SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

And that's half the problem with the commentary on SNL's "downward spiral." They're no longer the only show in town and stuff that's showing up elsewhere is stuff that would be on SNL 30 years ago.
For me, I find the ridiculous stuff funniest. What up With That? is a totally ridiculous skit, but it makes me laugh. Hader's Stefon character is brilliant, IMO, and I am a sucker for good impressions, which is what makes the Lost Takes stuff so funny.
Last week's Who's on Top skit was funny and I wonder how much of it had to do with Baldwin nailing it. I hope they make it a reacurring bit.

 

Tonight wasn't as good as last week overall, but jeebus, as a female sexual harasser at the office, Melissa McCarthy killed.

 

Replace "SNL" with "SI", and I'll agree 100 percent.

 

This is what allows SNL to hang on in pop culture (well, that and the mind-boggling profit margin): Rhody, I'd rather eat hot lead than watch a Bill Hader skit. God, that guy is just fucking awful. I see him as a guy who has had years to prove himself and done nothing with any of the opportunities. Just fucking awful. But I think Pharoah is hilarious and underused.

These debates have been going on since the dawn of time, or 1975, whichever came first. I remember when I was in high school and college and arguing over who was funny and who wasn't with my friends. Some of us thought Farley was the funniest person ever, others thought him stupid and immature. Some of us thought Spade was hilarious, others thought he was nothing but snark.

We disagreed on everything, except that chick whose only ability was imitating Tori Spelling. We all agreed she sucked. Melissa or Melinda something? She was terrible.

And Smasher is, as usual, spot-on. What passes for lame in 2011 was shockingly brazen in 1975. Ditto for the '80s and '90s. I remember one skit in the late '80s or early '90s where the gag was saying "penis" dozens of times. Nobody would blink at that today, but I'm pretty sure that skit never aired again.

Also, tonight's show was terrible other than the commenters gag and Pharoah's Chris Rock bit. Even Weekend Update was lame other than the line about the Amazon Fire being popular among Moms who buy the wrong gift.

 

Excellent.

 

Melanie Hutsell. Soon appearing at a Holiday Inn near you.



Rhody's points are dead on. The old days weren't as great as we remember, and we're too hard on the current product.

 

i though last night's 'snl' was HILARIOUS. mccarthy was tremendous. no apologies from me for weighing in on this positive note....

 

Here's the larger problem with Pharaoh: the performers are also supposed to be helping write the sketches. If Pharaoh's underused, don't you think part of the problem is that he can't write skits for himself? Forget Obama, cause it's not happening as long as Armisen is still in the cast; forget his impressions of Denzel, or Chris Rock or Will Smith or whoever: where is Jay Pharaoh's Nat X? Mr. Robinson? Matt Foley? It's the original characters that keep a performer top of mind, and if Pharaoh's got one up his sleeve, the time to deploy it would be now.

 

It wasn't a terrible episode, and McCarthy was great - the digital short was pointless. It kind of made me wonder if Melissa McCarthy was ever considered for SNL before - she owned her skits.

 

Pharoah was great. The show overall sucked, but McCarthy did pretty well.

This is all you need to know about the current show. With everything going on in the news, they opened with a Lawrence Welk sketch.

Fred Armisen makes Charles Rocket look like Dana Carvey.

 

McCarthy is a former Groundling (the L.A. troupe which has produced a number of SNL cast members), so she certainly knows her way around sketch comedy.