Well, there was no denying that the energy level was turned up to 11 on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, with a burst of adrenaline that was no doubt due in great part to Joseph Gordon Levitt’s raucous enthusiasm, and, perhaps, with the scathing reviews after last weekend’s January Jones episode, the cast and crew felt they had something to prove. And they came out and put on an entertaining, upbeat, cue card independent show. But was it actually any funnier?
Well, yes, it was. But was it the “best episode of the season,” the superlative that many blogs have given it, so soon after they did the same for the Taylor Swift outing? That assertion, like the Taylor Swift platitudes, is debatable. Certainly though, there was no arguing it was better, and, at the very least, not nearly as lazy. But in this case, let’s not confuse enthusiasm for a good sense of humor, or entertainment for comedy. They’re definitely related, but one does not necessarily equal the other.
Over on his EW blog Ken Tucker provided an excellent commentary that’s quite similar to my own take (so if you’re in a rush and can only read his review or ours, read his), noting that while Levitt’s frenetic monologue performance of “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singing in the Rain was impressive (especially his two off-the wall backflips followed by a well-executed pratfall) and a crowd pleaser, it didn’t exactly make you laugh. It was almost more like a successful awards show opening number than a sharp, funny SNL monologue. That being said we’ll be lucky if all future hosts can provide as much talent and effort as “regular Joe” (However, with that kind of energy, one has to wonder if JGL was on more than just regular joe).
The reaction to last week’s Taylor Swift SNL was overwhelmingly positive, with most critics/bloggers declaring it the best episode of the (mediocre) season. While I think it was one of the stronger episodes of the season, I’m not quite sure it was the best (I’d probably have to hand that distinction to the Gerard Butler outing, in which Butler was more polished and comfortable than Swift), but certainly it’s possible to make the argument for its season supremacy. But boy, how quickly things change. After the buzzed about Swift edition SNL returned this weekend with Mad Men‘s January Jones as host, and if the blogosphere is to believed it was the worst episode in the history of Saturday Night Live, featuring the most ill-prepared host in 35 years of the show. Well, yes, it was bad, but we’re hyperbolizing just a little bit. If anything, saying that the new episode was that bad gives too much credit to other dreadful performances from this season (basically all but Butler and Swift), and certainly episodes from past seasons (ahem, Michael Phelps). So to get all riled up about a single terrible episode of SNL is about as useless as getting giddy about an excellent episode of SNL, because, no matter what, the show is coming back next week, sometimes it’s going to be inconceivably bad, sometimes surprisingly brilliant, and mostly very average. That’s why teachers invented the bell curve, to bring the extremes back down to earth. So, by all means, complain about the episode, as it was lazy, sloppy and just generally unfunny. But, remember, they have and will do worse.
With that, it’s not worth doing a rundown of the highlights, as there weren’t that many, but a few thoughts:
Taylor Swift returned to SNL this past weekend, this time as both host and musical guest, after appearing as just the latter on a Neil Patrick Harris hosted episode this past January (in which she also played Annie in the funny and topical Save Broadway sketch). And, if you can possibly believe it, they only made one reference to the Kanye West incident, just a brief “Kanye West is not here,” at the end of Swift’s monologue (while we’re on the subject of Kanyegate, please, please, take this opportunity to view Justin Bieber’s defense of Swift on the VMAs. If you’ve watched it before watch it again, and if you haven’t then you have my permission to watch it now and return here after). To be honest, I was a little disappointed they didn’t mine the controversy. Sure it would have been obvious, but that’s to be expected. No Kanye cameo? No Kanye impression (by Fred Armisen?)? Not even Bobby Moynihan storming the stage to let Taylor Swift know that her monologue is good but Megan Fox’s was the best of all time (followed by Moynihan dropping the mic, of course)? At the very least I expected an appearance from Mike Myers, himself the victim of a famed Kanyebomb. Perhaps they could have all met backstage.
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But no, there were none of these things. What we were given instead was a fairly decent episode with an average but enthusiastic host.
Was that an infomercial for Bud Light Golden Wheat or an episode of Saturday Night Live? It was a little hard to tell at times, as the newest member of the Bud family served as the sponsor of the show, and also brought us “never before seen” SNL moments, aka past cast members and hosts breaking during dress rehearsal (although Will Ferrell as a fashionista cracking up Sean Hayes and Jimmy Fallon is actually available on the Best of Ferrell DVD, so not entirely new to SNL completists). What would John Belushi have thought of this corporate shilling? Probably wouldn’t have minded too much, as long as he got to sample the new beverage. But the sponsorship gave the show a weird vibe that almost overshadowed what turned out to be a (if you can believe it) a decent outing. Continue reading →
Dana Carvey on The Jay Leno Show attempting to break the record for most impressions in a minute. Unfortunately, this brand of humor is a perfect match for Leno’s graveyard. I wish I could get behind this, but it seems like Carvey is just doing impressions of his impressions, and most of which we’ve been seeing for decades. Sadder still is that he has nothing to promote so he just plugged a hair salon instead (sadder still is I’m not sure if this was a joke or it’s actually where he gets his hair cut). I still maintain that Carvey was one of the most talented SNL cast members of all time, but lately he hasn’t been doing much to prove it. Still waiting for your comeback, Dana. Still waiting.
