Somehow, despite committing our life’s work to documenting and analyzing SNL, we had never seen this phenomenal sketch before. But better late than never.
Vodpod videos no longer available.If you were wondering what kind of sketch we absolutely love, you now have your answer.
(also, do you think today’s date, 1.11.11, will overwhelm robots’ circuits?)
Filed under Good Humor, Just because., Makes You Think, Robots, Saturday Night Live
Well, no. Not even close. But over on the terrific comedy blog Splitsider we take a closer look at the overlooked legacy of the ill-fated, short-lived MTV show.
And, while you’re here, check out this brilliant instructional video parody from the show, written by Delocated‘s Jon Glaser and featuring Mr. Show‘s Jay Johnston and John Ennis, one of the few comedic high points for The Jenny McCarthy Show.
Filed under Bad Humor, Good Humor, TV Killed the Music Video Star
Kudos to you out there who searched for “jimmy fallon ny magazine” because you came to the right place. Because it’s only here at Jumped the Snark that you’ll find the subscriber-only cover offering this uplifting image:
Isn’t that just what you need to get through the dog days of winter?
And it’s not like us to give you just one Jimmy Fallon-related item. No, of course not. Not when Fallon is still riding the hot streak he began in the fall of 2009. It was another big show on Late Night last Friday, as friends Will Arnett and Horatio Sanz lent their talents to the truly delightful “Pro Bowl Shuffle,” just in time for NFL wild card weekend (notice how they didn’t predict any Jets players participating in the Pro Bowl. Betting that they’ll be too busy with the Super Bowl, perhaps?).
And then Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow, the proprietors of the Lower East Side’s The Meatball Shop, stopped by to cook up a few dishes and mix up a cocktail we’ll soon try ourselves (the “port-toddy”). While they should leave the “ball” humor to the masters, it was nice to put a face on the balls we’ve been eating these past six months (see? We can’t pull it off either), and we’re especially excited about the upcoming Williamsburg off-shoot of the shop (we’re coming for all your pork meatball smashes with classic tomato and mozzarella). Spring can’t come soon enough!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
See? Things aren’t so bad after all. Not when we have Jimmy Fallon and Late Night to keep our spirits high and the Meatball Shop to keep our bellies full.
Well, we weren’t devastated. Maybe it was because we were still ecstatic from the Jets victory, and that residual giddiness made us a little more lenient, a little looser (the beers couldn’t have hurt either). Whatever it was, we were in a good mood, and Jim Carrey’s return to SNL didn’t ruin it. It wasn’t a landmark episode, or a groundbreaking night, nor did they seem that they were fully back from vacation. But, given our lofty, unrealistic, expectations, it was satisfying. And (unfortunately), that’s enough.
And let’s, for a change, start at the top. We often completely ignore the cold open when reviewing SNL, because it’s usually one of the weakest, least memorable parts of the show, certainly in non-election years. We can’t pinpoint when it started exactly, but perhaps it’s been since the great Bush-Gore battle of 2000 that the cold open has almost felt obligated to be political sketch. Often times that’s made for great, funny television (Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, occasionally Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden), but more often than not we’re treated to a mildly amusing address from by Fred Armisen as President Obama. It’s become predictable and somewhat boring. So what a surprise it was for the show to begin and discover Armisen not as Obama but as NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Keep reading! More on Bloomy, Carrey nails Kunis, and a sketch made just for us…
When we formulated our Best TV Shows of 2010 list last week there was one glaring omission, that being Adult Swim’s Delocated. The truth is that we felt, having worked on the show, that placing the series on that list might have been a conflict of interest (not that anyone who reads this blog would particularly care). However, we were remiss not to note that had there been no conflict then Delocated would have certainly earned a spot on the list. Our apologies for the poor judgment.
HOWEVER, with that we’re happy to bring you some good Delocated news. Over on his Delocated blog, creator and star Jon Glaser has announced that Delocated has, in fact, been picked up for a third season (yay!). So, sometime in 2011, except twelve new episodes, with even more grinders, more jingles, more doo-wop, more explosions and certainly a higher body count. Delocated made a huge leap between its first and second seasons – when it expanded to a full 22 minutes and brought in Steve Cirbus as Yvgeny Mirminksy’s blood-thirsty, psychopathic, terrifying brother Sergei – so we’re triply excited to see how the show raises the bar in Season 3.
Let’s celebrate with some homemade seltz!
Vodpod videos no longer available.Filed under Best Show You're Not Watching, Good Humor
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.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Keep going: #2-10! Night tremors, weddings bands, NY’s hottest club and more!
Filed under Good Humor, Lists, Saturday Night Live
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!
Filed under Good Humor, Saturday Night Live
Merry Happy, Everyone! The clock struck midnight and we’ve arrived at C-Day. Let’s finish off Christmas 2010 with a bang.
First, let’s get the festivities going with a little Full House holiday party. Steve has gone off to Junior College in Florida and DJ is super bummed; meanwhile Danny is carrying on a long-distance relationship with Vicky, Becky misses the snow and no one seems to find it creepy that unmarried, unrelated “Uncle” Joey lives in the house with three young girls. It’s a very Tanner Christmas and DJ is on the rebound. WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Yayyyy! (Part 1 here)
And it wouldn’t be a Jumped the Snark Christmas without a contribution from Jim Henson. We already covered the basic Muppet Christmas staples, so for Christmas Day we’re going outside the John Denver classics and proudly gift to you the 1986 TV special, Toy Story before there was a Toy Story, The Christmas Toy:
If you’re not watching Community, you’re stupid. If you haven’t seen their Christmas special, you’re silly. If you’ve seen it and weren’t moved to tears, well, then you’re completely dead inside, and we both pity and despise you. But if you’re in one of the first two camps (or just want to relive its greatness), please enjoy “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” just the latest example of how Community has been the most inventive, most ambitious, smartest, warmest and just flat-out best show on television this year.
Vodpod videos no longer available.That’s it for us this Christmas (we think)! Hope you got that Magic Bullet you wanted!
(and remember to recycle your wrapping paper. Or reuse!)
XXX
Filed under Good Humor, Lady Holiday, Muppets, Wake Up, SF!, Yankee Swap
To this day we consider Jim Carrey’s May 1996 hosting turn as the best SNL of our generation (with perhaps Alec Baldwin’s November 2006 hosting appearance as the strongest since, but certainly not better), so it was with great excitement that we learned that Carrey will be returning after almost 15 years to host the first SNL of 2011. Set your DVRs for 11:30pm on January 8, kids. If anyone could pull SNL out of its doldrums, it might be Carrey (although, the NBC website might want to get his name spelled name right).
Which isn’t to say that it was all bad. It wasn’t. It was a definite improvement over the previous three shows.
But that isn’t to say it was good either. Very hit and miss, both between sketches and within sketches. But for this show, at this point, average is above average, and we’ll take anything positive to close out SNL in 2010.
And what was positive, you ask? Well you really can’t beat this, putting together our two probably favorite characters of the year, Gov. David Paterson and Stefon:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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