How qualified do you have to be to write about television?
― I don't even OWN a Television album (The Yellow Kid), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 03:07 (nine years ago) link
xp a lot of those were pretty butchered, though; some were 20-30 minutes
― Jennifer 8.-( (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 03:08 (nine years ago) link
That 10 seconds of Larry David was probably the best part of snl40.
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 06:20 (nine years ago) link
I might be slightly older than you but the nick at night compressed episodes from the 70s cast were essential for me. Where else would I have seen this shit:― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Friday, January 30, 2015 1:37 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark
These started in syndication in the early 80s. Musical guests were rarely (if ever) included, but sometimes the monologues were. Watching these made you want to see the whole episodes; watching the whole episodes made you want to only see the 30 minute edit.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 13:58 (nine years ago) link
― billstevejim, Tuesday, February 17, 2015 1:20 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I was thinking how weird it was that he was a stronger actor than most of the veteran performers
― pro stroke Johnny Gill songs would rub you the right way (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 14:03 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it really felt like a lot of those people hadn't performed in any capacity in years.
― You Just Mind Your P's & Q's, Buster Brown! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 15:14 (nine years ago) link
@AlbertBrooks I think it will take another 40 years. RT @mattthomas: Still waiting for the #SNL40 Albert Brooks tribute.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 15:52 (nine years ago) link
Ha, there was actually a lot more Brooks on the special than I thought there'd be...and there was only 10-15 seconds of Brooks.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 15:56 (nine years ago) link
I tried to watch but it opened with Fallon, which reminded me that SNL came to specialize in suck-up comedy, where you bring on celebs like DeNiro or Palin and the joke is "Here's someone famous we impersonate, but they have a sense of humor about it. Win-win."
― ancient texts, things that can't be pre-dated (President Keyes), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:03 (nine years ago) link
I'm not sure who was the first person in office to host -- DP Moynihan, maybe? -- but it pretty much indicated the surrender of any ambition to satire. (except on behalf of the status quo/govt, as in the infamous Gulf war press conference sketch)
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:06 (nine years ago) link
According to Horatio Sanz (iirc), Jim Downey was always pushing for "balance" in the political jokes--as many targeting Dems as GOP. Because what we needed in 2003 was a bunch of jokes about Tom Daschle.
― ancient texts, things that can't be pre-dated (President Keyes), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:14 (nine years ago) link
O'Hehir on SNL's nonsatirical political humor:
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/14/tina_feys_sarah_palin_when_saturday_night_live_finally_got_political_satire_right/
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:21 (nine years ago) link
In Tina Fey's book she goes on about how much she hated it when they did the skits where they brought on the actual celebs. She said it was the weakest laziest thing to do. The first one I remember was DeNiro and Pesci coming in and beating up Jim Breuer and whoever else.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:28 (nine years ago) link
Robert Smigel has talked about how much he hated it as well; there was a joke about it in one of the TV Funhouses.
― Chris L, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:31 (nine years ago) link
it's apparent how weak it is to everyone but Lorne and the chimps in the studio audience I guess
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:40 (nine years ago) link
Fey's Palin sketches were the first time it seemed like something they did had an actual impact - Palin was such an unknown entity/weird wildcard factor towards the end of the election, and her "media personality" were a huge part of her selling point in terms of a last-ditch McCain/GOP effort to stop Obama. But the Fey impersonation really helped to cement her image as a loony.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:42 (nine years ago) link
it probably helped that Fey was off the show at that point and probably could have just walked if they wanted her to do something lame with the Palin character
― ancient texts, things that can't be pre-dated (President Keyes), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 16:51 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qRZvlZZ0DY
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 19:43 (nine years ago) link
most SNL stunt cameos are more than 6 seconds.
The show did its best to get Giuliani a third term.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 20:05 (nine years ago) link
Is comedy inherently conservative?
― Scott Blakula (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 20:12 (nine years ago) link
The stars pick their faves!http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/lists/carrie-brownstein-broad-city-and-more-on-best-of-snl-20150217Brooks:
My favorite skit is Richard Pryor's word association game with Chevy Chase. Nobody had seen that particular kind of thing before. There was probably no whiter man working than Chevy Chase, so it was a very good combination of people. It doesn't happen very often, but when a comedy sketch takes on another dimension where you almost think someone's gonna get punched — it's just great. Chevy cracked a smile on some skits, but he held it together in that one.But you can't talk about the show without talking about Tina Fey's Sarah Palin. It was the melding of a performer and an event; the timing was so perfect that it probably influenced an election. Look, Saturday Night Live has done impressions forever. But here was a person who was not established enough where just doing an impression [of her] was so meaningful that it formed the perception of who this person was. You forgot you weren't watching Sarah Palin. That could only happen a few times.
But you can't talk about the show without talking about Tina Fey's Sarah Palin. It was the melding of a performer and an event; the timing was so perfect that it probably influenced an election. Look, Saturday Night Live has done impressions forever. But here was a person who was not established enough where just doing an impression [of her] was so meaningful that it formed the perception of who this person was. You forgot you weren't watching Sarah Palin. That could only happen a few times.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 20:15 (nine years ago) link
That Pryor sketch is easily the best thing from the first season. And, like "Love Is A Dream", it's the kind of thing you're unlikely to ever see on SNL again.
