SNL "Appalachian Emergency Room"

[DaddyTimesTwo]

I don't think this skit is funny, and it's pretty much insulting too. This is not a rant, it's more of a question. Does anyone find it funny?

[brickbacon]

It's not usually funny, but I thought tonight's installment was. In fact, tonight's episode has been much better than it usually is.

[SlyFrog]

Yes, but on a very base, stupid, and coarse level.

[Askia]

In this hyper-PC world of ours, Appalachian folks have curiously been the one group consistently mocked unimpeded. Somewhere between hoodrats and poor white trash.

[wolf_meister]

Hey being from Boston, I think a few years ago they had their fair share of "knocking" Bay Staters. You remember those "wicked retahded" sketches don't you?

[Snooooopy]

As a Kentuckian, I have to say that when I watch this sketch, I like to think they're talking about West Virginia.

[Balle_M]

Originally Posted by Snooooopy

As a Kentuckian, I have to say that when I watch this sketch, I like to think they're talking about West Virginia.

It's called "denial"

[ZeroGyro]

IMHO, this is the most undeserving recurring sketch in the show's current incarnation, followed by stuff like the Donatella Versace sketch. The sketch just isn't funny and seems to go on forever.

[jackelope]

Originally Posted by brickbacon

It's not usually funny, but I thought tonight's installment was. In fact, tonight's episode has been much better than it usually is.

Weird; I thought exactly the opposite. I usually find the skit hilarious, but tonight's fell totally flat for me. (To be fair, I was trying to work and only halfway watching, so it's entirely possible that I just didn't pay enough attention.)

[Diogenes the Cynic]

"I think I broke my cooter bone."

Come on, that was funny.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

That was the first time I had ever seen it, and I thought it was funny.

[aerodave]

As a native West Virginian, I convince myself they're talking about Tennessee.

Or Arkansas...I know it's not Appalachian, but it's hard to tell the difference.

Ah yes...every state has another somewhere below them on the pecking order. Except Arkansas. Poor, poor Arkansas.

[Biggirl]

Me, being from NY, thought they were talking about Pennsylvanians.



Seriously, I was wondering about the accents.

[Odesio]

Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

"I think I broke my cooter bone."

Come on, that was funny.

I didn't see the episodue but damn, that is funny.

Marc

[UrbanChic]

I've only seen the one with Ben Affleck, and I thought it was funny. I had no idea it was a recurring sketch.

[Mr. Slant]

Yeah. I'm of Appalachian ethnic extraction, and I think it's funnier than a tin garbage can full of incestuous, rabid racoons.

[Evil One]

It just goes to show that some groups are safe to mock and some are not. Can you imagine the response to "Compton Emergency Room"?

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by Evil One

It just goes to show that some groups are safe to mock and some are not. Can you imagine the response to "Compton Emergency Room"?

Safest bet might be Amish ER.

[vibrotronica]

[quote=
Ah yes...every state has another somewhere below them on the pecking order. Except Arkansas. Poor, poor Arkansas.[/quote]You know the Arkansas state motto, don't you ? "Thank God for Mississippi!"

[ZeroGyro]

Originally Posted by Evil One

It just goes to show that some groups are safe to mock and some are not. Can you imagine the response to "Compton Emergency Room"?

I disagree with this. Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson (and Maya Rudolph, though she plays a lot of ethnicities) have done bits where they play black stereotypes. If they wanted to, they could probably get away with a sketch equivalent to "Appalachian Emergency Room."

Anyway, Dave Chappelle's show wouldn't be so wildly successful if you couldn't get away with making fun of a lot of different people, including black people.

[monstro]

Originally Posted by Evil One

It just goes to show that some groups are safe to mock and some are not. Can you imagine the response to "Compton Emergency Room"?

You obviously haven't seen the Dave Chapelle show.

And besides, SNL doesn't have enough black cast members to pull that off.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky

Safest bet might be Amish ER.

That would be a long sketch of nothing but women asking "which way to maternity?" and young boys on rumspringa "which may to crystal meth rehab?".

[GLWasteful]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Woodall

Yeah. I'm of Appalachian ethnic extraction, and I think it's funnier than a tin garbage can full of incestuous, rabid racoons.

And we all know where that stands on the funny-not funny scale.

Originally Posted by Evil One

It just goes to show that some groups are safe to mock and some are not. Can you imagine the response to "Compton Emergency Room"?

As ZeroGyro points out, negative portrayals of blacks aren't that rare on SNL these days. Too, the same episode had Thompson playing Al Sharpton vs. Fred Armisen as Vicente Fox with the both of them trading ethnic jabs. I don't think that Compton Emergency Room would appear out of place at all, if only SNL had more black cast members.

Waste

[Bryan Ekers]

I thought it was funny, meself.

And it's miles above listening to Cheri O'Teri come up with one billion variations on "Simmer down, now!"

[Mr. Blue Sky]

"Cooter Bone" - BAND NAME!

[Sam Stone]

I didn't think it was very funny, but the 'cooter bone' line cracked me up.

[Gorsnak]

This just in! SNL sketch described as being only mildly funny on a "very base, stupid, and coarse level"! Film at 11.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

Cooter bone is funny. I've not seen any funny SNL in the past decade--partly because I very rarely watch it. Cause and effect are all mixed up there.

When I was in NYC in January, I found the locals remarkably provincial in their attitudes toward other cultures, though, especially toward the South. It's as if there were no world outside their city limits. While I get pissed at Southerners around here who treat Yankees with contempt, my visit to NYC made it a lot harder to sustain that anger.

