So, while watching SNL struggle through another episode, I experienced a revelation. Not a real good one, but startling nonetheless. Chris Parnell, a cast member came on and I just thought… Chris Parnell, are you ever funny? It seems like you’re trying real hard, and some body must thing you’re at least chuckle worthy, because you keep getting roles. But you have never made me laugh.
I’m sure everyone’s encountered someone like this. For some people, it might be, say, Jim Carey. For others, it could be the neighbor who ‘jokes’ about your clothing (that prick!). So tell me, SDMB, who, to you, is seemingly never funny? Trust me, it feels good to just ask them: _______, are you ever funny?
Parnell doesn’t get a lot of big punchlines, but he’s pretty valuable as the straight man in sketches. Just think of it this way: Every time he’s on the screen is one less opportunity for Horatio Sanz.
Chris Kattan was an absolute riot and unquestionably the funniest thing about Monkeybone (though that praise wasn’t meant to sound as faint as it probably does).
I’m not about to defend the rest of your list, though…
I’m with you on Chris Parnell. In almost every sketch he’s in, he just comes across as unpleasantly creepy, and not particularly funny in any way. Humor is really subjective, so I’m sure there are those that disagree, but I just don’t find this guy funny at all. If I never saw “Merv the Perv”, the guy in “Appalachian Emergency Room” who keeps sticking stuff up his ass, or pretty much any of Parnell’s other characters ever again, I’d be very happy.
(Disclaimer: I’m a die-hard SNL fan and will watch it until the day it goes off the air for good. I just can’t stand Chris Parnell.)
Paula Poundstone
Horatio Sanz (seconded or thirded or whatever)
Jimmy Fallon (some of his lines were funny on SNL, but Tina Fey wrote them, and his 2nd grader snickering in sketches erased any contributions)
Carson Daly (I’ll never understand what he’s famous for)
Craig Kilbourn
Norm Crosby (I can only assume he was better in person)
Jay Leno (he can ruin even a good joke, and his sidekick is even worse)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (she has yet to make me even chuckle)
Matt LeBlanc (less comic timing than any other multimillion dollar TV actor, imho)
Adam Carolla (of Man Show, Loveline and other shows). While I suspect that gay men aren’t the target audience for Man Show, his “frat boy” rapport with Jimmy Kimmel just reminded me how much I hate frat boys (except for in gay porn, but even then it’s usually “actors” playing frat-boys). He completely destroyed Loveline with his smirking stupidity- the guests were usually far better hosts to the callers than he was and the psychiatrist looked like he wanted to slug him).
Garrison Keillor (I know that many will disagree violently with this, but I just don’t get him [and he’s a total ass in person])
Strangely, I don’t find Stuart funny but I’ve seen people imitating him who I thought were hysterical. (One of those mystery thingies, I guess; authorized copies of Rembrandt often outsold Rembrandt during his own lifetime.)
Yeah. What’s up with this guy. He’s an entertainment cipher. He’s like a blase spoiled rich kid who somehow got a reputation for being “cool” and everybody tries to impress him.
His stand up, impersonations, physicality and timing are terrific.
Now that he’s a multi-millionaire who’s not motivated to work anymore and whose schtick is (incorrectly) seen as old hat, there’s a backlash against his appeal. Tucker’s heaps funnier than Martin Lawrence, Jim Breuer and Tom Green.
Nahhh, I’m just messing with you. I know he jumped the shark over ten years ago, and whoever told him he was a novelist should be marooned in deep space on general principle . . .
But c’mon, how can you not read Babies And Other Hazards Of Sex and not crack up? Some of his columns from the 80’s just cracked me the hell up, too. Barry is the wise-assed nerd who never grew up, and somehow he made it work until he got too old to pull it off.
Although I will heartily second Craig Kilbourn and Andy Rooney.
In fairness, I only started reading him a few years ago. I’ve heard elsewhere he used to be much better. (Probably a case of “Weekly Multicolumnitis Burnout”- he should go the Sedaris route as nobody’s got enough funny material for several times per week unless they have other writers).