Memo to the producers of Saturday Night Live

[quote]Originally posted by DoctorGonzo:
<strong>From: DoctorGonzo
Date: December 2, 2001
Subject: What works, what doesn't

-----

Two points regarding the latest episode:

- Moving tributes to dead people works

- Having sports players as host never works. Ever.

Thanks.

Sincerly,
DoctorGonzo</strong><hr></blockquote>


ok, so the rest of the show works...?
give me a break...SNL is so terrible now...
it used to be half funny, but now...its just a joke

Yeah SNL has been really good lately.

ive been watching it on comedy central fer past year or so--which is basically all the episodes up til maybe a month ago...
and its terrible...it has a good moment now and then, but most of the stuff is just corny and repetitive...
im sry, but ive given up on it

Jetter was much funnier than the writing. But that's not saying much.

tonight's show was good. i thought jeter was surprisingly funny. but maybe just because i had really low expectations. the music stank. the three sketches in the second segment -- the touchy feely masseuse, the pet trainer, and derek jeter's taco hole, were hilarious. of course the christmas song coming back was an awesome surprise.

amy poehler is a comedic goddess. she was awesome on upright citizen's brigade, she's even better on SNL.

the parts I saw with Jeter were good IMO. He did better than I thought he would. Weekend Update sucked.

I spent the rest of the time watching MTV2 which had a Harrison block of videos showing

Shakira and that other dude suck

Jeter was definately a lot better than I thought he'd be. Bubba Sparxxx was absolutely horrible. I can't stand him. Shakira wasn't bad (I just love watching her dance). Overall, the show was pretty good I guess.

What's "Saturday Night Live?"

....I think they used to have a show by that name during the 70's and 80's that was pretty funny. But then one day they forgot how to hire talented writers and no one has seen or heard from the show since. That's what happens when a good show goes down that toilet...you can't see it anymore.

There's a regular ebb and flow to SNL's humor. If it's bad for three years, it comes back for three years. Granted, it's never quite risen to the level of the original cast (oh surprise).

IMO, while at times it gets downright mean, Mad TV is generally hilarious.

SNL's humor lies in the situation, not the action. That is, the idea of Derek Jeter's Taco Hole (fun to say too) or Toonces the Driving Cat are funnier than how they play out. What Mad TV lacks in concepts, it makes up for in the actual performance.

I always liked the skits/performances where a particular player (be it Oteri, Kattan, Ferrell, etc.) just completely "let go" and went for it, with no sense of shame or reservation.

Those make me laugh.

Anyone who goes that far - if done properly - gets my respect. If you don't mind looking ugly or ridiculous or appearing gross.

I just saw an episode recently where Ferrell was dressed in a thong bikini for casual day at work. I would have NEVER done that!



But I laughed myself sideways at the absurdity and the sheer balls he exhibited by doing that.

And that character Cheri Oteri played on the Weekend Update as the sex shop owner, in her dowdy nightgown and stringy hair always made me laugh.

The other "stock" characters/sketches with repeat characters (Roxbury guys, Ladies Man, Mary Katherine Gallagher, etc.) never did anything for me.

Always the out-of-left-field moments struck me, not the Church Lady or Hans and Franz.



Those were NEVER funny.

Actually I thought the Church Lady thing on its own wasn't that funny...what WAS funny about it was when they would bring in some unusual personality like Ozzy Osbourne or someone and then Carvy would go off with all those phrases and bizarre questions. That was pretty good IMO.

Otherwise, I'd have to say my favorite SNL moments were any of the skits where Sam Kinnison was involved, the Land Shark, Chevy Chase doing the News, Rosana Rosana Danna, Tim Kazurinski's "language man", Eddie Murphy as Mr. Robinson, and Belushi's classical piano skit.

They haven't written stuff of that quality in decades, though you can make the argument the actors involved had something to do with it. But remember they got their start there, it wasn't as if they were as famous as they are today.

Either way, SNL is already dead IMO unless [they get some good writers]. *remembers even good comedians can't make up for bad writing with any consistency*

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>

[quote]But I laughed myself sideways at the absurdity and the sheer balls he exhibited by doing that.<hr></blockquote>

I thought a few times he WAS going to do just that! I was scared watching him squirm in that chair.

The political humor seems to find it's mark fairly often but I don't watch SNL hardly at all anymore. I usually only check it out when they have some musical guest I wanna see. The Weekend Update segment still works. Tina Fey is HOT. And Darrell Hammond is very good too.

That's funny...actually, the Weekend Update segment with Fey and Jimmy Fallon are now my LEAST liked parts, even though, as you said, Tina Fey IS a hottie.

She's got that LOOK I dig so much.



But they act like they're in junior high and are doing a skit. Fallon, talented and funny as he is, rubs me wrong with that shy boy, "oops, am I being bad right now?" manner of his. And he and Fey both laugh at their own jokes too much, which I find unappealing.

Things are funnier when the people doing the funny stuff aren't "in on it". To me, anyway.

They just seem too amateurish and eager to please during those segments.

The other cast members, the new ones, I have only seen on one or two episodes, so I can't put it all together.

I like SNL when it's playing "up" and being smart. That's when it shines. Too much lately (past couple of years or so), it's seemed to content to take the low-rent, teenage boy Farrelly Brothers road.

To me, that's just not funny. It's too easy and a complete cop-out to just be gross or lewd with nothing behind it.

[quote]Originally posted by pscates:
<strong>That's funny...actually, the Weekend Update segment with Fey and Jimmy Fallon are now my LEAST liked parts, even though, as you said, Tina Fey IS a hottie.

She's got that LOOK I dig so much.



But they act like they're in junior high and are doing a skit. Fallon, talented and funny as he is, rubs me wrong with that shy boy, "oops, am I being bad right now?" manner of his. And he and Fey both laugh at their own jokes too much, which I find unappealing.

Things are funnier when the people doing the funny stuff aren't "in on it". To me, anyway.

They just seem too amateurish and eager to please during those segments.

The other cast members, the new ones, I have only seen on one or two episodes, so I can't put it all together.

I like SNL when it's playing "up" and being smart. That's when it shines. Too much lately (past couple of years or so), it's seemed to content to take the low-rent, teenage boy Farrelly Brothers road.

To me, that's just not funny. It's too easy and a complete cop-out to just be gross or lewd with nothing behind it.</strong><hr></blockquote>

the cast they have right now is terrible--worse, IMO than the casts in the 80s. the black dude they have is NOT funny ever. the fat dude (wannabe replacement for farley??) is not funny. fallon acts like a moron, and seems to have trouble speaking, at least during the Weekend Update--he seems to stuttor sometimes, which takes away the effect of the few funny things he says...
they need to get some better cast members, and better writers and get rid of the idiots they have in there now.