# SNL 1/31/09 Steve Martin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 1, 2009, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969 "2009-02-01T08:49:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/21 "2009-02-02T23:56:59Z")
> [@Queen of Town](#):
>
> I thought the song about being late for school seemed really out of place and lasted waaaay too long. I don’t want to hear a grown man sing about being a schoolboy, thanks.
I thought the song was kinda cute, until I realized he got to school on Saturday _and_ had missed the school bus. Does not compute.
“The Gun” was funny, but I see Kristen Wiig has yet another annoying one-note character; the woman who kept bugging her husband at work. If she keeps this up, she’ll break Chris Kattan’s record.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/22 "2009-02-03T01:43:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> It was a blatant commercial for his movie.
Guest appearances on SNL are usually blatant commercials for SOMETHING.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/23 "2009-02-03T03:39:19Z")
> [@Leaper](#):
>
> Guest appearances on SNL are usually blatant commercials for SOMETHING.
True. A guest appearance on SNL is almost always there to promote a stars’ new movie or TV show. Off-hand, I can’t remember the last time there was a non-athlete or non-politician guest host who wasn’t there to plug a new movie or TV show.
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/24 "2009-02-03T05:05:23Z")
> [@Baldwin](#):
>
> For me, the best part of the show was the look back at “The Gun”.
The fact that if that had been an actual true story of an actual 1930s football player, then those football players and officials they “interviewed” would have been close to 100 years old took me out of that skit unfortunately… But a funny concept…
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/25 "2009-02-03T05:27:46Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#):
>
> The fact that if that had been an actual true story of an actual 1930s football player, then those football players and officials they “interviewed” would have been close to 100 years old took me out of that skit unfortunately… But a funny concept…
I thought that too but then realized it was a parody of the old documentaries ESPN Classic frequently airs. Many of those documentaries about the early days of the NFL were made in the 70s when most of the athletes from the 30s were still alive.
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### Author:  [@ProfessorX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProfessorX)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/26 "2009-02-03T16:08:25Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> True. A guest appearance on SNL is almost always there to promote a stars’ new movie or TV show. Off-hand, I can’t remember the last time there was a non-athlete or non-politician guest host who wasn’t there to plug a new movie or TV show.
Kind of Phelps, because he was on _after_ the Olympics. I guess that counts, but you’re right it’s usually part of the promotional tour.
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### Author:  [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/27 "2009-02-03T16:27:09Z")
> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> \Weekend Update- Who did Angelina Jolie? She was a dead ringer! (“Do you think she wants all those babies?.. Where’s Amy?..”)…
That was new featured player Abby Elliott.
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/28 "2009-02-03T18:20:56Z")
“What’s that smell?”
\
“Dinner!”
Made me LOL.
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/29 "2009-02-03T18:30:29Z")
> [@magellan01](#):
>
> I basically like Martin, but I think he needs to go away. I lost significant respect for him as a comic, and a man who has any judgement at all after the first Pink Panther fiasco. It was painful. I kinda assumed, or hoped, he realized he made a mistake and that would be the end of it. But now he’s gone and made another one! What an idiot. I like him better when he was a jerk.
>
> As far as the show itself, it’s gone down hill. The guy who plays McGruber is the exact opposite of funny, no matter what he does. He’s to laughter like kryptonite is to Superman. The guy who plays Biden is a good sketch comic, as is Armistead [sic]. But the show sucks these days and I find myself invariably not being able to sit through the whole thing. I usually check out within the first half hour, if I watch it at all.
SNL ebbs and flows, for sure. The problem is that its bad years are many more than its good years these days. It’s going downhill again. The 2005-2007 cast was really good, but the cast before that… I’m surprised the show wasn’t canceled (Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, etc).
Fred Armisen and Bill Hader (who doesn’t get nearly enough work on the show) are the only bright spots now with the exception of the rare cameo by Darrell Hammond. Will Forte (the guy you mentioned in your last paragraph) is god awful, Seth Myers is weak as hell without Amy Poehler. Jason Sudeikis, who pays, the Biden character has zero talent. He does an awful Rod Blagojevich.
Also I usually just skip anything Kenan Thompson does. He plays every black character on the show simply because he’s black, and he usually does the same routine. Loud voice, half-smirk. Meh.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-1-31-09-steve-martin/483969/30 "2009-02-03T19:03:35Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> I rather like Kenan Thompson. He’s blossomed.
Like a prolapsed rectum.
Kristen Wiig has given several very funny performances in movies (_Knocked Up_, _Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story_, _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_, _Ghost Town_) but on this show she’s become unbearable. I pray that someone compassionate will help salvage her career by firing her.
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