McCain was funny. But he was funny the last time he was on, so I expected that.
I don’t like Keith Olbermann a bit, so I should have laughed uproariously at that skit, but something about it just didn’t work for me.
Target lady needs to die.
Ben Affleck needs to stop cracking up during the skits. That got old the first time he did it, when his name was Horatio Sanz.
And I had high hopes for David Cook (and still do), but those songs were weak. I’m sorry, but they were absolutely formulaic, bombastic power ballads complete with over-the-top bridges, lots of lyrics about making your way or being true to yourself or something, and the obligatory slow ending with the low octave singing before the bombast gets cranked up to 11 for the big finish. Absolutely forgettable. I hope his album has better material on it than that, because he’s got a lot of talent.
Caught it on hulu.com, so the only bits I watched were the McCain ones. (The Olbermann bit doesn’t appear to be easy to find, so I’m not digging for it.) In watching it, the one thing that jumped out at me is that both Fey and McCain were comfortable in front of the camera. By comparison, it seems to me that Palin is thinking about every movement she makes in front of the camera. McCain, like Fey, didn’t have to do that. They seemed to know that what they were doing was “right,” and they could focus on getting other aspects of their performances correct. Even Cindy McCain performed better than Palin has done.
This is not meant as a jab at Palin. Ronald Reagan famously once said that he couldn’t imagine how you could be President and not be an actor, and I think that McCain clearly held his own against Fey, and there’s been a few professional actors who’ve not done as well live as McCain did (Tom Arnold springs to mind. He can act, but put him on SNL and he sucks ass). For McCain to be Fey’s equal in terms of acting ability is quite the accomplishment, IMHO. So for Palin to be a bit awkward, and to having to concentrate to project a certain image puts her in a class with most people. Perhaps with more time in the spotlight, Palin will develop the “natural” image that McCain and Fey have.
McCain seemed funny and relaxed. I think he’s looking forward to the campaign being over, and going back to the Senate. Already voted against him, but I kinda like him now. Just not as President.
I thought the Olbermann was done well for the most part, but for the first half of the sketch I thought it wasn’t quite right. K.O. always has a kind of bemused sarcasm going during his show that Affleck missed, going for a more stern and serious demeanor.
Of course, the stern & serious side works perfectly for “Worst Person” and “Special Comment” so it ended up working well…
I also loved the Richard Wolff impression, it was great.
I must be culturally misaligned; I thought the show was almost uniformly awful. I laughed exactly twice: once at the “GIRAFFES!” bit, and a small reprise at the “Entourage brand douchebags” joke.
And yes, someone badly needs to sit (or strap) Kristen Wiig down in a chair in front of an enormous piece of posterboard upon which is written
ANNOYING ≠ FUNNY
and drill her over and over and over until she gets it. Beginning with Q&A and moving on to a Black & Decker, if it appears not to be sinking in.
If I can find out who invented the “skip ahead” button on my DVR, I’m nominating him or her for a Nobel Prize.
Of the 4 of them, I think McCain and Biden are the ones with some sense of funny-they both come off a little snarky. Obama and Palin are the ones who come off as utterly humourless.
Vinyl Turnip, I totally agree. When Kirsten comes on the screen, I wince in anticipation. I don’t think she’s ever made me laugh. (Although her Elizabeth impression wasn’t as bad as it could have been).
Although Keenan can sometimes grate, his Whoopie imitation gave me the giggles. “Girl chile”.
The K.O sketch lasted forever. Perhaps that was intentional (because the last ten minutes of the real KO show often drags on too), but I just wanted it to end after awhile.
Elizabeth wasn’t screechy enough for The View sketch. I think the only thing I’ve seen Wiig in that I really loved was her Gloria Swanson from the Vincent Price Halloween special, I think that was last week but they had replayed it earlier in the evening.
My girlfriend can’t stand Kristin Wiig, for the reason that “she can only play one character”. Basically, she’s great at depcting an annoying, nervous person, but not much beyond that.
Ben Affleck doing Olbermann was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I laughed so hard I had everyone in the room laughing with me. The View was great, too.
But McCain? Sure, he was funny. But wasn’t that excruciating? It was pathetic because it seemed so true. I can’t believe Cindy McCain let herself be put on the air for that.
I cringed when the audience enthusiastically booed McCain whenever he showed up. You may not want to vote for the man, but he deserves respect. He’s just there to entertain. I thought that was incredibly rude and low class, and I was surprised Cindy didn’t sprout wings and fly over the audience, belching flames and ripping the heads off the boo-ers.
…but maybe he called her a cunt right before he went on and she wasn’t in an especially protective mood…