First, we freely admit that Facebook Questions is an asinine feature of a site that is continuously populating itself with unnecessary clutter. But still, unless your sole purpose is to shame Facebook Questions into submission, don’t ask questions like these. “Why do people watch Lost?” That’s like asking a writer “Where do you get your ideas?” Why do we watch Lost? We just do, OKAY?! And the second question, “How did LOST end?,” c’mon! You have enough motivation to post a question on Facebook about the subject, but not enough to just find the last episode online? Or simply Google the answer? That couldn’t take more than twelve seconds.
What is this world coming to? We guess Armageddonis coming.
Whatever you do, DON’T ANSWER! We’ve gone ahead and given this enough legitimacy as it is.
Back in May we had every intention of compiling a “best of” list for SNL‘s 35th season. However, for one reason, or another, that never happened. So, instead of just abandoning this intention altogether we decided to put together a list for the 2010 calendar year, and then come spring we’ll post revised rankings that only pertain to the 2010-2011 campaign. Sound good? Great. And hopefully this will hold you over until Jim Carrey graces Studio 8H on Saturday night.
1. Jeff Bridges/Cookie Monster Monologue: Obviously we’re completely biased towards this piece, but nothing from the previous 12 months provided us with nearly as much glee. It gave us much the same feeling we imagine Cookie Monster experiences when he devours a particularly delicious cookie.
Promos for this weekend’s SNL with Jim Carrey are out! Jason Sudeikis joins him backstage for these spots, which couldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes to shoot (or conceive):
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Nevertheless, we’re still excited. And if these promos are an indication that we’re going to see a fair amount of Carrey-Sudeikis collaboration, then we’ll be in good shape.
Now the question is, does Carrey do any of his classic characters? It’s unlikely he’d reprise anyone from his last hosting stint in ’96, with that entire cast long gone. But perhaps the time is right for a return to Fire Marshall Bill. Or maybe Ace Ventura. Or, as Mark McKinney did in Carrey’s first go ’round, maybe someone else in the cast will impersonate of Carrey (let’s see you do that one, Jay Pharoah). OR none of the above. So many options!
Nice and easy today with the term “swedish chef.” But, instead of offering up a Muppet Show clip, which might have been the obvious choice, we’re going to use this as yet another opportunity to showcase one of our favorite Muppet outings, The Muppets at Walt Disney World. This also allows us to enjoy another one of our most beloved Muppets, Beaker, who in this clip seeks out the Chef’s help in extricating himself from a rather tight situation.
Our old pal Eliot Glazer recently alerted us to the virtual treasure trove of classic Saturday Night Live episodes that can now be found on Netflix Instant Watch. In fact, they’ve made available nearly every episode of the show from its tumultuous 35 year history (although, it should be noted that episodes only feature “selected” sketches, and the musical performances have been excised for obvious licensing reasons). Upon learning of this bounty, what was of most interest to us were two seasons in particular. The first was the 10th Season, which boasted Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer (and an opening credit sequence that inexplicably contained giant flying hot dogs); basically a group of ringers brought into the save the show after the departure of budding superstar Eddie Murphy (and, to a lesser extent, the exit of soon-to-be-punchline Joe Piscopo). The second season we were most curious about was the subsequent year, in which Lorne Michaels returned to the show after a five year absence and replaced the seasoned veterans with a group comprised mostly of young novices, including Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey, Jr. and Joan Cusack. The show suffered dismal ratings and a critical beating, but since it staved off cancellation and experienced a renaissance the following season with the arrival of Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks and Kevin Nealon, the 11th Season has become something of a footnote in SNL history. However, after years of darkness, we can finally shed a light on this forgotten season.
And what did we find upon closer inspection? You bet, an episode from April of 1986 hosted Mr. Tony Danza, who was just beginning to earn the greatest praise of his career for his early work in Who’s the Boss?* Clearly though, Danza was not meant for sketch comedy, as his Russian accent in one sketch is just barely perceptible for much of the scene, and absent for the rest of it. Much like in his roles on Taxi and Who’s the Boss?, Tony just can’t help being Tony, and his genuine upbeat, gregarious, often laughable, personality shines through no matter what character he attempts to portray. Which is why inserting Dazna in this boxing sketch was a smart move. Just like the producers of Taxi recognized, it’s best not to let “Tony” stray too far from Tony. And then on top of Danza doing what he does best, and what comes naturally, you have Anthony Michael Hall probably turning in his finest work since The Breakfast Club (until 1988’s Johnny Be Good,** of course).
Hard to believe that scrawny little guy turned out like this.
*We’re making this up and assume it to not be true.
If you’re a regular visitor to Jumped the Snark you’ll know that some of our greatest pleasure derives from those delightful occasions when Anderson Cooper rips a deluded, misguided, self-serving and/or reprehensible guest to pieces. He did it with former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell and with Congressman Michelle Bachmann and with Amazon. So imagine our excitement when he welcomed Kirk Cameron as a guest last night. Finally, someone would nail Cameron for forcing the producers of Growing Pains to write former Playmate Julie McCulloughoff the show, leaving Mike Seaver at the altar, and leaving us stunned. Cooper could have authoritatively questioned Cameron about letting his Christian values dictate the course for the sitcom. He could have asked what’s the deal with Way of the Master. Or what was it like to work with a Canadian like Alan Thicke. Or even, on a serious note, he could have inquired about the late Andrew Koenig (let alone mention of this). Nope. All they did was talk about the dead blackbirds and fish in Arkansas. Boring (also, huh?)! That’s a big miss, Anderson, and we’ve come to expect more from you.
Also, isn’t bringing Kirk Cameron on as an Armageddon expert just the kind of thing that Cooper would rail against, castigating its inherent absurdity? Perhaps he did that later in his “Keeping Them Honest” segment, putting himself on trial. If so, he’s won us back. If not, for shame, Anderson. For shame.
Very, very, excited about today’s entry. Many thanks to whomever searched for today’s term, because it’s allowed us to post one of our favorite scenes from Community, and also one of our favorite scenes from anything ever. Today, more than a week after Christmas, we were gifted the words “anthony michael hall community.” The fact that it’s a holiday clip makes it all the more perfect.
Anthony Michael Hall with a mustache. A brawl in fake snow. Chevy throwing punches indiscriminately. Florence + the Machine. Can’t do much better than that.
But we’re going to try! As a bonus, here’s a clip of Anthony Michael Hall from his ill-fated stint on the ill-fated tenth season of SNL (along with Robert Downey, Jr! Also ill-fated!):
A Guy Fieri Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives supercut. Or should we say EXTREME-cut? We should say EXTREME-cut. It’s everything you need to know about Guy Fieri in 1:16:
So having watched that, what do you think? Did we nail it?
With the new Muppet movie just 11 months away, we already know that 2011 is going to be a HUGE year for the Muppets, perhaps their biggest in three decades. But one intrepid tumblr-er is already getting the ball rolling with the creepy good Muppets with People Eyes:
That one actually kind of works. Cookie Monster probably should have hazier eyes.
So how long until we see “People with Muppet Eyes?” You can have that one if you want, provided we see 10% of any profits.
Or how about “Hall & Oates with Muppet Eyes?”
We think Sesame Street just found their new viral hit.
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