Saturday Night Live

Fosse choreographer sketch felt like a Wiig leftover too

head writer kenan thompson, let's make it happen

― lil dirk (J0rdan S.), Monday, October 15, 2012 1:18 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wy-WNKiM0DY/T0Cgn3D2I9I/AAAAAAAAMMU/opi4CZBo-2Y/s1600/SNL+Lindsey+Buckingham+What+Up+With+That+Feb+19+2012.jpg

lol at jordan not knowing who christina applegate is or just now noticing snl going 'fuck it, fake talk show' when they have an idea but can't be bothered to go the extra mile and develop it. kate mckinnon has really established herself quick, her and taran killam are fantastic. episode was definitely meh though - only laughed at debate sketch which was a gimme but they nailed it, tech talk which was sloppy but funny enough in conception - kinda weird to hear nasim's sarcastic concern voice in triplicate though, and the californians which was probably the weakest one of those yet and definitely an idea that should be retired but i still laugh at hader and armisen every time. o and jean k jean was still great but i'm always up for comedy making fun of comedians - they could probably roll out a 'kings of catch phrase comedy' every two weeks and it'd take forever for me to complain.

tech talk was the worst. "how dare you criticize a company's products when they use cheap foreign labor"?

also everybody getting to pull out their finest chinese accents

so glad to see jean k jean back though

also everybody getting to pull out their finest chinese accents

― da croupier, Sunday, October 14, 2012 10:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was super uncomfortable to say the least.

i wonder if the same person who wrote tech talk also wrote that one a season or so ago where web commenters got punched and we were all supposed to clap

weirdest thing, where was Vanessa Bayer? She was killing it last season, stealing skits left and right and appearing constantly. It's like now that they've got Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong they don't need Bayer anymore? Strong seemed kinda nondescript at first to me but she's been pretty good. Just surprised at how little Bayer there was in this episode after her appearing constantly through most of last season.

calm down, bayer's done plenty this season. sometimes an episode is light on a person.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/404167

I'm fine standing alone in my love of the Tech Talk sketch.

Bayer, Tim Robinson and Aidy Bryant were all mostly MIA in this episode. da croup is right, some weeks is different than others.

Kate McKinnon is continuing to kill it imo. I thought Sudeikis seemed re-energized and super engaged this week too.

also everybody getting to pull out their finest chinese accents

― da croupier, Sunday, October 14, 2012 10:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was super uncomfortable to say the least.

― Clay, Monday, October 15, 2012 1:32 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cecily Strong has already done two racist characterizations in her first four episodes. Not real eager to see where she goes next.

Tough crowd.

Not really sure what else you could call this: http://www.hulu.com/watch/401537

wait til you guys get a load of samurai delicatessen or hans and franz

Not really sure what else you could call this

A fairly spot-on portrayal of a certain type of person within the broader latino community. She didn't come out in a comically large sombrero doing "si" jokes with absolutely no depth beyond the accent. It was a rounded-out character.

As for the Tech Talk sketch and the portrayal of the Chinese factory workers, yeah...how exactly would you have done that instead? It's not like they were reliving Mickey Rooney's character from Breakfast at Tiffany's, ffs.

agree that sudeikis seemed back in the swing of things which is an encouraging sign. fully engaged sudeikis can just easily kick sketches up a couple notches.

As for the Tech Talk sketch and the portrayal of the Chinese factory workers, yeah...how exactly would you have done that instead?

The "well we don't have anyone of this race on cast so alright you three get on the high wire" thing was a lesser, secondary point to the other, which is that the sketch was based around the idea that it's offensive to complain about a company's products because oppressed people in other countries work so hard to make them. Obv there are a million sketches where people put on accents, but this was in service of a deeply misguided "first world problems" sketch that pretends foxconn employees run apple.

obv it would have been hard (and more apt to piss off an advertiser) to write a sketch about how chinese laborers have MORE of a reason to be mad at apple than Wired contributors do (rather than that Wired contributors should leave Apple products alone), but that's when you throw a sketch in the trash and say "hey fuck it, Vanessa, wanna do Miley again?"

I think they do have at least one asian actor on board. There was one in the "undecided voters" fake ad that I recognized...figured he was a writer or something.

depends how you define "on board" then, isn't it?

kind of fitting that they had to bring someone in of unclear affiliation for a political ad to make it more diverse

hey just remembered that jerry sandusky gilette ad. was there a joke in that, besides "hey what if jerry sandusky was in the gilette ad"?

i think that was basically it. i thought it was pretty hilarious.

partially because Sudeikis as Sandusky was fucking incredible

those teeth

also loved the siren sketch

totally fell asleep for large parts of this though

i guess i was just disappointed because sandusky and that gillette ad are such rich veins of material that it's a shame they couldn't come up with anything more than "hey what if sandusky was in that gilette ad for no apparent reason"

siren sketch was great, dancing sudeikis always appreciated

in the gillette ad, there's a shot where three women look appreciatively at the four men, and i had a terrible sinking feeling that they were going to cut to sandusky getting a corresponding look from a child. I half-wondered if that WAS the intent originally and then they decided they couldn't possibly air it.

haha i had the same thought

well not 'haha' exactly

very strong episode, even if Applegate was just doing her Wiig impression

I sorta feel like the fake talk show format is the only way Lorne will greenlight new sketch ideas anymore. Like I can totally see the writers pitching the sketch as, "something about how first world problems it is to complain about shitty iPhone apps". And Lorne being all, "ehhh, I don't know". And the writers say, "what if we framed it as a talk show?". Lorne responds, "Brilliant! Run it".

Yes, probably

i had a terrible sinking feeling that they were going to cut to sandusky getting a corresponding look from a child. I half-wondered if that WAS the intent originally and then they decided they couldn't possibly air it.

this definitely happened, only question is whether they got as far as planning to shoot it, I'd like to think they stopped themselves before booking a child actor.

tech talk skit was not at all acceptable btw

Okay, let's call a goddamn moratorium on the overused song-as-monologue trope. Seriously. Stop it.

That debate cold open was fantastic, though.

I thought the debate opening was pretty good; I'm still getting used to Jay Pharoah, and I think Sudeikis has been funnier as Romney. The questioners were good.

Did they let Bruno Mars write that Haters sketch? Ugh.

LOUIS C. K. hosting!!!!! Had this been announced before?

Who's this mulatto fop singing on my television set

Well. This episode sure has taken a quick turn towards unwatchability.

I liked the Sad Mouse thing.

Wow, Stefon moved to tears.

hader to the rescue

Yeah, Sidney Appelbaum more than made up for Bruno Mars.

lol'd like twice, terrible ep

cant wait 4 louie

Yeah, it only got good when Bruno Mars was marginalized or absent altogether. Some high highs but overall the worst episode I've seen in a long time. Like in several years.

who would've thought that bruno mars would produce something horrifyingly terrible

Was Kenan even there this week?

Just in the opening monologue.

Good to see Aidy Bryant finally get some airtime, though. And the Donkey Punch The Vote sketch at the end was funnier than about 90% of the rest of the show.