Saturday Night Live

Perrin on the fourth season (Radner & Murray ascendant); I fondly remember the Scotch-tape store sketches:

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2008/12/snls-classic-coke-year.html

I don't know if another American comedy show ever referenced coke use the way SNL did that year. You certainly wouldn't see that now, which dates these episodes in a weird nostalgic way. When researching Michael O'Donoghue's biography, many of the writers I interviewed told the same stories about blow in the SNL offices; how it fueled them on Tuesday nights as they shaped scripts for the Wednesday read-through; how the show's hotness guaranteed a steady supply of coke, and so on. You definitely see the results in this seven DVD set. Some of the humor is cheap. Much of it is inspired, though a certain meanness comes through. When you watch these shows in bulk, comic aggression is immediate....

For me, the most inspired, original writing in the fourth season came from Don Novello and Brian McConnachie. Novello was best known as Father Guido Sarducci, the Vatican gossip columnist, whose absurdist takes on the Catholic Church still resonate. But Novello also authored two running, slice-of-life sketches: Olympia Cafe and Scotch Boutique. The former was more popular, its "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no Coke, Pepsi" becoming a national catchphrase. Yet despite that covering, the Olympia Cafe pieces were subtly acted, Novello's attention to detail well defined. Scotch Boutique displayed even more precision. A store that sells only scotch tape opens in a dying mall. At first seen as a ridiculous idea, the Boutique soon prospers, selling tape to the other store owners so they can put up their Going Out of Business signs. These pieces ran through the entire season, forming an extended narrative as opposed to recurring one-liners and character turns. Scotch Boutique was an intelligent look at people confronting failure and loss. There were no jokes, only situations, each more dire than the last. Those pieces are perhaps the most poignant work to ever air on SNL.

Actually that makes me realize that all their successful political impersonations are based on turning politicians into funny characters you like, as if they're all just leveling with you about their flaws

i think the major exception to that is phil hartman's reagan — the vindictiveness and meanness that flashes over his face when he yells "I'M the president, only *i* need to understand!" is creepy in a very believably reaganesque way.

yikes

i don't get lonely island/samberg - is it possible for snl to have one hit wonders?

this is really really bad!

this lonely island/t-pain thing got preempted by the thing funny or die did w/ t-pain

haha ok i can ride for road trip part 2!!! first was one of the most underrated of the season imo

this is really really bad

that wasnt terrible, nowhere near the road trip one with paul rudd obv which is a classic

i am a relatively new SNL watcher, was there one of those before the paul rudd one?

OMG that Bjork impression!

They've done the drinking buddies/jukebox sketch probably about 5 times in the past couple years now. I can't say I'm tired of it yet...

Bjork bit had me rolling.

Is TV on the Radio usually this bad live?

oh ok the first time i saw was the paul rudd and i really loved that one

xpost

Dear SNL, please find more ways to get Bobby Moynihan to impersonate Nathan Lane.

yeah i love the song thing...apparently it's called "song memories": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Memories

tonight's and the road trip were definitely the weakest, though, best one was done to "The Weight"

i didn't think it was a bad episode personally...especially considering Bradley Cooper has to be the most obscure guest host they've had in years and years, wtf was up with that.

who is he

he asked the message board instead of going to google

he had 5th billing in Wedding Crashers and like 10th billing in He's Just Not Into You, apparently is on Nip/Tuck now? scarcely had any idea who he was before seeing his name on the TV listing today.

xpost HOOS it's ok some people are so not famous he'd make a Tuomas out of anyone

yeah i love the song thing...apparently it's called "song memories": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Memories

tonight's and the road trip were definitely the weakest, though, best one was done to "The Weight"

― some dude, Sunday, February 8, 2009 1:09 AM (11 minutes ago)

yo def need to trac down the other song memories b/c road trip killlled me

they are soo00o in their winter slump

It's actually not terribly unfunny tonight.

I can't believe it took them 17 years to come up with a Sir Mix-a-Lot sketch like that, though.

ugh it's really dragging for me
the only thing that was OK was the first sketch after the greet with cameron diaz (!)
kenan thompson has never been and never will be funny

Cougar ageism as funny as minstrel racism.

