iow, thanks to social media now everyone's a comedian
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:22 (one year ago) link
Comedians are like opinions: everybody has one.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:25 (one year ago) link
I keep two comedians in my closet
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:26 (one year ago) link
(xxpost) More or less, yeah. Maybe always true, but absent social media, you never heard the other 100,000 versions before SNL got to it. Even with Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, when the internet wasn't quite the swamp in 2008 that it is today, I don't remember being exposed to much about Palin (relatively speaking) before Fey took her on.
― clemenza, Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:28 (one year ago) link
The trope of "SNL isn't as good as it used to be" is only slightly younger than the show itself. Almost always, the person saying that thinks it was best in their own personal adolescence (when staying up late was a lure in itself) or young adulthood (when the references felt fresh).
I'm British and never really saw any snl until I was in my 30s when a digital channel over here repeated the first couple of seasons from the 70s, and the I started watching sketches on youtube, so without the bias of youthful affection I can say that the funniest era of the show is the mid 2000s to early 2010s period, otherwise agree the hit to miss ratio is fairly consistent throughout the whole run, and that any 'current affairs'/topical reference stuff is now always the worst part of the show because all the jokes have already been flogged to death on twitter well before saturday night
― soref, Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:41 (one year ago) link
That’s a pretty solid era, definitely top three. I’d probably put them second behind the late 80s cast, one spot ahead of the original cast. that first iteration of the show wasn’t really amazingly funny all the time, but that was just a solid gold cast with A+ ringers.
― omar little, Saturday, 4 February 2023 19:37 (one year ago) link
xp That Hader, Armisen, Forte, Wiig, Samberg, Meyers-helmed era was pretty classic imo, not something I realized until after it was over.
― circa1916, Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:10 (one year ago) link
This was a pretty bad year (95)
Repertory players
Morwenna Banks (first episode: April 8, 1995)Ellen CleghorneChris ElliottChris FarleyJaneane Garofalo (final episode: February 25, 1995)Norm MacdonaldMichael McKeanMark McKinney (first episode: January 14, 1995)Tim MeadowsMike Myers (final episode: January 21, 1995)Kevin NealonAdam SandlerDavid SpadeFeatured players
Al Franken (final episode: May 6, 1995)Laura KightlingerJay MohrMolly Shannon (first episode: February 25, 1995)
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:29 (one year ago) link
Oof
― kurt schwitterz, Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:31 (one year ago) link
I love that lost-in-the-sauce year between Bad Boys of Comedy era and screaming Will Ferrell era
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:32 (one year ago) link
Just lots of screaming Farley and weird little Chris Elliott bits
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtzmxr
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:33 (one year ago) link
the only thing I recall seeing from that season is this sketch with Mark McKinney (as DaRYL from KITH), Chris Elliott and Janeane Garofalo about internet chatrooms, and it's funny but I never would have guessed it was from snl
― soref, Saturday, 4 February 2023 20:37 (one year ago) link
what's weird is I believe and kind of vaguely remember that was a bad year of SNL but on the whole that's a lot of very funny people!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 4 February 2023 21:02 (one year ago) link
Anyway, I used to be a "why can't SNL be good like it was when I was an adolescent" guy but now I realize looking back that it was never very good. Was Phil Hartman a genius? Yes. Is the concept of "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" brilliant? Yes. But the actual sketches are belabored workings out of a single idea that can't bear the weight, just like sketches are now. Maybe "never very good" is too harsh. It was a live show! It was meant to be performed and watched in the moment, not forever! It was good at being the thing it was being. But I'd rather watch "Trading Places" than anything Murphy did on SNL ever. That was made to last, and it did.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 4 February 2023 21:06 (one year ago) link
Lol
In reruns, the "O'Callahan and Sons" sketch is replaced with the short film Vacation because Jay Mohr admitted plagiarizing "O'Callahan and Sons" from comedian Rick Shapiro.
