Saturday Night Live

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Black Hat
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:34 pm
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#76 Post by Black Hat » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:33 am

SNL is one of those things so consistently good people take it for granted. Kind of like how everyone hates the subway, but complain endlessly whenever it's not working. Humor is subjective, but the barometer I use to judge these shows is how many sketches transcend the culture. In Living Color had a few, MadTv didn't have one and well SNL probably has more in a half season than most comedy shows have in their entire run. MadTv was like the Criterion Collection of comedy, real cool stuff, but unfortunately nobody cares.

As for the current cast as mfunk said Davidson and Jones are the breakout stars*. They should replace Jost on Update with Zamata. She'll have better chemistry with Che (can't be worse) and for a million other reasons, but I sense after all the years of Meyers' blandness Lorne will be reluctant to give up on Colin.

*Forgot about McKinnon, she's a the top of this list.

beamish13
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#77 Post by beamish13 » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:57 pm

I don't think SNL has EVER been particularly good, but then again, I'm not really a fan of topical humor (see also The Daily Show, especially post-Kilbourne). SNL's adherence to cue cards and the very nature of its live format makes it very rigid and formulaic-every single episode seems to have at least 3 skits that revolve around game programs or talk shows. I've always gravitated towards more absurdist skit comedy with universal themes like The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python and Upright Citizens Brigade.

beamish13
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#78 Post by beamish13 » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:59 pm

Black Hat wrote: MadTv was like the Criterion Collection of comedy, real cool stuff, but unfortunately nobody cares.
.
Its first season had some great stuff. I really loved the Rankin/Bass stop-motion parodies, "Lowered Expectations" and the Woody Allen/DIE HARD film ("The only man who can save the school...is the clarinet teacher.")

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gorgeousnothings
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#79 Post by gorgeousnothings » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:15 pm

I was hoping for a Sasheer Zamata / Cecily Strong teamup the last time the desk was open, but Zamata / Che would be great. I hope Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones get promoted to repertory (I could go either way on Jon Rudnitsky), but Leslie seems to be kind of a one-trick pony. It's a good thing she's so lovable.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#80 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:17 pm

Aside from that Weekend Update Dirty Dancing bit, has Jon Rudnitsky done anything this season? Seems a bit like a DOA situation there.

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gorgeousnothings
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#81 Post by gorgeousnothings » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:18 pm

I think he's played Anderson Cooper, once. I was just being nice because I don't watch all the sketches so I couldn't be sure

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Andre Jurieu
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#82 Post by Andre Jurieu » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:36 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Aside from that Weekend Update Dirty Dancing bit, has Jon Rudnitsky done anything this season? Seems a bit like a DOA situation there.
Nothing overly memorable. He hasn't really found an easy way to participate in sketches or created any significant characters that could be the focus of a sustained sketch. I have a feeling they thought he could fill in some the generic white-guy roles vacated by Sudeikis, but I think those roles get handed to Taran Killam, who usually does fairly well with them.

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Kirkinson
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#83 Post by Kirkinson » Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:07 am

gorgeousnothings wrote:I think he's played Anderson Cooper, once.
And he was just insufferable in that sketch. Somewhere last year Cecily Strong talked about how sometimes the performers will just be assigned an impression they've never done the morning before the show airs and have to figure it out in less than 24 hours. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that happened to Rudnitsky in this case.

MongooseCmr
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#84 Post by MongooseCmr » Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:30 am

Black Hat wrote:Jones are the breakout stars.
I cannot agree with this less. She's just awful. She only operates in one very loud, unsubtle (even by SNL standards) tone and flubs lines more often and with less tact than any other player. Anytime she plays herself as a WU correspondent its the worst bit of the night.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#85 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Feb 17, 2016 9:40 am

Dislike of Leslie Jones has become a language of its own, and certainly one that I can't begin to translate. She is hilarious and an excellent fit for that show.

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lacritfan
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#86 Post by lacritfan » Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:02 pm

I admit Jones is very one-note but I laugh at her every time.
It all comes down to the writing, some shows when the writers scroll by I wonder how that many people could only come up with a handful of laughs.

terabin
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#87 Post by terabin » Tue Feb 23, 2016 2:24 pm

If you want to see Leslie Jones at her best, watch her Valentine's Day monologue on Weekend Update recently. It's soooo soulful.

Werewolf by Night

Re: Saturday Night Live

#88 Post by Werewolf by Night » Tue Feb 23, 2016 5:53 pm

Leslie Jones will be the first to admit that she's not typical SNL material. She comes from stand-up, not sketch, and her comedy relies a lot on her delivery, not necessarily funny lines. The recent profile on her in the New Yorker is very good on these and other points.

