This may belong in Cafe Society.
Does the fact that on “Saturday Night Live” the guest stars and also the regulars consistently can be seen reading lines off of cue cards ruin the comic possibilities of the various sketches?
No, very few of the sketches ever have comic possibilities in the first place.
I was watching SNL the other day. Christopher Walken was the host. His cue-card-reading was was painfully obvious. Yes, it can ruin the sketch especially when the star flubs the line.
I’ve learned to ignore it. Some hosts are good at it some aren’t it doesn’t really bother me that much anymore.
They did explain why this is so often the case. They do a lot of re-writes on that show, including between the final rehearsal and the actual show which prevents them from memorizing lines as they could easily do if handed a final script a day or two in advance. They have to read cards since to miss a line could ruin a sketch in its entirety.
Some of the guests do it really REALLY bad (Gretzky was very bad). The regulars ussually hide it better. It would be hard to remember all the lines everyweek and keep up a good drug and drink intake.
Anyway, it doesnt take away from the comedic potential for me.
dead0man
I think it’s only a problem if it’s obvious - I don’t expect them to have memorized everything, since they have less than a week to rehearse.
[dead0man, did you get a new name?]
Moving this to Cafe Society.
LOL. I have thought that from the beginning. But it has gone even farther downhill.
On a related note, I always thought the “we only have a week to write and rehearse an entire show!” excuse to be a really lame response when someone points out that SNL is rarely any good. What do these people do in the summer when the show is in reruns? Only a portion of the show is topical, so it seems you could be writing good material all the time and have it banked, ready to slip in if this week’s writing sucks. And how about hiring a few more writers so you they can work ahead?
Instead, they rely on the lazy eighth-grader’s excuse that they didn’t have enough time to finish the assignment. Well, Billy, when did you start working on it???
I immediately thought of Walken when I read the thread title. However, I think his bits are more humourous because of how stiff he is.
I saw a special on SNL recently (Biography on A&E?)- They (writers, cast, guest host, Lorne) meet Monday - each person must bring at least ONE idea for a skit - throw ideas around, write Tuesday, start rehearsing Wednesday, skits start getting cut on Thursday, more cuts Friday, Dressrehearsal Saturday, more cuts Saturday evening, then show. They only use about 1/4 of the skits rehearsed during the week. That is one hell of a schedule, and NOT easy. Anyone who thinks otherwise has obviously never tried to do something like this. As for what they do in the summer - well, they RELAX, or work on other projects, ones that aren’t quite so stressful. Some of the writers may well work on skits for the upcoming year, but I doubt it.
Actually, it really isn’t hard at all. Especially if you’ve been trained in improvisation. The actors in the most recent batches of SNL don’t seem to be that highly trained. I mean c’mon, it’s ok if you don’t know the script verbatum. It wasn’t funny to begin with so you really can’t blow it anymore.
As for creative ideas/topical ideas, there are tons out there, the problem (of course this is all IMHO) is the fact that they’re always looking to have that catch-phrase/kooky character. They’ve forgotten one of the basic tenets in (improv) comedy and that is to be truthful to the character. I could rant on and on but it’s mostly due to the fact that Mad TV seems to put out better comedy but doesn’t get the attention it deserves in comparison. (I’m not saying Mad TV is a great show, but it does have its moments).
Whats the deal with the cue cards? Are actors required to stick to them verbatum, or do they usually embellish them a bit?
“As for what they do in the summer - well, they RELAX, or work on other projects, ones that aren’t quite so stressful. Some of the writers may well work on skits for the upcoming year, but I doubt it.”
Well, that’s my point. If you choose to take half the year off and not work on any sketches for the show, fine. But that takes a LOT of credibility out of the “they start on Monday and work like frenzied monkeys every week, so give them a break” explanation. They choose to do it that way when they don’t have to, and it doesn’t work.
I’ve thought often that I’d make more of an effort to watch the show if it was on every-other-week during the season. It’s pretty irregular anyway, and a two week schedule would allow them the time to polish everything, especially the last half-hour or so.
I definitely agree that the schedule they’re on is tough, but they do have writers apart from the performers, people who don’t have to memorize lines and can start working on next week this week.
On-topic, I think that Walken’s occasional stares at the cards are part of his charm.
As for the regular cast, I think there is a decline in belief when I catch people reading, but most of the time, they remember the funny stuff and the obvious reading takes place in scenes with little merit anyway.
When you are memorizing lines several hours before the show, I’d guess that a sort of triage sets in, and you only really remember the stuff that you think is the best.
Actually as I understand it some sketches get rewrites between dress rehearsal and the actual show meaning that some of the actors are reading lines they’ve never seen behfore and hence have not had a chance to memorize.
Whether the show would be better is they had a rehearsal in front of a real audience the day before and gave the actors a final script saturday morning I’d have to say possibly.
I thought they used their summer break to make the unfunny SNL movies based on the unfunny SNL sketches that they never learned the unfunny lines to in the first place.
The cue card reading doesn’t bother me so much, sometimes it can add to the comedic effect if the guest is right, think Steve Forbes. I wonder how stiff a card reading John McCain will give when he’s on this fall.
But SNL is not improv. It’s live, yes, and it’s not very well-rehearsed, yes, but every line is scripted and every joke is pre-written. Damon Wayans got really, really fired when he suddenly went into a lispy falsetto voice during a skit. Sure, it was hysterical, and the audience died, but the other people in the skit were completely thrown off. Should SNL regulars be better at improv? That’s so far down my list of complaints that I can barely see it.
One of the funniest sketches they ever did was Wake Up and Smile! about a stereotypically bouncy morning talk-show that degenerates into savagery and cannibalism when the TelePrompter breaks.
Just thought I’d mention it, since it’s one of my favourites.
Geroge Steinbrennar, the worst host EVER, was quite the card reader. He even had a skit where he criticizes what is ON the card. The sad thing is, he walked over to the cue card guy and was complaining. The sad thing is, you could tell he was reading THAT off a second set of cue cards!