― Scott Blakula (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 20:26 (nine years ago) link
also the never-discussed Bergman parody where Louise Lasser and Chevy Chase fool death by telling him to go pick up a pizza
― thrifty grades of pay (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:28 (nine years ago) link
couldn't guess whether that block quote was gonna be from Mel Brooks or Brooks Wheelan or what
― raccoon tanuki dye dashiki nefertiti edges kinky (some dude), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:40 (nine years ago) link
Please, nobody is asking Brooks Wheelan for his take on anything.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:42 (nine years ago) link
a O'Hehir's article was good enough that I was surprised it was him when I got to the bottom. But he forgot the Phil Hartman Reagan sketch, which added something missing from the standard Reagan satire of the time.
b Plenty of reasons why we won't be seeing something like the Pryor-Chase sketch anyplace else either.
c No, comedy is not inherently conservative. But tv shows that become "institutions" are.
d I can come up with many many good SNL skits, and still the crap to quality ratio at SNL has been intolerable and I kind of hate that show.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:45 (nine years ago) link
there's a season 1 sketch called "citizen kane 2," with aykroyd as kane, chevy chase as leland, and belushi as bernstein that is absolutely incredible
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:46 (nine years ago) link
Agree with Goodman on the Theodoric of York thing. Totally bizarre and hilarious. They reran that episode recently
― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:48 (nine years ago) link
I caught the Second City touring company last year --- not the A-listers obviously, but still --- and it was depressing to see most of the performers obviously angling for instantly recognizable SNL type cast niche personas. If they had anything going on you couldn't tell, it was just 'oh she reminds me of that one cast member'.
Add to that the whole come-up-with-a-character-that-Hollywood-will-make-a-movie-of thing dating back even to the original cast, resulting in desolate wastes of tv time spanning four decades.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:55 (nine years ago) link
it's almost like they're treating it like a job or a career
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 21:57 (nine years ago) link
it's almost like I'm a selfish person for not wanting better stuff to watch
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:03 (nine years ago) link
come-up-with-a-character-that-Hollywood-will-make-a-movie-of thing dating back even to the original cast
i don't recall an instance of the orig cast coming up with one that led to a film? excepting the bizarre afterthought of a Coneheads movie in the '90. The Blues Bros performances on the show turned out not to be sketches in A&B's minds. There were no Lisa Loopner or Cheezburger movies.
but yes, Michael O'Donoghue loathed having recurring characters.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:03 (nine years ago) link
Blues Brothers, Coneheads both resulted in movies. But yeah, the vibe with the OC was different.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:05 (nine years ago) link
The Blues Bros performances on the show turned out not to be sketches in A&B's minds.
Maybe not sketches, but they were definitely recurring characters on the SNL stage.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:06 (nine years ago) link
the movie factory treadmill wasn't really in place prior to Wayne's World.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:07 (nine years ago) link
The touring company is a completely different scene than the regular Chicago cast, though. For one thing, the Chicago shows have tons of local references that the touring company can't use, but beyond that, they're in the theater they're familiar with, they know their audience, and they can take many more risks.
(Although tbf, I haven't seen Second City in Chicago in years, but every show I saw was better than the best-ever SNL episode.)
multiple xps
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:07 (nine years ago) link
I saw Tim Meadows and Chris Farley at Second City Chicago and they were nuclear-bomb funny, to the point where I made a point of remembering their names so I could follow their careers.
― "Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:09 (nine years ago) link
The Blues Brothers (1980) Wayne's World (1992) Wayne's World 2 (1993) Coneheads (1993) It's Pat: The Movie (1994) Stuart Saves His Family (1995) A Night at the Roxbury (1998) Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) Superstar (1999) The Ladies Man (2000) MacGruber (2010)
Did WW2 really come ONE YEAR after WW? The only ones of these I've actually seen are the WW movies, the original Blues Brothers and MacGruber.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:10 (nine years ago) link
apart from the first and the last all the movies on that list that I've seen (WW, WW2, Night at the Roxbury, part of Coneheads) basically suck
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:13 (nine years ago) link
I'd love to see Toronto or Chicago casts. And the audience for the show I saw was just yelling drunks basically. Still, this thing where performers are supposedly unable to do anything interesting because boo hoo the audience, the audience isn't noticeably more appreciative of predictable junk either so maybe TRY?
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:15 (nine years ago) link
it seems weird to complain about seeing a bunch of people trying to launch their careers when you go to see a show by a decades-old institution that is well-known for serving as a career launching pad
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
IIRC, the first Wayne's was 1st or 2nd quarter '92, and part two was Xmas season '93.
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
like if you don't want to see character+catchphrase-driven comedy, maybe look elsewhere
xp
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:23 (nine years ago) link
I saw part of the Pat movie on TV one afternoon, and it is so much worse than you might think it would be. The idea of an entire Stuart Smalley movie terrifies me.
― Losing swag by the second (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:25 (nine years ago) link
Stuart Saves His Family is actually good - it's a lot darker than the sketches were.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:30 (nine years ago) link
yeah Stuart's directed by Ramis, I'd watch it if it came on tv
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:30 (nine years ago) link
okay sorry I had a wonderful time it was awesome I laughed until my sides hurt I hope they weren't too scarred by my earlier comments not that they would know who they were or anything
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:32 (nine years ago) link
both of the wayne's world movies are great imo
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:34 (nine years ago) link
I have no memory at all of the 2nd one but I'm sure I saw it.
― totally unachievable goals and no incentive to compromise (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:37 (nine years ago) link
It's Pat has Ween in it and one moment that got a laugh out of me ("Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" "No, it's a banana"), but yes it is extraordinarily bad
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 22:39 (nine years ago) link