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Andre Jurieu
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#89 Post by Andre Jurieu » Tue Feb 23, 2016 6:23 pm

terabin wrote:If you want to see Leslie Jones at her best, watch her Valentine's Day monologue on Weekend Update recently. It's soooo soulful.
I actually thought that was one of her weaker monologues because it relied so much on the delivery rather than content.

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Re: Saturday Night Live

#90 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Oct 16, 2016 3:32 pm

I am sure that objectively they are doing a good job skewering Trump now, because by now it's shooting fish in a barrel. But I am honest in saying I have little to no interest in watching again after they let him host. There used to be a comfortable enough distance between Hollywood and Washington that allowed for more biting satire, this show included. But that doesn't seem to exist now, if not entirely at least on SNL.

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#91 Post by Lemmy Caution » Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:07 pm

In the last debate, Trump interrupted Hillary to say, "I am not a puppet. I am not a puppet. You're the puppet."
Clinton's communication director tweeted that Trump "went the full Baldwin" then.
Funny. It really was exactly like Baldwin's parody -- silly, childish and repetitive.

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barryconvex
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#92 Post by barryconvex » Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:40 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:I am sure that objectively they are doing a good job skewering Trump now, because by now it's shooting fish in a barrel. But I am honest in saying I have little to no interest in watching again after they let him host. There used to be a comfortable enough distance between Hollywood and Washington that allowed for more biting satire, this show included. But that doesn't seem to exist now, if not entirely at least on SNL.
It's really weird to think that Steve Forbes hosted a show in '95 or '96 when he was running for president too. I guess that was just way too strange for them to pass up. Other than that I can't think of another politician hosting...Did Sarah Palin host a few years back or just guest star? The good news is that SNL appears to have so thoroughly pissed Trump off that we'll hopefully never have to see his greasy, orange mug around 30 Rock again...

oh yeah
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#93 Post by oh yeah » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:08 am

Have to admit the David S. Pumpkins bit that's now blown up was pretty funny -- wacky/weird SNL is typically the best SNL, and this was precisely that kind of out-of-nowhere skit that I like the show for.

But I haven't been an ardent viewer of it for probably 10 or 11 years, and it's certainly been on a decline in quality since at least that time. I do think there's been some better stuff in the past year or so, but it's still very up-and-down.

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Kirkinson
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#94 Post by Kirkinson » Tue Oct 25, 2016 2:00 am

barryconvex wrote:It's really weird to think that Steve Forbes hosted a show in '95 or '96 when he was running for president too. I guess that was just way too strange for them to pass up.
And the musical guest that episode was Rage Against the Machine!
barryconvex wrote:Other than that I can't think of another politician hosting...Did Sarah Palin host a few years back or just guest star?
Palin just did a short guest spot. John McCain hosted though, as did Rudy Giuliani....that was all I could remember, but apparently Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, George McGovern, Al Sharpton, and Ralph Nader all hosted the show, too.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#95 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:11 am

I remember Gore, the best is when he plays at being president on the Oval Office set of The West Wing and the actual full cast of that show ultimately leaves him alone to indulge himself. This was right after Bush was declared the winner.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#96 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:14 am

oh yeah wrote:Have to admit the David S. Pumpkins bit that's now blown up was pretty funny -- wacky/weird SNL is typically the best SNL, and this was precisely that kind of out-of-nowhere skit that I like the show for.
Hanks is probably one of the few guests you wish were a regular cast member. He really throws himself into it in a way some others do but don't make as much an impact.

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Andre Jurieu
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#97 Post by Andre Jurieu » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:54 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Hanks is probably one of the few guests you wish were a regular cast member. He really throws himself into it in a way some others do but don't make as much an impact.
I would also include Alec Baldwin and Justin Timberlake in that elite group of hosts. Steve Martin is likely in that same category, though his results are more subtle. Melissa McCarthy has usually been great, though she hasn't hosted as often. I would love Jon Hamm to host more often, but I guess I'll settle for his occasional guest appearances in random sketches.

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Re: Saturday Night Live

#98 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:08 pm

Those are all good examples, except McCarthy (who I haven't seen on the show, but will take your word for it). I'd say the ultimate example is Steve Martin, who I thought for awhile was a cast member in the 70's because of how many times he did it. I would add John Goodman to that list.

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The Narrator Returns
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#99 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:32 pm

Next week's episode will be hosted by Dave Chappelle, with musical guest A Tribe Called Quest.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Saturday Night Live

#100 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:49 pm

Astonishing news.

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