Daniel

[DoctorJ]

I haven't seen it, but since I'll be spending a lot of time in an Appalachian Emergency Room starting in a few months (in a hospital run by Appalachian Regional Healthcare, no less), I guess I should.

And "cooter bone"? That's funny because it's true. My three favorite vaginal euphemisms that I heard from patients during medical school: cooter, coochie-jigger, vaginer-hole.

It doesn't bug me that much when they use stereotypical Southerners in a comedic way. It does bug me when they use them in a more serious context, though, when they make no attempt to make the character anything more than the stereotype. (See Maggie's family in Million Dollar Baby.)

[SlyFrog]

Originally Posted by Gorsnak

This just in! SNL sketch described as being only mildly funny on a "very base, stupid, and coarse level"! Film at 11.

What? It's not like they're all that way. Some stuff is pretty clever. This was funny, but not that clever.

[Casey1505]

Originally Posted by Biggirl

Me, being from NY, thought they were talking about Pennsylvanians.

It's go time, Biggirl.

We forgive you for Spike Lee, please forgive us for Noxen.

[Snooooopy]

Originally Posted by Bryan Ekers

And it's miles above listening to Cheri O'Teri come up with one billion variations on "Simmer down, now!"

AAAAAAARGH! One of the most repulsively unfunny ideas to ever become a recurring sketch! I'd rather watch Brian Fellow's Safari Planet!

[River Hippie]

"One of the most repulsively unfunny ideas to ever become a recurring sketch!"

I vote for the Nooni, Noony and Nuni sketch, now THAT'S repulsively unfunny.

Don't know if they did that one last night though.

[Snooooopy]

Originally Posted by River Hippie

I vote for the Nooni, Noony and Nuni sketch, now THAT'S repulsively unfunny.

No, no ... "Newney." Nooni is my wife's name.

[vivalostwages]

It's Ngnuu-nee, stupid silly!

[CandidGamera]

Originally Posted by DoctorJ

I haven't seen it, but since I'll be spending a lot of time in an Appalachian Emergency Room starting in a few months (in a hospital run by Appalachian Regional Healthcare, no less), I guess I should.

Neat, which one?

I wish I'd not given up on SNL, though. I would like to see this sketch. Hmmm... I have TiVo..

[F. U. Shakespeare]

I haven't seen the sketch, so I can't comment on it.

However, I was born and raised in West By God, and I invariably laugh my ass off at such jokes, and I've never met a WV native who didn't.

And everybody knows which state "Appalachian" is referring to -- how often do you hear people ask, "What's a Kentucky/Tennessee/etc. virgin?"

I'm an engineer, and a lot of my colleagues are fond of WV jokes. I laugh sincerely, but I do enjoy publicly correcting their grammar.

[Oslo Ostragoth]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

That would be a long sketch of nothing but women asking "which way to maternity?" and young boys on rumspringa "which may to crystal meth rehab?".

Yikes! Thanks for the rumspringa link - I live maybe 50 miles from an Amish community, but had never heard of that.

[brickbacon]

Originally Posted by Snooooopy

AAAAAAARGH! One of the most repulsively unfunny ideas to ever become a recurring sketch! I'd rather watch Brian Fellow's Safari Planet!

Come on now, Brian Fellow is pretty funny.

[Excalibre]

Originally Posted by brickbacon

Come on now, Brian Fellow is pretty funny.

No, no he's not. In fact, Tracy Morgan is not funny in general.

I do like "Appalachian Emergency Room", though.

Cooter bone . . . hee hee hee . . .

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by Excalibre

No, no he's not. In fact, Tracy Morgan is not funny in general.

Tracy Morgan is not funny in general nor is he specifically funny.

Denny Dillon is funnier than Tracy Morgan.

[Excalibre]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky

Tracy Morgan is not funny in general nor is he specifically funny.

Denny Dillon is funnier than Tracy Morgan.

Migraines are funnier than Tracy Morgan.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Not funny. I hadn't seen it before, and we turned off the TV after that sketch. It's possible to play off of insulting stereotypes and still be funny, but that sketch wasn't even close.

Although I did get a chuckle from "cooter bone."

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by Excalibre

Migraines are funnier than Tracy Morgan.

Denny Dillon with a migraine is funnier than Tracy Morgan.

[Troy McClure SF]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky

Denny Dillon with a migraine is funnier than Tracy Morgan.

It's my theory that getting Tracy Morgan, Colin Quinn, and Norm MacDonald in a room together would end the universe as we know it, as nothing could withstand the sheer force of Unfunny such a room would contain.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by Troy McClure SF

It's my theory that getting Tracy Morgan, Colin Quinn, and Norm MacDonald in a room together would end the universe as we know it, as nothing could withstand the sheer force of Unfunny such a room would contain.

If there was just a way to channel this unfunny into a fuel source...


(BTW, I like Norm, so I would substitute Pauly Shore.)

[GLWasteful]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky

Denny Dillon with a migraine is funnier than Tracy Morgan.

Actually, while I'm inclined to agree with you for the most part, he did do something funny when he was still pretty new to the cast. It was just him, and he went into this patter about how he was Tracy Morgan, the other black guy. This was when Tim Meadows was still on, and had been for some time, and Morgan attempting to establish his presence as the backup just struck me as terribly funny.

Waste