SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

She played a lot of the MAGA crew well, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and the nut that just ran for governor in Arizona.

Her most prolific characters were both Update bits -- Cathy Anne and The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party.

SNL Archives | Cast | Cecily Strong

 

Using JR's list to source some names, although my rankings would be radically different...

1) Poehler. Dynamite in skits, impressions, on Update as a host or guest. She's only hosted twice since she's left the show, probably because she's moved more into producing than Maya Rudolph, who's always available.

2) Fey, if you factor in that she was also head writer. Take that out, and I probably have her bumped down a couple spots.

3) Maya Rudolph. Like Poehler, a very versatile player and someone that had the pipes to do whatever singing number they wanted. This probably led to her doing too much musical shit, but still, someone who could dial it back when needed.

4) Hooks. Maybe the best "actress" and straight woman the show had, as shown by the "Love Is A Dream" sketch they ran as a 'in memorium' sketch for her and Hartman's respective passings.

5) Strong. I think she's more versatile than Hooks, and had a longer run, but maybe lacks as many all-time sketches. Unlike some of the people after her on this list though, I don't think there are many sketches where she's a negative.

6) Radner. I kept trying to put her higher on this list, but soooo much that shit from the 70s doesn't hold up. You know, like the premise of an entire sketch being a molester uncle, or the fact that she's nerdy, or that her and her family is loud. There's still enough good stuff though that she deserves to be on the list, but I think her non-SNL is way underrated.

7) Jane Curtin. A solid, stable "straight woman" for the show's five first years, opposite Murray (Update) and Aykroyd (Consumer Report) and others.

8 + 9 + 10) Shannon, Oteri and and Wiig. Kind of hard to separate them, but they played larger than life characters that I mostly liked, with some exceptions. I have them in this order because Oteri had more "misses" to me than Shannon, and Wiig is almost like the World B. Free of SNL to make, just an insane usage rate and tons of misses at times.

Honorable mentions: McKinnon was mostly like Wiig to me, but worse. Lorne used both constantly, probably to the detriment of the rest of the cast.

JLD post-SNL is the best sitcom actress of all-time. However, her run on the show was so undistinguished that they couldn't even cobble together a "Best Of" DVD for her, like they could for Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan.

Rachel Dratch, Vanessa Bayer, Laraine Newman and Ana Gastayer are my "just misses." Their times mostly overlapped with cast members who did what they did, but better.

Aidy Bryant and Leslie Jones would be among my least favorite cast members, but probably rate very highly on other people's lists. Niche performers.

 

I was watching "Twin Bed" earlier today and was reminded of Nasim Pedrad. I liked her. She carved a new niche, but I think she left too early to be in John Mulaney's failed sitcom.

 

I haven’t watched SNL in years so I was unfamiliar with this guy until I heard him on Marc Maron’s podcast last week. He did an impression of Louis CK as a born again Christian and I damn near peed myself.

 

I should have had Rudolph on my list. She was quality.

Curtin seemed like a one-trick pony to me with the straight-woman act. She hated being "silly."

Was that sitcom ever terrible. They tried to recreate Seinfeld without the people to do it.

 

Finally caught up on SNLs. Its interesting when you watch a few back to back, with no "bye weeks" - the writing is pretty interesting this year. The show is clearly still finding itself with the new castmembers (who are more visible than featured players tend to be their rookie years). In general, the show seems a lot less topical than it has been, even before Trump. More random sketches seemingly out of nowhere - not a complaint, but a noticeable shift in direction - even the WU "guests" don't seem to be doing takes on the news.

Is there a reoccuring character still on the show now other than "Trump?" And they really need to have the new guy Marcello Hernandez become George Santos - it was kind of weird how his "candidate" character in November seemed to kind of "be" Santos in any event. They need to find something for Devon Walker to do besides play a delivery guy. Not sure he's shown anything of what landed him the job yet - and I have no doubt he's worthy.

Finally understand people's love of Brandi Carlile (had not heard her before - I know, I'm lame) - also now understand why so many FB friends were geeking out about her Portland show - she's kind of a female Gordon Lightfoot. And dang, tickets to her shows are not cheap - (and it isn't like she has to pay dancers, or for lights and smoke machines). Great artist though.

 

I saw Brandi Carlile about 15 years ago in Harrisburg; she was the warmup act for Train. Her genre is not necessarily my thing, but I could tell that she was in for the long haul. She delivers a song like nobody's business.

 

Thats one of the things I was wondering about - does she get ANY radio play? Her songs aren't really AC at all, and probably too sincere for country music these days. I do figure she gets used a lot for montages on Grey's Anatomy though.

 

Saw her opening at one of the Dave Matthews Band Labor Day weekend shows at The Gorge in the mid-2010s. Strong voice and some good songs. “The Story” is a particular favorite.

 

I saw her last year at my town’s yearly three-day music festival. She was really good but not what I expected. I read her name as Belinda Carlisle.

I saw Sheryl Crow the next night.

 

Gave me my first SJ belly laugh of 2023!

 

Friend called and said we have tickets to see the Beach Boys with Blondie. He was pumped. It was burned-out rocker Blondie Chaplin, who sucked.