Saturday Night Live

Unfortunately I can't cite specifics, because I started wiping her from my memory (sad, because I liked her in the beginning). It would probably be around 2004/05.

I don't know if it's part of the del close 'chicago school' of comedy but it seems like an unwritten rule that in any bit with an eccentric character there must always be a proxy for the audience who is normal and 'clever' enough to say 'what you are doing here is both weird and stupid'

I don't think that's a Del Close thing, although I have seen stuff at the iO Theater where that sort of audience proxy is welcome and even funny in a scene that otherwise threatens to devolve into something ungrounded, unfocused, and self-indulgent. The difference, of course, is that with improv, you probably need that kind of reassurance ("look, we know this guy's being a weirdo on stage") way more than with a mainstream televised sketch show, where you implicitly trust that everything's done on purpose and for a reason.

I think Ferrell's run is benefitting from the rose colored glasses provided by a good movie career and cherry-picked best-of specials as much as any cast member from the 70s or 80s -- guy was an insufferable sketch hog in his day, at the height of their sketch lengths going on way too long, it seemed like every week's broadcast included at least 15 minutes of him yelling in a thong or something. there were a couple years where i straight up hated him.

he became a sketch hog because he was the last guy to leave, right? the thing about Ferrell is that he had many, many moments of hilarity which is something the current cast seems unable to claim. He was as much a sketch hog as anyone there ever was--Dana Carvey comes to mind. And let's face it, the institution that is SNL has ridden its renegade 70s legend through rose colored glasses and sketches that were more groundbreaking than funny. I think this is especially driven by the number of players who successfully to the big screen and made the show larger than life.

And seriously, if they get 3 or 4 good to great sketches in any given episode, that's as good as it's ever been. I think DVRs make the show either worse or heighten its worseness.

if they get 3 or 4 good to great sketches in any given episode

^^yep. imo this is basically the batting avg during even the best years

A lot of the Ferrell stuff is funnier in hindsight than it was live, I think. And that could be said for most of SNL's past, for any player. If there's one thing about SNL that works, it's that most sketches aren't as funny in real time as they are after the fact.

Tracy Morgan, for example, was on some other level most of the time, but it wasn't so obvious when it was happening.

I used to think early SNL might not have been so great, but then I saw a rerun of one of the early shows (Candace Bergen was host?) Nearly every sketch was a winner. Even had some weird muppet shit.

They cut out all the shitty sketches for rebroadcast to whittle it down to an hour, but at least they HAD a good hour.

The version I used to see in australia was on a basic cable channel and they cut it down to 1 hour to start with but eventually cut it down to about 35 minutes. i used to think i was missing a whole lot but now we record the actual live show and watch it, after all the fast forwarding, we end up with about 35 minutes.

It does take 35-40 minutes watching it on Tivo. I can't believe now that I ever watched this show live.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53458/saturday-night-live-aladdin

TIMBERLAKE! CIARA! TIMBERLAKE!

timberlake is so annoying in this environment

CAN YOU GUYS TELL THAT I AM NOT ONE DIMENSIONAL? LOOK AT ME I AM MORE THAN A SINGING POP STAR! I AM FUNNY AND I CAN ACT!

i might kill myself after the digital short tonight

My friend's impression of Justin Timberlake is funnier than anything J.T's ever done in front of a camera. He says the impression is done by making your voice as high and as boyishly effeminate as you can possibly make a man's voice sound without it becoming a "gay caricature". Then, once you have that voice down, you have that voice try to act like Will Smith. Voila!

mom translator was awesome

they could just replace this episode with video of timberlake masturbating and it would the show would remain unchanged

might be a bit funnier actually

this episode is so hot

singing in every skit = zzzzzzzzzz

^truth^

eh, that performance seemed to be missing a track, or ciara's mic sucked

SNL in shitty sound shocker tho

that song blows maybe

also they re arranged it to include horns and likely have never performed it live so yeah

u fuckin mad

lol i wasn't the one expecting a good live performance of "love sex magic"

the best part is how they barely even looked at each other

this has been a really bad episode

srsly timberlake makes the episodes awful cuz they are all based around singing

blind paterson was once again lol

why is timberlake's pirate gay?

he's Comfortable With His Sexuality

did ciara used to be attractive?

ciara was pretty disappointing tonight :(
"never ever" was better tho

he's Comfortable With His Sexuality

― triple-hater protection (J0rdan S.), Sunday, May 10, 2009 12:46 AM (10 minutes ago)

otm

the paterson skits are always A++++++++++++++++++++++

"having sex with a prostitute without using a condom is like driving a convertible through NEW JERSEY!!"

The beauty contest line had me rolling.

Surprised no one has mentioned how funny the "Mothers Day" digital shot was.

That's probably because it wasn't very funny.

Okay then I am surprised no one mentioned how unfunny they thought it was.

The immigrant skit brought the roffles.

the mothers day shit was super dumb - also itd be much funnier of they dressed not like color me badd but like current day justin timberlake - that porkpie vesty members only look is just as ridiculous

why is timberlake's pirate gay?

you are asking why a comedy show might present a musical-theater professional as somewhat stereotypically gay!

can we retroactively add Justin to the SNL worst cast member poll?

I dunno, I always found him surprisingly entertaining in his guest spots. Maybe I just can't take him seriously enough to dislike him.

i watched kill bill vol 2 instead

jordan u are such a hater! jt was fine this week the mother lover thing was about as funny as you can expect the sequel to a joke song can be, susan sarandon is hot, etc

also itd be much funnier of they dressed not like color me badd but like current day justin timberlake

oh, I do have to admit I found this odd -- like in the first one they both dressed and sounded pretty 1992, but then in this one they're still dressed all '92 but the sound is all modern, etc.

(this does not really affect my perception of whether it's funny, or anything)