitc/20080327/114925-37284.jpg

xpost OTM. Merv The Perv was some of the funniest shit.

I can't believe Lorne Michaels fired him twice!

http://www.areavoices.com/attic/images/thumbnail/snl2.jpg

poor Danitra

Downey & AM Hall were rumored to be lovers.

Danitra Vance thoroughly outclassed the material, RIP

Nora Dunn as Pat Stevens brought so much joy to my life.

I'd forgotten that Lovitz and Dunn were there a year before the late '80s super-overhaul with Hartman/Carvey/Nealon, etc.

I thought RDJ would have better taste.

man young joan cusack can get it

xp hahaha I am now imagining him screaming "I! WILL EAT! YOUR! SOUL!" at AMH

Lovitz has such a wide smile.

Everyone picks on the 85 cast but the only ones that really struck me as unfunny were Sweeney and AMH. I think most of the problem was terrible writing.

any season could have used a boost of vitamin quaid.

comedy central only played the 85 seasons for like a month.

94-95 beats that season for the most blatantly misused cast of talented people in the history of SNL.

Michaels angered most of his cast by ending the season with a sketch in which the cast (playing themselves) get caught in a fire, and Michaels chooses to rescue only Lovitz (who had connected with audiences due in part to his popular characters the Master Thespian and the Pathological Liar with the catchphrase "that's the ticket!").

i've read about that before but wish i had seen it. brass balls, that LM.

wow, nora dunn was hot

some dude OTM about 94-95

Janeane Garafalo
Michael McKean
Mark McKinney
Laura Kightlinger
and Al Frankin

Could you imagine what this shit would be like if dudes were on their game?

not to mention Sarah Silverman the year before

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/85/85rgoodnights.phtml

I remember Jon Lovitz' liar character only being funny because the rest of the show was so insanely gawdawful. Like finding a cheeto in a turd.

I saw an interview with Sarah Silverman recently and she explained that she got fired for accidentally stabbing one of the writers in the head with a pencil as a joke gone wrong.

a cheeto in a turd

re 94-95: Franken's Stuart Smalley was maybe the funniest thing he ever did (in front of the camera, w/out Tom Davis). Garofalo is better at film acting then she ever was at sketches, standup, or being a big huge Air America bore.

Iirc Garofalo mostly played the girlfriend or straight man in most snl sketches, I don't think they knew what to do w/her.

I'm sure I watched that whole season, but I remember almost nothing about it.

Al Franken was doing Stuart Smalley at least since that 1991 episode with Michael Jordan.

Hands up, who's seen Stuart Saves His Family?

o/

The Norm Coleman campaign staff, maybe?

you watched it for the Ween cameo, didn't you Whiney

Garofalo was a hundred times funnier on the Ben Stiller show

It seems like even besides Tina Fey they've been bringing back more and more former cast members like Maya Rudolph and Chris Parnell for one-off appearances lately, which I like, but also get a little bummed out by because I wish they were still on the show every week.

maya was so wonderful this saturday. it was great to see her.

Ween cameo was in It's Pat, duh!

Which I also watched.

lol egg on my face, i must have seen at least parts of both of those movies

re: female ex-cast members - you know victoria jackson is a crazy right-wing fundie type now, right? like, "mccain and palin are ordained by god to rule this country" type stuff?

i was kinda stoked to see nora dunn as seth rogen's gf's mom in pineapple express

victoria jackson just called obama the anti-christ on her blog. no joke.

remember that song she did about her husband being a cop?

the blonde Christian conservative sketch comedy actress character on Studio 60 would've been so much more believable if they'd just had Victoria Jackson play it.

or the sketch where she plays a pregnant woman and smokes/sticks stomach in the microwave/falls down the stairs?

I don't think it would ever have occurred to me to take seriously the political views of the woman famous for doing headstands during Weekend Update and giggling while reciting awful poetry.

for a second i was like "wait didn't she also have a weekend sketch thing where she demonstrated sex toys?" but then remembered that was cheri oteri

weekend UPDATE thing

victoria jackson just called obama the anti-christ on her blog. no joke.

This saddens me, I didn't realize she was that kind of wackjob.

I wonder if she and Weird Al still speak.

OMG WHY IS THE CHURCH CHAT SKETCH WITH JIM AND TAMMY FAYE BAKKER NOT ONLINE ANYWHERE?

DEMONIC RAISINS I REBUKE YOU!

last night was pretty fucking great

Ben Affleck as Keith Olbermann = A++, would lol again

that sketch was NUTS

he was amazing in the target lady sketch also

Basically I think he's missed his true calling; had he gone out there as a sketch comedy actor rather than a SERIOUS MOVIES ARE SERIOUS actor, I would probably be a fan!

Did anything good happen after Weekend Update?

Affleck was great, he should probably be doing a sitcom like Alec Baldwin instead of whatever he's doing now. xp w/Dan!

hader's queeny goth pitching the film w/ affleck could've been funnier

kenan's thing was great tho. STING YA!

omg YES

All of Kenan's appearances this episode were basically a big "YOU ARE FUCKING WRONG" to everyone upthread talking about how unfunny they find him.

Also I thought the queeny goth thing was pretty hysterical, esp the end.

hahahaha PEEKABOO! Kenan is awesome

I love Kenan. Totally underutilized.

the view sketch needed some direction but they had the characters down

affleck's alec baldwin voice was v good

That Jennifer Aniston impersonation was mean but v v v v funny

haha she looked so grotesque

Kenan's Whoopi was a little bit off...more like a Jewish grandma from Boston.

All of Kenan's appearances this episode were basically a big "YOU ARE FUCKING WRONG" to everyone upthread talking about how unfunny they find him.

it's funny but i was thinking of my own ilx post a few days ago in that erratum while watching that incredible sketch of his last night.

in that erratum light, i meant to write.

That very last sketch didn't work at all, which is why it was last I guess, but I do kinda want that coat.

Ben Affleck as Keith Olbermann = A++, would lol again

No. The sketch was well-written, but the impression was Lousy. Olbermann has a slight British accent now?

Unless it was all meta, and he was making fun of how badly Olbermann does impressions.

watching body fuzion right now and lolling in a major way

i think this is the strongest cast of chicks theyve had ever

I think the sketch was making fun of how pompous and insufferable Olbermann is.

also back to the View sketch: "LET ME FINISH!" hahahahaha

i have heard him affect a british accent to emphasize haught and pomp xp

When he freaked out at the end and basically was just shaking his head and making faces at the camera I was almost incontinent.