Turned it off.

Cameron Diaz always shows up for the cougars sketch. But what else is she doing these days?

Kristen Wiig's Carol Channing impression is a revelation.

I love the Vincent Price sketches.

the wii skit was so smart it should go to college, but a bit blatant. w/e, i'll take it

last few episodes have been pretty week, but I keep watching because I love the cast, especially Wiig who just brings it every time. You know tonight was bereft of ideas when they recycled two bits, the pampers ad and the balloon ride.

It's common for them to repeat "commercials" throughout a season (or even two).

First Coughs and the one w/ the 3 guys scheduling a meeting were both A+ Baldwin showcases.

I know they repeat sometimes, but if they repeast more then one, I get thinking that they don't have enough material or something.

i'm shocked some 15 year old with a web cam didn't do that wii sketch two years ago

actually pretty funny (for SNL) which isn't saying a whole lot, amirite? in other news, i'm beginning to find kenan oddly awesome. what the fuck is happening to me? is it just that SNL is that consistantly mediocre? i dunno.

second cougars sketch - saved by kenan. should've been way, way funnier with alec baldwin involved but somehow it wasn't/

kristen wii

It's kinda safe to repeat old bits when it's Valentine's Day and your audience is dictated not by who watches the show but by how people's love lives are going, you know?

Also I should do my normal thing of looking down my nose at people who don't find Kenan funny, so ... Kenan is funny, what's wrong with y'all, etc. etc., zut alors

FIX IT!

Kenan's musical Boat Ride sketch with Anna Faris needs more props. I think I've watched that about a half dozen times.

I am liking all 4 of the featured players, but I'm wondering if there is a limit to the amount of sketches they are "allowed" to be in each episode. That would partly explain why Kristen is used so heavily, since she is the only female full cast member at the moment.

Kenan is funny because he is fat. Is there such a thing as an unfunny fat person? That would be kind of an accomplishment, to negate one's physically comedic attributes through sheer force of personality. (There's one fat comedian I'm thinking of who has managed to do this, but I don't know his name.)

http://mikeresponts.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/john-wayne-gacy.jpg

Horatio Sanz has kids buried under his abode.

I know he's skinny now, but he was fat on snl.

You don't laugh at your own jokes like that unless there's total darkness in your soul.

Also I should do my normal thing of looking down my nose at people who don't find Kenan funny, so ... Kenan is funny, what's wrong with y'all, etc. etc., zut alors

― nabisco, Wednesday, February 18, 2009 2:22 PM (3 hours ago)

dude, i think you're really smart, but wtf on this one? the dude essentially plays the same character every sketch he's (near-invariably briefly) in, which is the lol "serious" "shaking his head at other people" or "vaguely sarcastic" guy (see: cougar sketches, etc). of course, he's also got his other recurring thing, which is "black guy". i find he brings zero, even negative, charisma week after week (which tbf could be a result of the fact that he's so sparingly used), and as a kenan & kel stan 4 life i'm often completely embarassed for him more than anything else

Franken's former partner Tom Davis has written a memoir:

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2009/02/snl-survivor.html

I know he's skinny now

Wow, I had no idea.
http://hollywooddame.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/horatio-sanz-100-weight-loss.jpg

the dude essentially plays the same character every sketch he's (near-invariably briefly) in, which is the lol "serious" "shaking his head at other people" or "vaguely sarcastic" guy (see: cougar sketches, etc). of course, he's also got his other recurring thing, which is "black guy".

THIS. THIS IS THE PROBLEM. saw a re-run of a will ferrell hosted episode and kenan actually does some character work (cosby most memorably).

need separate SNL: The Funny Years thread

no he dint!

xp he kills on weekend update i know that. i used to think he was terrible and kevin's characterization def. rings a bell but over the last couple years he's made me laugh alot. (he's even brought weird beats to the otherwise unchanged 'vaguely sarcastic guy' that make me laugh, i dunno, it's like he's not steamrolling through the sketches anymore)

He has definitely improved, I'll give him that much.