Saturday Night Live

jesus that late for class sketch....

Oh I remember that guy (Luke Null). He gave me a 21 Jump St. Penhall vibe.

Luke (null)

man when you watch Hartman in that Reagan sketch, his timing is so good and his characterization is really on point. the current cast is just lethargic.

Current cast and skits are like they rehearsed for something up until the last minute, then everyone lost the scripts and they had to cobble together a show overnight.

Basically the SNL equivalent of zombie Simpsons.

It's kind of bizarre, since improv comedy has become such an industry-- that SNL continues to pull these non-entities from such a big pool. Like, maybe these guys audition well and just fail to shine in the written sketch format?

There was an interview with Nick Kroll I just saw, where he says that yes, he did at one point audition for SNL, and fellow comedians who didn't make the cut that year included Ellie Kemper and Jordan Peele. So clearly SNL attracts top talent, but that top talent for whatever reason does not always make it to the cast. I wouldn't be shocked if they sometimes come across a really talented person and don't pick them for that reason, worrying that they won't stick around.

I kinda doubt they're worried about that tbh

I do think a lot about the fact that Key & Peele got their start as third-stringers on MadTV. auditioning for a sketch comedy show must be a lot like scouting baseball or football, where at best you get it half right and at worst all-time greats like Albert Pujols and Tom Brady get picked in the 13th round

I don't think the show is failing to find talent, they're just not giving the talent much to work with. I feel like I could go on forever listing cast members who seemed anywhere from bad to slightly above average when they were on the show but who have absolutely flourished elsewhere: Hader, Will Forte, Sudeikis, Armisen, Chris Parnell, Poehler, Tracy Morgan, Maya Rudolph, Wiig, etc.

idk some of those people were better than slightly above average on SNL

yeah i mean they went on to "greater things" i guess bc they leveraged their strengths out of snl but imo the wiig/hader/forte/sudeikis years were some of the most watchable years in this show's history. what i wouldn't give to have forte back :(

evol's list is insane. poehler wiig rudolph average?? i think he has a point with sudeikis and morgan. hader was brilliant on snl. armisen went on to portlandia yechh

yea wasn't Hader leaving SNL seen as a big mistake at the time

what exactly has he done besides that weird movie with LeBron?

he just won an emmy for his hbo show

Barry! Xp

oh yeaaaah

never mind

He did a good Documentary Now thing

yeah but why work with HBO when he could still be on SNL impersonating Sheldon Whitehouse or someone

what exactly has he done besides that weird movie with LeBron?

― frogbs, Friday, October 19, 2018 10:00 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he just won an emmy for his hbo show

that's a very weird way to describe Trainwreck

the roots of the problem with this show are very clearly spelled out by Harry Shearer in his critique of Lorne Michaels. Everything comes down to Michael's idiotic insistence on poor working conditions and his own "rules" for what he thinks works

evol's list is insane. poehler wiig rudolph average?? i think he has a point with sudeikis and morgan. hader was brilliant on snl. armisen went on to portlandia yechh

― the dutiful and the banned (rip van wanko), Friday, October 19, 2018 10:49 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha i got a little carried away listing names and forgot my original premise. Wiig was definitely one of the best, if not the best, cast member of the past decade. Rudolph was really good too. I honestly don't remember much of anything from Amy Poehler though maybe it's just that I only think of her as Leslie Knope now.

the roots of the problem with this show are very clearly spelled out by Harry Shearer in his critique of Lorne Michaels. Everything comes down to Michael's idiotic insistence on poor working conditions and his own "rules" for what he thinks works

― Οὖτις, Friday, October 19, 2018 3:38 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah why hire a ton of improv experts and forbid improvisation

There was an interview with Nick Kroll I just saw, where he says that yes, he did at one point audition for SNL, and fellow comedians who didn't make the cut that year included Ellie Kemper and Jordan Peele. So clearly SNL attracts top talent, but that top talent for whatever reason does not always make it to the cast. I wouldn't be shocked if they sometimes come across a really talented person and don't pick them for that reason, worrying that they won't stick around.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, October 19, 2018 7:19 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

john goodman, jim carrey and paul reubens (amongst others) auditioned for snl and weren't cast

I like Shearer's story about how Lorne hired him as a player but told the cast he was just a writer, causing everyone to get annoyed that he kept casting himself in his sketches

Carrey's humor more suited to Mad TV (for what that's worth)

in living color you mean?

