For me, Smigel’s cartoons are the only consistently funny part of SNL anymore–or at least most of the time they are.
The Disney spoofs are also spot-on (I always send a copy on tape to my Disney pals so they can laugh their butts off), and “The Ex-Presidents” is hilarious.
I’m glad to see the AG Duo back in action again; I’d really missed those two.
“What’s everybody looking at?”
“NOTHING!!!”
I hadn’t seen about half of these, including “Disney Vault”, and they’re damn hilarious.
Thanks for the heads-up! I didn’t know this was on, and I love these shorts.
Viva: If the Disney short you referred to in a previous thread is being aired tonight, cancel my request for the tape that you sent your friend–I’ll be DVRing tonight’s episode.
The Disney short was reaired last night, and it’s still pretty damn funny.
Some of these Smeigel shorts I haven’t seen before, and I thought they were pretty good. My two favorites that I had never seen before included an Arab Kids’ TV network (“state-run and gobs of fun”) featuring programming such as Saddam and Osama in which the duo have transforming powers (“remember when I fooled all of Baghdad into thinking I was a statue?”) and an Arab version of Batman (“Today, Batman faces not one, but three foes- The Jew, The Jew, and the Old Jew!”); and an inexplicably funny sketch in which Dennis Haysbert hosts a retrospective on cartoons with black stars, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Outer Space and a comedy/adventure cartoon based on Driving Miss Daisy. “Sadly, The Hoke & Daisy Show was ahead of its time…and a steaming bowl of elephant piss.”
When the last cartoon started- a lame parody of Yogi Bear in which the only joke is that Yogi has a large package- I was thinking how horrible it was. Then I was happily surprised when it was supposed to be horrible and was only a setup for commentary about the declining quality of SNL in recent years and Lorne Michaels selling his soul to the Devil.
Was that actually Don Pardo at the beginning announcing the show’s “new cast” or an impersonator? I know Don is getting on in years, but I didn’t think he sounded that bad. He sounded much better announcing next week’s show and in his brief cameo during the final sketch.
The Mr T. sketch (which is funny in itself) aired the week Charles Schulz died, hence the shocked Linus at the end and the piano player playing Christmas Time is Here.
Remember, drink your drugs, don’t do milk, and say no to school!
When Don Pardo’s health is really failing, Darrell Hammond often fills in for him on announcing the opening titles.
Just emailed you. Ignore it.
Have fun with that sketch!
mobo, that sketch was actually edited I liked the original one better. It had more cartoons, including “The Tokens,” an action cartoon starring Franklin form Charlie Brown, the bassist from Josie and the Pussycats, and one other chatacter I can’t remember. Each cartoon had it’s breif history outlined. then had verbal abuse heaped on it by Haysbert.
My favorites were the Anna Nicole Smurf sketch (which they edited- was that the original Gargamel voice actor, btw?), the Narrator Who Ruined Christmas (“you’re making a national tragedy about yourself… so paint your ass red, get in your cage and dance, monkey!”) and any excuse to show Andy Samberg (a current crush) nekkid.
Even non speaking and shown for only 2 seconds Jimmy Fallon is annoying.
Did they show the Titanic sketch? (I only saw the last few minutes.) It was a Disney-does-Titanic thing with villainous iceberg, Anne Frank singing about her diary, etc…
The only stinkers on Smigel’s segments seem to be in the “Fun With REAL AUDIO” segments which sometimes go on too long.
The other character in the Tokens cartoon was Winston from The Ghostbusters. And I agree that it was funny (they showed it last week).
Wait, what part did I miss? I didn’t see Andy Samberg naked, and I didn’t see Jimmy Fallon at all (not a bad thing, that.)
Robert Smigel’s stuff is seriously hit-or-miss as far as I’m concerned. Some of it’s great, but a lot of it just leaves me WTF, and this had its share of that kind of thing. “Christmastime For The Jews”? I mean, it just wasn’t funny. On the other hand, the (shortened?) cartoon with the Peanuts kids waving their arms around is hilarious . . .
I dunno. Probably fewer laughs for me than a solid regular episode of SNL.
Just the opposite here. Christmas for the Jews was a beautifully perfect parody, while the Peanuts sketch was a fast forwarding opportunity missed.
And I agree with mobo85 that just when I was wondering about Smigel’s lame-ass pushing of the boundaries with the Animanimals (so lame that it was a perfect example of why I don’t watch SNL anymore), he cut away to the real joke and pulled the rug out from under my umbrage. Snatched umbrage! From SNL! Who’d a thunk it?
What was it a parody of? Maybe that’s why I didn’t get it, because the entire premise of the thing seemed incomprehensible to me.
I humbly disagree. I’m not a SNL watcher, but I went out of my way to catch a solid block of Smigel’s work. From what I remember of the few times in the past I’ve caught an episode, TV funhouse or ‘Fun with Real Audio’ was the best part of the show.
It didn’t hurt that he had an interview on NPR Friday afternoon.
Same guy does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, I never knew that.
It was a parody of 60’s Rankin-Bass stop-motion animation Christmas specials and Phil Spector-produced Christmas songs (which were often sung by Darlene Love who also sang “Christmastime for the Jews” in the short).
I had not realized until the broadcast (and after watching his own show for the last month or so) that the voice of “Ace” was Stephen Colbert.
Yeah, I’m more likely to let my attention wander if I see that segment being announced.
Very end, both. Samberg gets nekkid (digitally blurred of course) to go with the Ambig.Gay Duo in their car and the last few seconds is of Jimmy Fallon, a fake tear in his eye, looking up at their car.
And I left before the final moments . . . ::sigh:: Andy Samberg is sorta cute in a weird way.
And “Gary” is Steve Carrell.
Just one gripe with the Smigel special- the truncation of the Peanuts gang’s miraculous hand-waving powers (“goodbye, lesbians”) and the Minority Cartoons.
Btw, my favorite Smigel cartoon is from Comedy Central’s TV FUNHOUSE- the Harlem Globetrotters’ First Christmas ("Our savior!)