While he’s not the best ever, I think Kevin Nealon is underrated as a Weekend Update anchor. His dry delivery and parodying of newscast cliches worked for me and were more in the tradition of the deadpan style of the original Weekend Update with Chevy Chase (as opposed to the winking smirk and comedian-style delivery of Dennis Miller or Norm McDonald).
Poehler isn’t on maternity break (I think), but Maya should be soon enough.
I thought Sanz didn’t do as bad as he could have.
I liked the JetBlue sketch myself.
Also you can’t lose with Robert Smigel.
Thudlow Boink is on the right track. I haven’t liked Weekend Update since the Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain era, and it took me a while to figure out why. They did it as a straight-up news show, wihtout playing to the audience and trying to punch up the jokes. Maybe they just had faith in the writing, and didn’t feel the need to deliver the lines like a stand up comic or a master-of-ceremonies. And after Garrett Morris did his sports report, Jane didn’t milk the applause and say “Chico Esquela, everybody!”
While I agree that Horatio was Not Very Good in WU (and I usually kind of like him), I thought the rest of the show was surprisingly good. It may not have had any classic sketches, but it also had nothing that make me think “oh, dear, they’re trying to stretch 15 seconds of mediocre comedy into 5 minutes” as it often does. I’m happy with 90 minutes of decent comedy.
I would find it agreeable if Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler continued to reprise their squabbling married couple.
On the subject of recurring characters, we can only hope that Debbie Downer has reared her head for the last time. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but this seemed pretty final, what with Debbie finding her soul mate in Bob Bummer.
It took me a long time to figure out why Horatio was wearing thick glasses.
Is it true that Tina named her daughter Alice Zenobia?
On the squabbling couple thing, I loved Oteri and Kattan’s horny couple.
I can’t believe I missed this. How was the new guy named Andy? He was great (awesome, even) in the Awesometown pilot at thelonelyisland.com, so I hope he doesn’t get stuck in the background.
Unfortunately, his big moment was the terrible “Impression-Off.” He didn’t have a hell of a lot to do other than that.
Yeah, he was definitely not prominent. If he’s good, he’ll emerge. If creates a really funny character, he’ll skyrocket.
Um … why was Horatio wearing thick glasses?
The impression-off was at least just a way to introduce a couple new guys.
Letting Finesse do two minutes of stand-up while couching it as “The Nightclub Report” is just stupid. Hey, jerk, if you can’t write a sketch or create a character, get off the show and do some time at the Improv.
Highlight of the show for me: Golddigger.
I’d never heard that song (I’m not hip) but the mix of DJing with the strings blew me away. Catchy beat and I thought the string melody was sweet. The last time I went out and bought a CD after seeing someone on SNL was Norah Jones, but I was really impressed by Kanye.
I went to bed after WU, so I didn’t see anything else.
Nappy D is hosting next week. The SNL website says musical guest is TBA, although I did notice the Ashlee Simpson graphic during the show. That would be a bold move. A sucky bold move. But still kind of bold.
To imitate Tina.