Saturday Night Live

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!