Saturday Night Live

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