Seth Myers was promoted head writer very recently, I suppose they haven’t updated their online credits yet.
http://channels.netscape.ca/entertainment/article.adp?id=20060203092609990007
Prince appeared on the Tonight Show a couple of years ago and had a long conversation with Jay about music piracy. He seemed like a normal guy, which surprised me a little.
Prince was the only reason I watched the show, and he did not disappoint!
Those backup singers were absolutely getting down on that first song. I wish all the SNL guest musicians could put on a show like that.
Oh yeah, even though Armisen had me fooled appearance-wise (I seriously thought he was Prince…but my TV is small and the reception is very bad), his impression was off. Prince is not that crazy. He needs to take pointers from Dave Chapelle. Prince may be a little different, but he’s still mega-cool and could kick anybody’s ass.
I thought the “How to get out of debt” skit was slight funny, if only because it was so true.
Do you recall what he said about it? Is he more like Metallica and vehemently against it, or more like other artists who think it’s not a big deal?
Most impressions are wild exaggerations.
I think maybe you’re missing the point of “impressions”. From a comedic standpoint, the goal is to take what is already slightly strange and unusual, and stretch or exaggerate it into something even stranger, and therefore (theoretically) funnier. If he was doing a perfect imitation of Prince, it would be like, “Hey look at that. He sounds just like him. Huh.”
I think Armison is one of the strongest members on SNL, and his impressions are spot-on.
He echoed many points that Courtney Love made back in 2000, that the RIAA were the true pirates.
The guitar work in the first was killer. I liked the way he left his guitar “running” while he walked off the stage. Weird or not, the man can play a mean ax.
I know he has a sense of humor, though. He was on an episode of Muppets Tomight! a few years ago and was quite funny.
That song really had a little of everything - great groove, excellent guitar playing, very fine soling, and the guy can put on a stage show! I may have to get that album when it comes out.
Prince was great. However, SNL needs to be either euthanised in its’ currnet state, or perhaps “rebooted”: fire everybody, start over.
Maybe Mr. Michaels should try to re-boot “Second City.”
Maybe a season of SNL with porn stars as cast members.
The current mix is cringe-worthy, as in too painful to watch.
Also, too much singing by cast members. Leave the singing to the guest bands.
Also. let’s have a time limit on sketches. Maybe it’s just some sort of event horizon/time dilation effect, but some of the skits ddddddddrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaagggggggg oooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ffffffffffffffffooooooooorrrrrrrreeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Maybe get a focus group in there, at least to cull the least funny of the skits. Then again, maybe these are the best they can do.
This is what nearly destroyed the show during the 81-82 season. The sketches were bad AND long. You’d think they would devise a way to scuttle a sketch after two minutes when it looks like it’s going to bomb.
I liked the Get out of Debt advice book, Prince and the Prince Show.
There’s one thing I really miss, though: The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Why don’t they do that cartoon anymore?
They shouldn’t fire everyone.
They should keep:
Bill Hader
Andy Samberg
Amy Poehler
Fred Armisen
Darrell Hammond
Chris Parnell
They should dump:
Rachel Dratch
Finesse Mitchell
Maya Rudolph
Horatio Sanz
Keenan Thompson
Kristen Wiig
On the bubble (You’re on probation, losers!):
Seth Meyers
Will Forte
Jason Sudeikis
Tina Fey (keep for Weekend Update)
The cast is way too big anyway. That’s probably part of the reason they’ve lost focus.
Maybe they can’t get the voice actors anymore. The actors who voiced Ace and Gary have both gone on to greater success now. Their names were Stephen Colbert and Steve Corell.
Really? That’s so cool. Steve Corell has been my boyfriend ever since I saw The 40-Year Old Virgin. My married, ambiguosly gay virgin boyfriend. Sigh.
I mostly agree, but they need to keep Maya - none of the other females can sing since Ana G left - and you never know when that will come in handy.
Prince may have a sense of humor but obviously dislikes parody; He has yet to grant Weird Al permission to lampoon any of his songs. But, yeah, I was hoping Prince was going to show on “The Prince Show” Maybe he could have played Dave Chappelle…?
I would keep Chris Parnell, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig (killer impressionist, much like Hader), Kenan Thompson, Seth Myers (who recently got promoted to co-head writer), Fred Armisen, Will Forte, and Tina Fey, at least for the news. Maya Rudolph and Jason Sudeikis would be on probation, and I’d get rid of Rachael Dratch, Horatio Sanz (who I don’t dislike as much as everyone else), Finesse Mitchell, and Darrell Hammond (who I hear is unreliable due to drug problems, and seems redundant thanks to the newer, younger, more versatile impressionist, Hader).
A couple of weekend update bits were funny. Tina says that Alito was confirmed so if you want an abortion you better “hop to it”. Cut to Amy’s chair which is now empty and you can here a car driving away.
And the one about the high school girl basketball player who scored 100 + something points in a game. Then she says to be fair they were playing the NY Knicks. Ouch!