# Holy Crap! SNL was funny!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192 "2003-11-09T05:54:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/21 "2003-11-10T04:44:46Z")
Tina Fey is SO INCREDIBLY HOT. And I think Horatio Sanz is hilarious. I love it when he and Jimmy Fallon do “Jarrett’s Room” (which is much funnier if you actually know people like that), and it kills me when they crack each other up! I think some of you may be too harsh on them. Personally, I think the highly-vaunted early '90s cast is way more overrated than this one, and the show was much less funny back then. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/22 "2003-11-10T11:19:21Z")
Look, I’m _gay_ and I think Tina Fey is hot. 😃 Jimmy Fallon used to do it for me until his head got bloated, every sketch he was in (especially with Horatio Sanz) turned into a giggle-fit, and he started plucking his eyebrows. I think I found him hot because I was briefly dating a guy who looked almost exactly like him. FWIW, Seth Meyers is a cutie pie. Glad he made it to full cast member status. But getting back to Fred Armisen, why is he still a featured player? Like I said, he’s golden. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/23 "2003-11-10T11:23:01Z")
Clarifications: > [@](#): > > Jimmy Fallon used to do it for me until his head got bloated = ego larger than Studio 8H. > [@](#): > > But getting back to Fred Armisen, why is he still a featured player? = _only_ a featured player. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/24 "2003-11-10T12:53:21Z")
**Sam Stone** : > [@](#): > > I’m beginning to think that Wil Ferrell was the anchor of that show. The day he left, SNL became half as funny. I think Will Ferrell was an anchor, dragging down the show. The day he left, SNL became twice as funny. I turned on the show late (but I was taping it) and when I first saw the host I thought, “Oh, Seann William Scott is hosting. He must have a new movie out.” It wasn’t until I rewound and began watching from the beginning that I learned he was Andy Roddick (who I’d never heard of; I take zero interest in sports). I thought it was funny that the show also made something of the resemblance. Had it been noted anywhere else? But, Mr. Roddick was not a great choice for host, as was evident at the very beginning when they had to bring back Andre 3000 to prop up the monologue. Not only do I find it not funny when Jimmy and Horatio laugh at each other, but it surprises me Lorne Michaels allows it. Not laughing at themselves _a la_ Harvey Korman and Tim Conway was one of Lorne’s founding principles for the show. I love Tina in the opening credits, with longer hair, no glasses and wearing a Little Black Dress! She is sexiness incarnate! ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/25 "2003-11-10T13:04:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*Rachel Dratch should not be allowed to own a televion much less appear on one. \*\* You are quite nuts. **Rachel Dratch** is funny as hell. Re: **Tina Fey** I damn near popped a gasket watching her shake it during that monologue number. Damn! ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/26 "2003-11-10T14:26:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \* > \*\*Tina Fey is SO INCREDIBLY HOT. > > And I think Horatio Sanz is hilarious. I love it when he and Jimmy Fallon do “Jarrett’s Room” (which is much funnier if you actually know people like that).\*\* I think Jarrett’s Room is just an unfunny rip off of Wayne’s World. Every sketch he does is a shameless derivative of some Mike Myer’s sketch. What’s the sketch he does in the pub as a soccer or rugby player that is just like Myer’s Hooligans? On another note: The worst rip off of all has to be Will Farrell’s “Have difficulty controlling the volume of my voice” guy. I don’t see how he can feel comfortable doing such a direct rip off. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/27 "2003-11-10T14:33:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scott evil \* > \*\* > > But getting back to Fred Armisen, why is he still a featured player? Like I said, he’s golden. \*\* Funniest guy in the cast. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/28 "2003-11-11T05:04:31Z")
But he’s not part of the regular cast, that’s my point. He should have been “promoted” along with the others… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/29 "2003-11-11T07:04:50Z")
Gotta agree about Fred Armisen. He’s brilliant. I love his senile drummer for the lounge singer. Great character. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/30 "2003-11-11T07:25:32Z")
