SNL 12/11/10

I was kind of eager to hear Paul McCartney's performances.

Then he comes out with Jet from about 40 years ago and totally butchers it. Apparently he's gone tone deaf and lost his voice. Never felt so embarrassed for an icon in all my life.

 

Jet didn't sound very good to me, either, but I'm not a huge fan of that song anyway, so I thought that might have had something to do with it. However, if you didn't catch the rest of the show, I thought he did a very nice Band On The Run, and, in his third performance, an excellent A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance medley. And he was ripping through a pretty rocking Get Back as the credits were rolling; I wish they'd stayed on the air through the end of that one.

 

I missed the three-quarters of Band On The Run thanks to my local station doing a winter storm weather bulletin. I get it, it's snowing. Thanks, fuckers.

But what I did see, he can't hit the notes. I mean, he's about 70 now, so I suppose I can cut him some slack, but I just find it sad.

And even on A Day In the Life, he wasn't really coming close on those high notes. And, to be honest, I didn't think he got any help whatsoever from his bandmates with the other voices in the harmonies.

I will give him credit for this much: They obviously weren't lip-synched performances.

 

Funny when Rudd said something to the effect of "This will never be topped."

Why? because a dude who wrote some really great songs 40 years ago, performed those old songs?

Um, yay?

 

Saw the open, saw it was Armisen, saw that it took a good 30 seconds for the first laugh (I remember when Hammond or Hartman just appearing on screen set off 30 seconds of applause) and turned it off.

 

He topped it with Hey Jude 15 or so years ago, when the performance left audience and CAST members alike in tears.

And U2 absolutely tore it up a few years ago. I remember Amy Poehler just about passing out with joy.

 

That's basically SNL these days.

 

SNL has clearly reached the level where they'll never cancel it because idiots like me watch every week in hopes of seeing the rare moment that is actually worth watching.

 

Amen to that. It's the epitome of brand loyalty. They got their hooks in me decades ago, and like a jilted addict, I keep tuning in, sputtering the whole time about how bad it sucks, and there I am again the following week.

BYH, moments like that U2 closer with Amy Poehler dripping on the stage are why I keep coming back, I guess. If they throw you one lousy bone, you're satisfied.

 

New cast members haven't showed me much this year, but neither has the returning cast. How bad can the sketches be that don't make it into the show? There still is a selection process of some kind involved, right?

 

That's true. Now you're responsible for any nightmares I have tonight.

 

I'm always afraid of missing a Baldwin walk-on or something equivalent to the perfect game that Timberlake pitched two years ago.

I usually watch the whole show in 30 minutes and fastforward through everything else.