Shearer points out all sorts of stupid things that hamper the show - why allow only a couple of days to rehearse anything? why insist on doing it live if improv is forbidden? why force everyone to compete for exposure? etc

oh yeah ILC xp

first year salary at SNL is reportedly $2500/wk, for the 22(?) week run, which is basically subsistence living in NYC. gotta be tons of perks but with Lorne's net worth over $300M that seems cheap imo

i mean lorne's a total piece of shit right? i thought that was his "thing"

yes he is a total piece of shit

Shearer points out all sorts of stupid things that hamper the show - why allow only a couple of days to rehearse anything? why insist on doing it live if improv is forbidden? why force everyone to compete for exposure? etc

― Οὖτις, Friday, October 19, 2018 2:58 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love how he pointed out that he got shit for the expense of the synchronized swimming film, only for SNL to trot it out at every possible anniversary-related opportunity.

first year salary at SNL is reportedly $2500/wk, for the 22(?) week run

$5000/week in 2013, per Brooks Wheelan on The Little Dum Dum Club this week

interesting ty

well that's certainly not enough to live a druggy lifestyle in NY, no wonder there hasn't been much of that in awhile

If you're an SNL cast member people will likely just hand you drugs.

well that's certainly not enough to live a druggy lifestyle in NY, no wonder there hasn't been much of that in awhile

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, October 19, 2018 12:43 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ah yes, the subsistence wage of $10k a month

i mean lorne's a total piece of shit right? i thought that was his "thing"

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, October 19, 2018 12:06 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes he is a total piece of shit

― Οὖτις, Friday, October 19, 2018 12:06 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally, i think there are def some ex SNL cast members who don't really gaf anymore who are on record talking about his shit tendencies.

Shearer is cantankerous enough that I don't think he ever gave a fuck and has been pretty open but also I think his POV is relevant because he is pretty sharp about how these ensemble comedy sort of things can and should work in general. I can think of a bunch of former castmembers (Murphy, Murray, McDonald etc.) who I would imagine have a p low opinion of Lorne, but idk how public they've been about it.

jiv, it's only 22 shows.

Murphy was only on during the Ebersol years (though I wouldn't be surprised if he has a low opinion of Lorne from David Spade's "Look! A falling star!" line).

xp

i think generally anyone who wasn't a white dude from the original cast has or had mixed feelings about LM, most of them afaik haven't gone all-in on him publicly but there have been a few somewhat dissenting opinions on how he dealt w/things.

This is why I don't watch this fucking garbage anymore:

Actor and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Taran Killam said the show’s creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels wanted the cast to make President Trump more “likable” in sketches and was very specific about what he allowed members to say about him.

Mr. Killam, who appeared on “SNL” from 2010-2016 and played Mr. Trump on the show until Alec Baldwin took over, told the “I Was There Too” podcast released Tuesday that Mr. Michaels often told the cast not to “vilify” the then-Republican presidential candidate.

“‘He’s like any New York taxi driver. … I know him, I’ve seen him around at parties for years and years, and he just says whatever it is he’s thinking, and that’s his thing,’” Mr. Killam recalled Mr. Michaels saying. “You have to find a way in that makes him likable.”

Mr. Killam has been critical of Mr. Trump in the past, saying last year that having him on the show as a host before the Republican primary was something that “grows more embarrassing and shameful as time goes on.”

If you took every funny sketch SNL ever did, would you have enough for 1 season's worth of shows?

yes

jiv, it's only 22 shows.

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, October 19, 2018 1:43 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes and for the time they're doing those 22 shows it's a good earner

― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, October 19, 2018 4:58 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as sic corrected it it would actually amount to $110,000 for < 6 months work, for people in their first year.

have you seen the rents here?