how does comedy central fit the 1.5 hour saturday night live into one hour? they have to get rid of something.
Eliminating the half-hour of network advertising time (i.e. lame commercials) and very probably some of the lamer or more dated skits? Just a thought.
All Hail Unca Cecil, or the next best thing available!
It’s been a while since I’ve had Comedy Central but I seem to remember that the musical guests only had one appearence in each show, whereas they had two in the live broadcast. I concur with Olentzero, that some of the lamer skits were exorcized. As an on and off viewer of the live show for almost 25 years I can attest to the questionable quality of the material presented during the last half hour of the show.
If they got rid of the lame skits in last season’s shows, each episode would run about 5 minutes
“Questionable” is an appropriate word for it. While there’s no doubt that the sketches shown during the last half hour of SNL are usually the lamest, they are sometimes the most innovative and funniest. Seems like they put the “safe”, obvious stuff (the political humour, the parody of the guest host’s TV show, etc.) up front, and the weird, different, out-there stuff towards the end.
The best example I can think of is “Wayne’s World”. As I recall, “Wayne’s World” started out as a quarter-to-one filler sketch. I can just imagine Mike Myers going up to Lorne Michaels, saying, “I’d like to introduce this new character”, and Lorne saying, “Yeah, OK, how about we put it on right after the second musical number…” Of course, “Wayne’s World” became so popular, they kept moving it up until it was often the opening sketch. (And then it took on a life of it’s own in the movies.)
Frankly, I wish SNL would cut back on the Clinton impersonations and the tiresome recurring characters, and put on more weird quarter-to-one type sketches.
“For what a man had rather were true, he more readily believes” - Francis Bacon
I’ll agree with you, Mark, that the last half hour is the most improvisational and surreal (not always a good thing) but even you have to admit that you have to dig through a lot of crap in those collective half-hours to find the rare gem.
Does anyone find those cheerleader skits funny? You couldn’t bury them deep enough in a broadcast. And the studio audience has to stomach them between 5 and 6 p.m. How many guests has Lorne Michaels lost by suggesting they appear with those nimrods? Can you say “death knell”?
{{And the studio audience has to stomach them between 5 and 6 p.m.}}
No, the studio audience has to stomach them between 11:30 pm and 1:00 am. Hence the word “Live” in the title “Saturday Night Live”. I agree with you, though. The cheerleeders stopped being funny around 1996.
“For what a man had rather were true, he more readily believes” - Francis Bacon
{{And the studio audience has to stomach them between 5 and 6 p.m.}}
No, the studio audience has to stomach them between 11:30 pm and 1:00 am. Hence the word “Live” in the title “Saturday Night Live”. I agree with you, though. The cheerleeders stopped being funny around 1996.}}}
There’s an audience for the dress rehearsal, as a last-minute pre-screening.
Lorne Michaels once said in an interview, “If it goes well in dress, it often bombs live.”
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What is up with the Goat Boy sketches? Those are even less funny than the Spartan cheerleaders. 
I will always sit still and laugh at a fresh SNL. To me, who was young but cognisant in the Belushi/Radner days, SNL represented being “bad”, rebellious, staying up past your bedtime. For me it still does. Living on the East coast I get an extra thrill that I maybe just might hear something outlandish go forth (“shit” etc)… something that will be excised from the West Coast transmission. Live TV is a highwire act and like it or not SNL is an American institution.
Nowadays, the “Cheerleaders” have their moments. “Goth Talk” is an absolute freakin’ riot and makes me howl (did you see Jeff Goldblum as ‘Count Feedback’?). The NPR ladies are less so but are still amusing. The grody Catholic school girl has lost her luster but there’s a cunning there which appeals. My current favorite is that absurd Antonio Banderas impersonation from “The - how do you say? - Show”. And those whacked out mariachis: “Oh No!! Please!! Is too sexy …” LOL
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The all-time least funny series of sketches was the “You lika da sauce, eh?” gyro shop skits. The sad thing was that one of the most talented casts the show ever had were wasted on them.
The true mark of quality/desperation in any given ers of SNL is what sketches they choose to feature as recurring. I don’t know if it’s a function of the quality of writing, the quality of the ensemble, or the quality of editorial oversight, but the “good” eras are marked by generally wise choices of recurring characters, while the “poor” eras continuously feature characters who sure didn’t seem funny the first time, let alone the 20th.
I mean, c’mon, was anyone in America amused by Jackie Rogers Jr?? The Cheerleaders at their funniest aren’t as good as the worst Wayne’s World. Did anyone outside of NYC care about Billy Crystal’s “Joe Franklin Show”? Lisa Lupner vs. Goatboy. The death knell of the last great era was when they kept trotting out “It’s Pat” again and again and again.
So is it that the writers are so desperately out of ideas that every week they throw up their hands and say, “I dunno, let’s do the cheerleaders again?” Are people afraid to go to Lorne and say, “Uh…sir…those idiots from the Roxbury aren’t 1/1000000000 as amusing as the 2 wild and crazy guys”? Only time will tell.
One of the Goat Boy sketches, back when they were done, was actually amusing. It was the one with someone doing an imitation of David Lee Roth, although I can’t remember who. And Pamela Lee was playing Jenny McCarthy. I was rolling on the floor at one point.
–elm
I’m trying to see things from your point of view, but I can’t get my head that far up my ass.
Oh, and TV Funhouse is almost always hilarious. And yes, Goth Talk is a riot, especially since I live on a college campus and see people like that walking the streets all the time…at least, as long as it’s not daylight out.
SNL is a corpse waiting to die.
It’s never been the same since Belushi died.
It doesn’t even have the “Wayne’s World” guys anymore. Come on! That show has lost everyone that made it funny a decade ago. They should admit that the well has dried up and end SNL.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Its time slot is secure. Ratingswise? Well it is on in the middle of a party night, but remember when Howard Stern’s show came out and he bragged it was the end of SNL? He got his head handed to him. MadTV, same story, just not as bloody.
I’d say it’s alive and well; furthermore, Belushi was never (as the kids might say) “all that”. (Joe Piscopo WAS a load.)
Just look at it this way - if you didn’t ultimately care about it, you wouldn’t criticize its ups and downs.
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I definitely think the problem is with the writing, because the cast seems at least reasonably talented. The only thing on SNL these days that I find really laugh-out-loud funny is “The Ladies Man” with Tim Meadows. And the cartoons are always great - especially “Fun with Reel Audio” and “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”.
The main problem with those really bad recurring skits lies with how the show is developed. Monday the guest star arrives and gets to know the cast. Then the cast and writers brainstorm and write for the next two days. Thursday finds them reviewing – Lorne, censors, sponsors and the network all take a shot at the proposed script. Blocking and rehearsals wrap up the week.
As you can see, a skit would have to be canned pretty early in the week in order for a brand-new idea to be developed to replace it. The director and writers probably try to repair problems instead of returning to the drawing board.
Per my earlier post regarding the time of the show, I thought they went “live-to-tape” at 5 pm – like Leno and Letterman. I think I got that from Belushi’s bio “Wired”.
I said this on the old board, but I’ll say it again. I think to truly appreciate SNL, one has to be between 15 and 23, with a tendency to be high or drunk on Saturday night.
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