Is Fred Armisen the guy who does Tim Calhoun? Cause he rules. [sub]I think America needs another really big lake.[/sub] The Time Travelin’ Scott Joplin sketch was _painful_. I mean, it physically hurt to watch it. There was not a single audience laugh during the whole thing. And most people who go to see SNL are high _and_ dumb. I did enjoy the performance by DMB. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/31 "2003-11-11T07:53:21Z")
Will Forte does Tim Calhoun. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/32 "2003-11-11T11:35:23Z")
Another amusing Armisen character is Gabe Fisher, the awkward yet blunt, unmarried forty-something Jewish New Yorker-type dude. Armisen does drag “straight” - that is, he doesn’t camp it up really, but does it more in the style of KItH - and I’ve always found that kind of thing brilliant. Can I just add that the opening sketch would have been so much better with Cheri Oteri and Ana Gasteyer as Barbara Walters and Martha Stewart, respectively? The new cast is great, but I think it’s too soon to have others recreate impressions that were done by former cast members so fantastically, so recently. (Chris Parnell as GWB is an exception; you _have_ to have someone to do the prez.) ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/33 "2003-11-11T12:50:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*The Time Travelin’ Scott Joplin sketch was _painful_. \*\* I must disagree. The Time Travelin’ Scott Joplin thing is going to catch on. On that note, Maya Rudolph is so underrated it’s ridiculous. _Ah, you bitch. I love you like you came from **here.** _ _points to genitals_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/34 "2003-11-11T13:18:03Z")
The current female cast is easily my favorite in the show’s history—very talented and funny. But much as I prefer Poehler and Dratch in general, I think you may be right that Gasteyer and Oteri are better as Martha and Barbara. (I _did_ laugh when Barbara Walters called Martha Stewart a “C U Next Tuesday.”) I agree about Fred Armisen. And Tim Calhoun was a riot. Forte’s delivery was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baby_Fish_Mouth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/35 "2003-11-12T16:13:53Z")
Weekend Update was the best part of the show, as usual. “The majority of women have not even looked at their vaginas in the past year, mostly because Colin Farrell’s head is always in the way.” Tim Calhoun is pure genius. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/36 "2003-11-12T17:49:50Z")
I may be getting old, but SNL is just plain on too late for me to watch it. We do accasionally see reruns on Comendy Central, but, of course, they usually suck. If things are picking back up this season, I’ll have to try to stay awake and watch it. I don’t even know most of the people you are reffering to. On the players, Dratch is funny mostly because she looks like a freak of nature. Beyond that, I can’t for the life of me recall anything she actually did. Will Farrel - I would really have liked him much more if not for those terrible Cheerleader sketches with Oteri. Freakin’ painful as hell to watch. Tina Fay … [sigh … swoon] ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/37 "2003-11-12T18:07:07Z")
Rachel Dratch was so stiff and awkward in her first season on the show, she was uncomfortable to watch. She has improved tremendously. I second everything tht has been said about Maya Rudolph. I’ll even sit through a Scott Joplin sketch for her. But I’m old enough that I’m now comparing every bit on the current shows with its predecessors from previous casts. Fallon doing a morning zoo? Bill Murray and Harry Shearer both did virtually the same bit. Cheri Oteri over Rachel Dratch as Barbara Walters? Please. Gilda Radner’s Baba Wawa beat them both. with a stick. But Tim Calhoun is so totally bizarre I can’t even describe the bits to my wife (who always falls asleep before the opening monologue is over.) ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/38 "2003-11-12T18:33:13Z")
after that dreadful episode with Kelly Ripa, anything would’ve seemed grand. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/39 "2003-11-12T18:51:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorgon Heap \* > \*\*On the players, Dratch is funny mostly because she looks like a freak of nature. Beyond that, I can’t for the life of me recall anything she actually did. \*\* She rocks most when they pair her off with someone- her and Jimmy Fallon as the Boston delinquents (_Oh my Gahd, you ah so retah-ded_), or with Will Farrell as the creepy academic couple. Come to me, my luvah. She also did a very funny Christmas sketch with Jennifer Aniston where they played a couple of Dickensian lawn urchins. _I’d decapitate a whore… for youuuu._😃 ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192/40 "2003-11-12T21:55:15Z")
The OP got it right in the title. SNL _ **was** _ funny. About 20 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-snl-was-funny/212192.md?page=3)