# "SNL" with Jason Bateman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857 "2005-02-13T08:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/21 "2005-02-14T01:47:45Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I’ve been out of the loop a bit on American TV, but what’s Jason Bateman been doing to merit hosting SNL? Has he finally graduated from his 80’s role as the poor man’s Michael J. Fox? Starring in the funniest show on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/22 "2005-02-14T01:48:41Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I’ve been out of the loop a bit on American TV, but what’s Jason Bateman been doing to merit hosting SNL? Has he finally graduated from his 80’s role as the poor man’s Michael J. Fox? > > Or has SNL just really slipped that far, and next week’s guest is going to be the guy who did the voice of K.I.T.T.? He just won a Golden Globe for Best Actor on the funniest and best-written show on television, Arrested Development, now going strong (with several Emmys behind it) in its second season on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/23 "2005-02-14T01:57:04Z")
I hadn’t seen SNL for a couple of years except for a few skits when Luke Wilson was hosting. I tuned in last night especially to see Jason Bateman and boy did that suck, even worse than I expected. I was watching it with my mom and we spent about 45 minutes groaning over how terrible it was but hoping it to get better. It didn’t. The Monkey Poop one was especially terrible. It could _maybe_ pass as one of the last-ten-minutes-time-waster sketches, but being placed third was mindboggling. I really felt embarrassed for Jason Bateman - trying to sell a joke as unfunny as that after appearing on the best TV show since _The Office_ was rough. None of the skits he was in even really stuck out. I’m actually really glad that I accidentally missed the episode with Paul Giamatti hosting - a guy that talented, serious and dignified having to appear in lame skits like that would have been too painful to watch. That said, I did laugh twice: during the the meHarmony commercial and during the Weekend Update about the evolutionary biologist who was “killed by a bigger, stronger evolutionary biologist.” ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/24 "2005-02-14T01:58:39Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Now I actually like Horatio Sanz–he makes me laugh. He’s no John Belushi, but I think people on the Internet are overly hard on him. For filling the “goofy fat guy” role, he’s way funnier than Chris Farley ever was. I hope you are kidding. Farley caught your attention, and knew how to deliver his lines. Sanz is totally inept in my opinion, always plays the same character in every skit. I am overly tired of his “playing dumb” routine, delivering his lines after long pauses and constantly laughing at himself during the skit. I would venture to say that you will be hard pressed to find very many who agree with you on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/25 "2005-02-14T02:05:04Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > I am overly tired of his “playing dumb” routine, delivering his lines after long pauses and **constantly laughing at himself during the skit**. Bolding mine. I know SNL is a comedy show and all, but constantly laughing at yourself during skits is extremely unprofessional. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/26 "2005-02-14T02:25:14Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > I hope you are kidding. Farley caught your attention, and knew how to deliver his lines. Sanz is totally inept in my opinion, always plays the same character in every skit. I am overly tired of his “playing dumb” routine, delivering his lines after long pauses and constantly laughing at himself during the skit. I would venture to say that you will be hard pressed to find very many who agree with you on this one. So? ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/27 "2005-02-14T02:28:38Z")
I had forgotten about the Black History commercials. “The first black man to refuse to eat cold raw fish!” It doesn’t seem as shocking as it once was; where they tried to break taboos. Now its just goofy. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/28 "2005-02-14T02:31:17Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Now I actually like Horatio Sanz–he makes me laugh. He’s no John Belushi, but I think people on the Internet are overly hard on him. For filling the “goofy fat guy” role, he’s way funnier than Chris Farley ever was. No friggen way. Farley’s motivational speaker guy is alone worth more than the total of Horatio Sans. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/29 "2005-02-14T02:31:46Z")
Nothing really. You are entitled to your opinion, of course, and neither of us can be right since we are talking about an opinion. I _am_ seriously shocked that anyone would think Horatio is better than Farley, and that is why I posted my thoughts on the matter. If you like Sanz that much, then I say more power to you, you definitely don’t follow the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/30 "2005-02-14T02:32:56Z")
Sorry, I should have quoted **BigBadVoodooLou** in my post above. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/31 "2005-02-14T02:43:08Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > He just won a Golden Globe for Best Actor on the funniest and best-written show on television, Arrested Development, now going strong (with several Emmys behind it) in its second season on Fox. That’s a TV show? Man, all this time I thought those threads were about the band. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/32 "2005-02-14T02:45:42Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > That’s a TV show? Man, all this time I thought those threads were about the band. There was a rap group called Arrested Development, so you’re not going crazy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/33 "2005-02-14T02:46:44Z")
> [@Vision of Love](#): > > There was a rap group called Arrested Development, so you’re not going crazy. 🙂 Sorry, I misread your post. You _do_ know of the group. My bad. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/34 "2005-02-14T05:02:04Z")
Haven’t they done a skit almost exactly like ‘Gays in Space’ before? It seemed very familiar. (At least we got to see Jason Bateman’s legs.) Another vote for “Horatio Sanz as one trick pony who can rarely even get _that one trick_ right”. The only thing I’ll say in his defense is that he’s moderately less annoying now that he doesn’t have Jimmy Fallon to play with. (I don’t know for a fact that Fallon’s a pothead or otherwise a druggie, but I have to say he gave every impression of it onstage- inability to get through a sketch without mugging and giggling, sweating, always hyper, etc.- his first starring vehicle [_Taxi_] already tanked and I think he and Sanz are a lot more likely to be sharing a duplex with Gary Kroeger and Charles Rocket than they are to be neighbors of Akroyd and Murphy.) I thought Bateman did as well as anybody could have done with the material. I wonder if the fact Amy is married to his TV brother had anything to do with her ubiquity last night. A moment that made me laugh: the “Condoleeza Tyler Moore” song. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/35 "2005-02-14T05:41:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Haven’t they done a skit almost exactly like ‘Gays in Space’ before? It seemed very familiar. (At least we got to see Jason Bateman’s legs.) > > I thought Bateman did as well as anybody could have done with the material. I wonder if the fact Amy is married to his TV brother had anything to do with her ubiquity last night. I kept expecting Will “GOB” Arnett to make an appearance, either during the monologue or one of Jason and Amy’s shared sketches. As for “Gays In Space,” I kept thinking “1991 called, and it wants its Kids In the Hall throwaway sketch back!” ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/36 "2005-02-14T06:24:25Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > I kept expecting Will “GOB” Arnett to make an appearance, either during the monologue or one of Jason and Amy’s shared sketches. > > As for “Gays In Space,” I kept thinking “1991 called, and it wants its Kids In the Hall throwaway sketch back!” Aww, don’t bring up Kids In The Hall. Now I’ll never be able to watch SNL without getting all depressed and wishing it was KITH. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857/37 "2005-02-15T04:13:51Z")
I thought last season was pretty good, but this season sucks. Other than some players leaving (the only one I can thing of off the top of my head is Jimmy Fallon), what’s changed? I do think Maya, Amy, and Rachel are great, and I like Seth and Chris Parnell, too. It seems they’re stuck in making fun of pop culture or doing toilet humor. I know Jimmy’s gone, but what about some “Wake Up Wakefield” (that sketch always hit a bit too close to home) or some of their other regular bits? I don’t think Amy is a good fit for Weekend Update, either (maybe Seth should pair up with Tina for that one). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-with-jason-bateman/289857.md?page=1)