I do not even know who the host is, and I was sad to see that awful character Wiig does, but I was unexpectedly charmed by What Up With That?
Gerard Butler should never sing again. I thought his voice in **Phantom **was bad enough, then he gives us that opener? Yeesh.
It was on and I paid occassional attention to it. LOVED the Beauty and the Beat skit (‘How’d she know we called it the Ass-Castle?’), thought the opening with The Rock Obama was cute & that even in his clipped Hulk-speech, Dwight sounded more like Barack Obama that Fred ever has. HATED Daveheart and the Lightning-struck Secretary- OK except for the “I found a dead donut… I’m gonna go dunk it in coffee” part. I laughed in spite of myself.
Another annoying, unfunny character for Kristen Wigg. Who is she blowing to get all that air time?
I have said on here a few times that while I think that Kirsten Wiig is the most physically attractive woman in the history of “Saturday Night Live” she is absolutely dreadful in 99% of her sketches…
I would be shocked if she wasnt fucking Lorne Michales or some other SNL big-wig, because she certainly does not add any value to the show as an actress.
This skit was a real dud, but I thought it was otherwise a really strong night. It was strange to see the alien sportscaster get top billing, but the Disney skit was maybe the best of the season, “What Up With That?” was silly but supremely entertaining, the Phantom business was funny (and I thought intentionally bad, musically), and The Rock Obama is always welcome. Weekend Update was also pretty good, and the 300 and Braveheart spoofs were fun enough. And all the dress rehearsal outtakes were icing on the cake.
And Shakira is hot.
Lorne Michaels?
There’s an article on her in a recent Entertainment Weekly, in which Lorne is quoted as saying, “She’s up there in the top three women who have ever done the show. She’s a genius … she’s one of those people that everyone agrees on.” The article calls her “the MVP of SNL” and “every writer’s go-to actor, a Phil Hartman-like utility player who could make any sketch work.”
I haven’t seen much SNL in recent years, so I don’t have much to base an opinion on, but what little I have seen suggests to me that she may well be over-hyped, and she may subscribe to the “annoying = funny” school of comedy that may be SNL’s biggest weakness.
Think of how hard it is to write 22 good episodes of a half-hour comedy, and then imagine trying to fill SNL with good material for an entire season. Admittedly, they have an unlimited palette to use, but it’s obviously impossible. There have always been sketches that just laid there. Maybe it’s cheap to make so that it makes financial sense to have it run 1.5 hours, but creatively they should cut back at least half an hour.
Kristin Wiig can be very good - and very bad. She swings for the fences. Her orgasmic Weekend Update guest was pretty funny. She was good in the Beauty and the Beast skit. she’s got a couple of characters that are really funny.
I think we forget that a lot of the ‘great’ SNL stars had a lot of very lame characters. That’s what happens when you’re swinging for the fences - a lot of stuff misses horribly, but the hits are memorable. Years later, people forget the misses. Will Ferrell was like that. So was Gilda Radner.
If anything, the fault is with Lorne Michaels. He’s supposed to be the guy who says, “nice try, but that character blows.” If Wiig keeps getting the Target lady and Gilly on the show, it’s because Lorne is letting her. But there’s no doubt that she’s got lots of talent. She just needs an editor.
I liked this one. All of the skits were had something that got me. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Seth Meyers or Keenan Thompson but the Weekend Update and What’s Up With That skit were both pretty funny Saturday.
They did the Rock Obama before, but Dwayne Johnson is such an entertaining entertainer, that I have no problem seeing it again. The gay 300, Daveheart, and Ass Castle were all pretty funny. The opera song in the opening skit did sound very good at all, but it had ninjas and stuuf, so I’ll give it a pass.
During Shakira’s first song, my wife commented that she liked it but thought it was ruined by her dancing and hip shaking. My reponse? “Uh… Yeah, well I guess you know, uh, some guys like to see that stuff…”
Definitely the strongest episode of the season so far. The Beauty and the Beast skit was superb (one time in college I dated a menorah!) I liked everything except the annoying Kristen Wiig one, but her characters on Update and Beauty were hilarious. She is a mixed bag.
I’ve always thought Kennan was good for getting into it and going with it during skits.
I thought I was having flashbacks with seeing Will farrell a few times then I think I realized they were commercials for the show on tape or something (right?)
The top 3-Wiig? No, I do not think so. Is Lorne getting dementia already?
No, because there was only one major commercial sponsor for the entire show, they had extra time, so they chose to show outtakes from various dress rehearsals from the history of the series.
Ahh, thank you. I should pay closer attention. The Fallon cracking-up one was pretty odd.
Wiig is great, they just need to stop giving her “strange woman with strange speaking style” roles.
Generally a good episode, if you take the sketches individually, but they were weaker collectively. I imagine the discussion in the writer’s room was something like this -
Writer 1: I know a funny word.
Writer 2: What?
Writer 1: “Ass”. The word “Ass” is always funny. We should make it the central joke in a sketch this week.
Writer 2: No, “Ass” is too much of a gem for just one sketch. We need to do at least six around it. It will be all shocking and cutting edge.
Writer 1: I love “Ass” as much as anybody, but remember how well it went over when we did, like, five sketches of gay jokes after Prop 8 passed last year? The individual sketches were mostly ok, but 1 1/2 hours of them were too much.
Writer 2: Ok we’ll just do 3.
Writer 1: How about 1 with a lot of fancy costume work and a Keenan commercial.
Writer 2: Ok, then we can save more “Ass” jokes for next week.
Writer 1: Hey speaking of gay jokes, Obama mentioned something about gays in the military this week and ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Writer 2: So?
Writer 1: So, gay stereotypes are topical again. Maybe we can do three or four “flamboyantly gay” sketches again. The masses seemed to have forgotten the “gay stereotype week” fiasco.
Writer 2: Its probably too soon. We might be able to get away with two, as long as the stereotypes are in some sort of military costume or context. Then it will be topical.
Writer 1: I like your thinking.
I thought most of the episode was a drag but laughed hard at Wiig’s retarded secretary. It was just totally absurd. “This is for this!” Yes I have a weird sense of humour but I make no apologies. I like almost everything Wiig does because she has perfect timing and delightful facial expressions. I can only think of one thing of her’s that I can’t stand, and that’s Gilly, which I absolutely Loathe.