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Saturday, 4 February 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
what's weird is I believe and kind of vaguely remember that was a bad year of SNL but on the whole that's a lot of very funny people!Yeah, that ‘94-‘95 season is pretty weird (and bad) in how Michaels seemingly tried to emulate Ebersol’s strategy in ‘84-‘85 of bringing in some ringers, but with decidedly less success. I love Chris Elliott, but 10 years after he’d established himself as a solid comedic presence (and just 2 years after he starred in his own well-received sitcom), it seemed like his talents would’ve been put to much more effective use pretty much anywhere else. Adding him to the cast felt desperate (more on Lorne’s part than Elliott’s).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 4 February 2023 21:27 (one year ago) link
S20 is such a trainwreck: Farley's coked up; Sandler & Spade in particular are frequently checked-out; McKean's there to do Clinton and also play Spade's Dad; Myers is waiting for his next movie; Nealon's wishing he left a year earlier; Elliott & Garofalo don't really fit anywhere; Meadows hasn't blossomed yet...
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 4 February 2023 22:15 (one year ago) link
I assure you all that nothing in that cast list stands out as much for an American as Morwenna Banks does for someone watching a lot of UK comedy - four seasons of Absolutely then three episodes of Saturday Night Live.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 4 February 2023 22:19 (one year ago) link
But I'd rather watch "Trading Places" than anything Murphy did on SNL ever. That was made to last, and it did.I mostly agree (I can probably recite Trading Places from memory at this point), but I still think the “White Like Eddie” short film, from when he hosted in late ‘84, is the greatest thing Murphy’s ever done.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 4 February 2023 22:29 (one year ago) link
S20's sign-off sketch...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wf31yBoGA4
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 4 February 2023 22:39 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MibMGMSZWg
Iirc, this was their first internet sketch.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 4 February 2023 23:29 (one year ago) link
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Sunday, 5 February 2023 00:03 (one year ago) link
this week's episode was great!
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Tuesday, 4 April 2023 04:16 (one year ago) link
“Thank you Rob Schneider for your years of courage” might be the funniest sentence in human history pic.twitter.com/XRx6pv6wex— Drew Landry (@MrDrewLandry) June 26, 2023
― Alito Bit of Soap (President Keyes), Monday, 26 June 2023 18:01 (ten months ago) link
Who’s Afraid of Lorne Michaels?
(not the best article, restates much of what we already know, but unequivocally for the record: Lorne Michaels sucks)
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 18 August 2023 23:16 (eight months ago) link
#onethread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNnpxFhgWc8
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 11 September 2023 23:52 (eight months ago) link
Another season, another Sarah Sherman Jost Roast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QlNBlBMN6Q
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 29 October 2023 13:55 (six months ago) link
Saying Jost's face looked like Thomas the Tank Engine was funny. The rest was just throwing her arms around and yelling.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 29 October 2023 17:52 (six months ago) link
JOKE SWAP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NE_kbJQ8r8
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 17 December 2023 15:43 (four months ago) link
reliably the funniest thing on the show year after year
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 17 December 2023 16:06 (four months ago) link
Having to do a little business at the Verizon store, and they just had to have security escort out a real life Kathy Ann (Cecily Strong's junkie Weekend Update character). It was *uncanny*.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 3 February 2024 23:04 (three months ago) link
I wasn't watching but I guess Haley made a surprise appearance to zing Trump and offer a mea culpa. I imagine the backlash will fade as quickly as her campaign.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 4 February 2024 06:41 (three months ago) link
Yup, cold open:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPQn7i-6JQ
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 4 February 2024 14:45 (three months ago) link
In other news, a new chapter in the Jost-Sherman Saga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUdOrZXhReU
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 4 February 2024 15:03 (three months ago) link
wtf, Shane Gillis is hosting an upcoming episode?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 4 February 2024 15:47 (three months ago) link
man, this was actually the funniest episode of SNL this season, in large part because Ayo Edebari is so good; good thing too because I actually forgot about Haley showing up pretty quickly, normalizing that shit could have tanked the whole thing. Glad she didn't pop up again later in Update or something.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 4 February 2024 15:59 (three months ago) link
Nikki Haley cameo was very odd, would like to read a step by step account of how that came to happen.
