SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

I must've missed that. If that's the case, it makes sense, although I don't know why Hader would allow that. It makes him look like a hack who is laughing at the jokes that (most would assume) he wrote.

 

From wiki:

Stefon, Weekend Update's flamboyant New York City Correspondent, whose recommendations consist solely of bizarre nightclubs involving nightmarish characters. He is in love with Seth Meyers. Hader hasn't gotten through a single sketch (dress rehearsal also) as Stefon without bursting into laughter, barring the first time he appeared as Stefon in a one-shot sketch about a screenwriter whose estranged brother joins him in pitching a movie. Writer John Mulaney often changes some jokes to the sketch right before it airs, so many of the lines catch Hader off guard. Stefon was first introduced in the Ben Affleck/David Cook episode as Ben Affleck's estranged screenwriting brother who ruins his chances at pitching a family film about a boy who befriends his estranged grandfather who teaches him how to be a better football player.

 

Besides, if you were seeing a line about a human R2D2 being a midget on a speaker phone with a trash can over his head, I have no idea how you WOULDN'T laugh.

They're pros, not robots. Or R2D2s.

 

I keep laughing about that one.

 

Honestly, the parts that always get me are the weird club names. I'd TOTALLY laugh doing those.

 

I'll give Hader a pass on that.. 'cause that's the only skit he does that. Other skits - some really funny ones- he holds it together well. He's the Anti-Horatio Sans.

 

The Stefon skits are the best on Weekend Update, if you ask me. I don't mind the actors breaking character sometimes when it's really funny. That's what gives it the "live" feel. Some of the show's classics are the ones the actors couldn't keep a straight face in.

 

New York's hottest club is "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmm."

 

Re: The super long Wiig goodbye, I believe Lorne Michaels is quoted in an interview as saying she's his favorite cast member since Gilda. (I'd try to find it, but with her leaving SNL, I can't really use Google to search it out that well.) Even if he didn't say that, the amount that she has dominated the show the past couple years kind of implies it anyway. I wasn't ever much of a fan, since 1) I thought she played the same weird neurotic lady in everything and 2) she dominated so much screen time I think it prevented the others from developing via air time.

To use a sports analogy - I think in recent years, SNL has been more focused on keeping together a mediocre core, like when the Pirates resigned legends like Pat Meares and Kevin Young, as opposed to taking a risk with new and talented performers.

Also, they should just pay Eddie Murphy or Dave Chappelle $20 million right now to host the first episode of the new season. I mean, it's NBC, they're just going to burn that much on shitty new sitcoms for Dane Cook and Whitney Cummings anyway.

 

I thought the Mick Jagger karaoke skit was pretty funny, particularly when the guy was doing the Y-M-C-A.

Mick Jagger is a 1 percenter. That is, I think only 1 percent of the male population could pull off a shiny gold sports coat.

Also pretty cool to have Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck play as his backing bands. Shows what a titan he still is that he can get that kind of talent to come play with him. I always remember in "Shine a Light" how Jack White looked like an excited little kid on Christmas getting to sing with Jagger on stage.

Jon Hamm is quickly becoming this generation's Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin on SNL. I think the guy is doing a really good job avoiding the James Gandolfini trap of being defined by a single character, particularly since a lot of his other acting choices, other than maybe "The Town," are comedies that very much go against the "Mad Men" grain.

 

I think when you have a singer, the same way when an athlete hosts, expectations have to drop considerably from when Baldwin, Hamm or Ferrell hosts.

Timberlake is the exception, but he's been much more of an actor than singer for the last several years.

With those lowered expectations, I thought Jagger did great. They played to his strengths. He had a sense of humor about people imitating him (as he has a few times in the past) and I don't care who it is, watching someone imitate a person who is sitting right there, is almost always funny.

 

I remember that Sarah Palin looked like she had eaten something horrible when she had to stand there while Tina Fey made fun of her and "Weekend Update" made fun of her husband.

I give her credit for even coming on the show, but that was about as uncomfortable as I've ever seen someone on that show.