# SNL: 9/13/08 (season premiere) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530 "2008-09-14T03:43:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/1 "2008-09-14T03:43:05Z")
I thought the Hillary/Palin sketch was awesome and right on the mark. ---
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/2 "2008-09-14T03:52:37Z")
I did not see this - who were the actors? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/3 "2008-09-14T03:54:02Z")
It was a great opening. I hope they do ask her about dinosaurs. 😃 The skits are getting bad quickly though. That swim team sketch was painful. The opening was fairly good, nice surprise by [del]Kirk[/del] Shatner. > [@BlueOhio](#): > > I did not see this - who were the actors? Tina Fey came on as Palin and they even made a joke about Palin wearing Tina Fey glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/4 "2008-09-14T03:54:48Z")
> [@BlueOhio](#): > > I did not see this - who were the actors? Pohler as Hillary, Tina Fey (natch) as Palin. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/5 "2008-09-14T03:57:35Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > It was a great opening. I hope they do ask her about dinosaurs. 😃 > > The skits are getting bad quickly though. That swim team sketch was painful… Michael Phelps in a swim team sketch wearing _clothing_?!?! :mad: What the f@ck are they thinking? The cold open was great. I hope Tina Faye will be recuring as Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/6 "2008-09-14T04:53:12Z")
Oh Phelps. Did you really think hosting SNL would be a good idea? Not good. Painful. Wooden. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/7 "2008-09-14T04:55:56Z")
The first 15 minutes gave me some hope that SNL would be back. I missed the beginning of the Palin/Hillary intro, but caught the end of it, and was happy to see the writers are willing to mock the ridiculous nomination. Phelps, like most athletes, is not a good host, though I thought the quiz bowl skit with the home school team (and their crazy beliefs) was funny. The monologue was awful (of course). I can understand him being nervous, but he walked out, looked for his spot on the floor and didn’t move. His acting/cue-card reading could use some work too. Maybe some acting lessons before he inevitably stars in some movie. What were they thinking to follow it with that stupid swim team skit? Combine that with the awkward adolescent skit, and I’m thinking someone needs to alert these people that talking in a “weird” voice and “crazy” dancing is not funny. It’s lazy, and the show continues to try to coast along on skits written by 8th graders. The “does it smell like pepper in here?” skit was a rip off of the old “My White Momma” bit Artie Lange would do on Mad TV, only this wasn’t funny. I had the creeping feeling that the writers were trying to set it up as a recurring character. I hope I’m wrong. Andy Samberg continues to have a job making videos for a major sketch show, that would otherwise not have more than a week long shelf life on YouTube. The king is still dead. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/8 "2008-09-14T04:59:56Z")
This is pretty awful. Tina Fey was a dead-ringer for Sarah Palin; in fact, I thought it was her for a minute. Michael Phelps is a nice guy but he doesn’t have the chops to carry an SNL. I know they probably didn’t want to do a politics only show, but nothing they did seemed timely (the FLDS skit was so May 2008). Nothing has made me laugh, and Li’l Wayne… he’s the guy that broke some record for first day sales of his album, right? I think he sucks. Especially when he tried to go “rocker” and play guitar at the end. I was embarrassed for him. I watched the show in HD… I guess with the constant costume changes, etc. it’s hard to do makeup for the anchors. Amy Poehler looked like I imagine she looks when she goes shopping. Even our forty-something anchors on the local news have better makeup than poor ol’ Amy. In fairness, Jared from Subway appearing on the Michael Phelps Diet sketch was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/9 "2008-09-14T05:00:21Z")
When Shatner popped up in the audience, I thought, why can’t He host instead? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/10 "2008-09-14T05:03:50Z")
> [@Dignan](#): > > Andy Samberg continues to have a job making videos for a major sketch show, that would otherwise not have more than a week long shelf life on YouTube. > > The king is still dead. This was probably the worst part. The concept might have worked okay if it was right during the Olympics, but it was just… really weird and not funny at all. When Samberg hits (Lazy Sunday, Dick In A Box, Iran) he’s unstoppable. When he misses (that shit with the cats and lasers, and this one), you wonder if they’ll ever let him do another digital short again. That new guy doing the pepper skit needs to be fired. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/11 "2008-09-14T05:07:30Z")
Was that Guy Fieri in the audience during the monologue? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/12 "2008-09-14T05:13:09Z")
> [@Dignan](#): > > Andy Samberg continues to have a job making videos for a major sketch show, that would otherwise not have more than a week long shelf life on YouTube. That was the worst five minutes of television I think I’ve ever seen. It was worse than not funny; I couldn’t even tell what was being spoofed. I’d rather listen to Carlos Mencia make fun of gay soldiers than watch that travesty again. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/13 "2008-09-14T05:21:44Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > In fairness, Jared from Subway appearing on the Michael Phelps Diet sketch was pretty funny. Absolutely! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/14 "2008-09-14T05:23:41Z")
Other than the cold open, that whole episode was a dud. ---
**Author:** ![ShermanAter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ShermanAter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShermanAter)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/15 "2008-09-14T07:04:35Z")
The show hasn’t been that bad so far. I thought the Palin bit was ok. You can dis on Sandberg, but to me, that Will Forte is the weakest comic ever. The next time that guy is funny will be the first time. He sucks. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/16 "2008-09-14T08:29:30Z")
[The Palin/Clinton skit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBH1gleAyf4) I thought it was funny, I haven’t seen the whole show yet though. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/17 "2008-09-14T12:25:42Z")
Palin/Clinton was funny, they got off some good zingers during Weekend Update, and then the very last skit of the show was funny, if anyone else bothered to stay up to watch it. It was a fake ad for the Michael Phelps Diet. “You don’t have to train like an Olympic athlete to eat like an Olympic athlete!” (words flash on screen: YES YOU DO.) Everything else was meh to terrible. I hope that some of the crappiness was because they had to substitute sketches at the last minute when Obama pulled out, but jeeeeeez, there were really some stinkers on last night. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/18 "2008-09-14T18:41:24Z")
> [@BabaBooey](#): > > Was that Guy Fieri in the audience during the monologue? Yes it was, sitting next to Shatner. I figured he was there for some sort of bit in the monologue and was a little surprised he never showed. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/19 "2008-09-14T18:54:18Z")
I thought the [Space Olympics](http://www.hulu.com/watch/34464/saturday-night-live-digital-short-space-olympics#s-p1-st-i1) was awesome. Reminds me of a DeVo video or something. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530/20 "2008-09-14T22:02:13Z")
> [@bbs2k](#): > > [The Palin/Clinton skit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBH1gleAyf4) > > I thought it was funny, I haven’t seen the whole show yet though. Aaannd it’s gone already, along with others that have been added since then. They really remove some of the SNL stuff VERY quickly, yet you can still watch all the old SNL Jeopardy parodies, for example. Maybe they’re going to post the new stuff themselves on their website, and want people to go there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-9-13-08-season-premiere/463530.md?page=2)