Saturday Night Live

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.

Yup, cold open:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPQn7i-6JQ

In other news, a new chapter in the Jost-Sherman Saga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUdOrZXhReU

wtf, Shane Gillis is hosting an upcoming episode?

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.

Nikki Haley cameo was very odd, would like to read a step by step account of how that came to happen.

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.

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?

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

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.

i'm not sure what you're indicating, I don't see anything weird there? (xpost)

thought this was a pathetic bit of image laundering

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

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

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.

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.)

Lorne Michaels has lived deep inside the celebrity world bubble for

Lorne Michaels actively, specifically and repeatedly platforms racists and fascists.

If you're watching Saturday Night Live in 2024 you're far more likely to be a Dave Chappelle fan than not.

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!

Also Richard Spencer's last Netflix standup special bombed hard.

Dan Crenshaw has gone from strength to strength since his celebrity blessing.

ah I forgot about chappelle showing up there and then didn't notice him in this because yes, I was looking at yang and squirm. it's totally weird that he was on that stage; why? he wasn't in the show. He's not one of Dakota Johnson's friends. I'm unaware of him being close with Fallon. It's like he just wandered the fuck out there.

more obvious here

https://x.com/FunBobby/status/1751733032057250138?s=20

Yeah, him and Sarah talking about it was fairly conspicuous. pic.twitter.com/ibxKh9giF2

— FunBobby (@FunBobby) January 28, 2024

someone on reddit said he's friends with Tobe Nwigwe who performed with Timberlake and that's why he was there. Which is pretty lame and obnoxious

Shane Gillis fans certainly seem really cool and well adjusted

Trying to get members of the SNL band for not laughing during his crappy monologue

The only good joke I recall from last night was Jost remarking that after the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that frozen embryos were children they ruled that Black embryos could be tried as adults.

I personally found Gillis funny and he was really good in the sketches. the over the top reactions both pro and con on social media are illustrative of how fucking stupid social media is.

I love how people only realize now that this show is reactionary bullshit

Gillis is a puddle of unfunny

akm otm

its sad that dummy had to follow someone as awesome as ayo on snl as host. she's a totally funny stand-up comedian! he's a mid dud. at least HE thinks he's hilarious though.

or WAS a totally funny stand-up comedian. before she took over the world. my world...hey i'm only human...so cute. and so talented. sheesh.

His stand up specials are hilarious. Gilly and Keeves and Tires are great showcases for his sketch talents.
SNL was predictably a misfire.
That said, I hope to never meet a fan of his in real life.
Is he considered dirtbag left?

ha ha no

a friend of mine wanted to watch a Shane Gillis standup special a few months ago with me so I did and yeah he's pretty funny, much much less like Jim Breuer than I was expecting him to be. doesn't really come off like a right-wing blowhard at all, a bunch of his material was about FOX News and imagining Trump getting assassinated

a lot of his fans seem like genuinely awful people though

they like him because they think he was 'cancelled' hence he wound up guesting on Rogan. he doesn't strike me as remotely right-wing or even half as objectionable as Chapelle. There are people on instagram and twitter saying things like "poor bowen yang being forced to be in the same room as him" is if bowen yang is not an adult who is being paid to do a job (and also has enough clout and star power to decide not to do this week if he didn't want to)

yeah, Yang and Gillis hugged and looked friendly during goodbyes, so there's probably not bad blood between them.

i could be wrong, but i don't think alt-rightish internet people that stir shit over Gillis' SNL appearance are even really fans, just a brigade of freaks that form an anti-woke mob over any incident of 'cancellation' until there is another one to congregate around

yeah, Yang and Gillis hugged and looked friendly during goodbyes, so there's probably not bad blood between them.

no you don't understand, Yang is a baby but also mother and also needs to be protected at all costs and we don't deserve Yang

that reminds me, Yang's Capote on WU was some hilarious shit

Yang is a baby but also mother

The mother, the son, the unholy host

i could be wrong, but i don't think alt-rightish internet people that stir shit over Gillis' SNL appearance are even really fans, just a brigade of freaks that form an anti-woke mob over any incident of 'cancellation' until there is another one to congregate around

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, February 26, 2024 10:31 AM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

No way man--these folks love to kick back and watch a Shanne Gillis special while playing Roisin Murphy in the background.

Yang started out in his 1st season of SNL kinda one-note in sketches, but lately he's just gone from strength to strength and is the most consistently capable member of the cast.

He and Ego Nwodim are consistently my favorites, but I really like this cast almost across the board

doesn't really come off like a right-wing blowhard at all, a bunch of his material was about FOX News and imagining Trump getting assassinated

a lot of his fans seem like genuinely awful people though

Otm. The Trump assassination bit is pretty classic.

instagram social media response to last night's episode predictably unhinged. either a) sydney sweeney is exploiting her boobs to make up for lack of talent b) sydney sweeney is being exploited by the show because of her boobs c) sydney sweeney is a non-famous person who no one has ever heard of

i thought it was fine, as usually. kasey musgraves songs were great.

Oh yes, a non-famous person who's starred in both this year's biggest sleeper hit and also this year's biggest bomb so far (the lead actress of which having hosted herself a month ago).