― soref, Sunday, 4 February 2024 20:32 (three months ago) link
Nixon famously did a cameo on Laugh-In in 1968 and it was so unexpected that it drew a lot of punditry about how it helped his stodgy image. Ever since then presidential candidates have tried to duplicate that, mostly badly.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:02 (three months ago) link
I understand why Haley would want to do it, was thinking more of the motivations of the snl people, Ayo Edebari etc. I wonder if there are diverging motivations e.g. Lorne + other senior people on the show inviting Haley on in the old-school spirit of the show being outside/above partisan politics, Ayo and the cast going along with it on the reasoning that Haley attempting to laugh off the civil war thing just makes her look like an asshole?
― soref, Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:14 (three months ago) link
wtf, Shane Gillis is hosting an upcoming episode?note the sturm und drang of squirm & yang at left here:
Thank you, Dakota Johnson, @jtimberlake, @jimmyfallon, @BarbaraCorcoran, @mcuban, and @TobeNwigwe! Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/hsklV8ZraU— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) January 28, 2024
― bae (sic), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:23 (three months ago) link
Nixon on Laugh-in was from an extremely different era, when there was more cross-aisle collegiality than we can muster now. At that time, people could disagree strongly but then go have cocktails together. That is a vanished world.
Sarah Palin on SNL was a cheap-as-fuck stunt but, in retrospect, comparatively harmless. She lost and never regained a position of influence that would allow her to significantly harm people that I love.
Obama slow-jamming the news is a bit cringe but I don't really care because, again, harmless. No one got hurt by that.
Trump on Fallon getting his hair fluffed? For some reason I just think that's unforgivable because Trump is unforgivable. He harms people I love.
Haley? I dunno because I just don't think she has a lot of power to harm people I love. She'll be off the national radar in a month or two and we will have much, much grimmer things to focus on.
― Virginia Wolfman (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:36 (three months ago) link
i'm not sure what you're indicating, I don't see anything weird there? (xpost)
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:38 (three months ago) link
thought this was a pathetic bit of image laundering
― truly humbled underdog (k3vin k.), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:54 (three months ago) link
I mean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwYbVx_-qg
It's partisan as hell but... hey, remember when this shit was at least a little bit fun?
Now it's just a grim slog until we die in fire, thxbye
― Virginia Wolfman (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 4 February 2024 21:56 (three months ago) link
i'm not sure what you're indicating, I don't see anything weird there?I agree that their reactions to an anti-trans activist wandering onstage, despite not appearing on the show, to wave at America because their boss invited him to a party, are entirely normal
― bae (sic), Sunday, 4 February 2024 22:20 (three months ago) link
Lorne Michaels has lived deep inside the celebrity world bubble for decades and has lost all sense of life outside it. If someone is welcome at a Park Avenue penthouse cocktail party, then they are acceptable anywhere.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 4 February 2024 22:38 (three months ago) link
tbf I had to watch the clip a second time after reading sic's post before I noticed Chappelle on the far right of the stage. (easy to miss him if you are looking at Sherman and Yang on the far left, as instructed.)
― jaymc, Sunday, 4 February 2024 23:16 (three months ago) link
Lorne Michaels has lived deep inside the celebrity world bubble forLorne Michaels actively, specifically and repeatedly platforms racists and fascists.
― bae (sic), Monday, 5 February 2024 01:28 (three months ago) link
If you're watching Saturday Night Live in 2024 you're far more likely to be a Dave Chappelle fan than not.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Monday, 5 February 2024 01:50 (three months ago) link
Yes, and they are all well within the celebrity-sphere, like Chappelle, as opposed to your run of the mill neo-nazis like Richard Spencer. I think there is reason to doubt whether he chooses to platform them specifically because they are racist and fascist and he ardently desires to further their racist and fascist ideas. I think he invites them to the show because - hey, they're celebrities! - and his general obliviousness to their more vile opinions because - hey, they're celebrities!
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 5 February 2024 01:50 (three months ago) link