SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

Had to fast forward through the second set.

 

The good: I kind of liked the "defense" of Lana Del Rey on Update; I kind of took it more as them making fun of themselves, and acknowledging that they don't always make the right choice with the musical acts. I also liked the Newt Gingrich moon sketch. Also, they should think of a reason to have Abby Elliott in a hot dress every weekend. How the heck did Chris Elliott produce her?

The bad: Good lord was the C-Lo Green show sketch bad. No idea why they thought that deserved to be so far up in the show, or why they had to keep taking pot shots at his weight and appearance throughout; it just seemed more mean spirited than funny to me. I honestly can't remember more than half the show, and I just watched it an hour or two ago, and I haven't been drinking.

The ugly: Maybe it was just my TV, but was the camera cropping fucked up for anyone else? Especially in the C-Lo skit, but throughout, it seems like they didn't have the framing of any of the skits correctly.

 

Show desperately needs to grade their writers on a curve, and throw the bottom 40% into the sewer, annually. They're just insulting the public, the way things are, now.

 

Two things I take away from last night:

1. Get rid of the political cold opens. There is no hard rule that says SNL needs to pick on the Republicans each week at the start of the show. The Gingrich open wasn't funny (and I don't even support Gingrich). Save your political humor for sketches like the Bush-Gore debate ("strategery" is still one of the funniest moments in recent history) or Phil Hartman's Clinton in McDonald's.

2. And please, God, RETIRE THE SECRET WORD. That sketch was funny the first two times it was on, but it's a one-joke premise and it's played out.

 

Steveu, I couldn't agree more with your call to dump the Secret Word. It ranks right up there (down there?) with the Kristen Wiig thalidomide character on Lawrence Welk as the two most painfully unfunny running sketches.

But the Gingrich open was fun. Admoonistration? The rest of the country not as forward-thinking as South Carolina? And the Reagan robot? Those were laugh-out-loud funny. Not to mention, Abby Elliott looked hot as hell.

I think if you look back, you'll recall lots of Obama opens, too. They're topical, and in Newt's case the writers probably want to use it before he bails on his campaign.

 

Oh Lone Star, don't get me wrong. I may be a conservative but I'll laugh at a well-done spoof of someone in the GOP. Will Ferrell's Dubya was hilarious, as was Dana Carvey's impression of HW. This one didn't strike me the right way, I guess.

It's just that SNL's cold opens lately haven't been any good, so I guess I'm just conditioned to not like them.

 

False. Tiny doll hands girl ALWAYS makes me laugh.

 

Always.

And that's the thing about SNL sketches. Whatever you think is crushingly unfunny, you can be sure there's someone else out there who thought it worked.

 

The Bat Mitzvah sketch: you can't go wrong with bad white people dancing.

 

Hey, does anyone know if Channing Tatum used to be a stripper?

 

I hadn't heard! Did you know Chase Blackburn used to be a teacher? </crossthread>

 

Crossthreads never work on me because I read about 40 percent of the threads on this board.