Another ho-hum effort from SNL this past weekend. Beyond the fact that Drew Barrymore has now hosted the show more times (6) than any other female (breaking her tie with Candice Bergen. However, unlike the recent trading back and forth of the all-time host crown between Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, I don’t think Ms. Bergen will attempt to regain a share of the female lead anytime soon, especially as she hasn’t hosted in 19 years), there wasn’t much of import from this outing. Over at EW, Ken Tucker has a pretty spot on assessment of the show, noting the best moments were Bill Hader’s guest spot on Weekend Update as the ragin’ cajun James Carville, and an ESPN Classic broadcast of a billiards tournament. This sketch found Barrymore and Kristen Wiig in the authentic attire of the early 90s billiard world, loud shirts and well-coiffed pompadours, with Barrymore looking more like a black jack dealer than a billiards star. However, the sketch was focused on the overeager commentators, Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte, and Sudeikis’ frequent plugs for the event sponsor, Tampax. Maybe not great on a paper, but Sudeikis has a way to elevate the thinnest of material (not a Tampax pun).
Quick reaction to the second outing of the 35th season of SNL: Generally an improvement over the premiere, although still not firing on all cylinders. There’s a lot of talent there, but it just seems like at this point this sum is less than the parts.
The Good: Jenny Slate did not utter the F word or any other obscenity (although, she didn’t get a big sketch like “Biker Chick Chat,” but my hunch is that’s unrelated).
The Bad(?): Lady Gaga did slip in a swear word during her performance of Paparazzi. But like Slate’s transgression, don’t expect many consequences from this. If it happens a third straight week though…well, we know how baseball works. But then again, this is TV and not baseball, so who knows.
The Okay: Ryan Reynolds turned in a perfectly fine performance, but one that was probably overshadowed by Gaga’s two musical performances as well as her appearances in two sketches (including her awkward cat-fight with Lady Madonna in the latest installment of the abominable “Deep House Dish”). So instead of a Ryan Reynolds sketch, let’s take this opportunity to check him out as a young boy on Nickelodeon’s forgotten gem Fifteen:
The Old: Scarlett Johansson (Mrs. Ryan Reynolds) reprised her role as a Grecian Long Island princess, this time helping her dad hawk porcelain fountains. However, I prefer, the original, Mike’s Marbleopolis (You gotta get yourself some marble columns!):
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The Eh: The Family Feud sketch featuring the John Phillips clan vs. the Osmond siblings fell a little flat, but I’m all for anything that includes Richard “The Kissing Fool” Dawson.
Continuing with the ‘F’ theme, first let me apologize for a little bit of a hiatus, following a period of unprecedented output. I will (hopefully) be returning to regular updates now. Moving on!
After the tease that is Weekend Update Thursday, Saturday Night Live returned for real this past weekend to, I must say, middling results. After two strong editions of the Thursday night show, and the benefit of the summer to clear their heads and develop new material, the show was lazy and disappointing, in Heidi Klum’s words, a “snoozefest” (jog ahead to 40:40). Megan Fox proved game, and wasn’t a liability (to be fair, she did play herself in three sketches (not including the monologue), but she played herself very convincingly), but the sketches were uninspired. And with all the new material they could have introduced they instead went immediately back to the well, giving us a second helping of Kenan Thompson’s Grady Wilson character (who demonstrates various sexual positions, named for a less lascivious action with the same motion), and during Weekend Update inviting up frequent guests Parisian Def Jam comedian Jean K. Jean (Thompson again) and Kristen Wiig’s nervous travel writer, Judy Grimes (again, to be fair, their spots were at least topical, Jean K. Jean discussing the G-20 and Grimes talking about travel during the recession). I’m not sure if Jean K. Jean was ever more than mildly amusing, but the Judy Grimes bit was once very entertaining. And while I think the character’s rapid fire delivery demonstrates Wiig’s phenomenal and undeniable talent, it’s getting a little tired. Maybe for the first show they wanted to play some classics first, instead of challenging the audience with some new characters. Of course, for those who saw the East Coast feed it didn’t matter because the mediocre nature of the show was overshadowed by new cast member Jenny Slate uttering the F word during her debut sketch, “Biker Chick Chat.”
As this was Jenny Slate’s first show, and her first lead role in a skit, the obvious initial thought was that perhaps she had ended her SNL career before even getting through an episode, that perhaps she would experience a similar fate to that of the late Charles Rocket, who was axed after uttering the F-word during the 80-81 season. However, it seems that her slip-up has proven beneficial to both Slate and SNL. Instead of being semi-known as a new cast member, overnight Slate made her mark, albeit notoriously. And, as NY Magazine’s Vulture blog points out, SNL and NBC don’t seem to mind the publicity, as they have not pulled down clips of the sketch in question from YouTube, as they normally do with their proprietary content. Furthermore, Slate has gone ahead and created a catchphrase, “I f*cking love you for that,” that will now enter the zeitgeist, and will have far more staying power than the FCC approved alternative (plus, as the premise of the sketch was that every sentence includes at least one use of the modifier “freaking,” it was basically an accident waiting to happen).
Despite a lackluster premiere for SNL classic, last week’s Weekend Update Thursday continued to provide solid laughs, welcoming back Fred Armisen’s Gov. David Patterson and his unprovoked barbs towards New Jersey. The cold open was also a success, sending up President Obama’s recent interviews with numerous news outlets. The highlight of this sketch was probably Jason Sudeikis’ Glenn Beck impression, (and tip of the hat should also be given to Nasim Pedrad’s for her first appearance, as a convincing enough Kathy Griffith) but our favorite moment was another new impression, that of Food Network personality and TGI Fridays spokesman Guy Fieri (as played by sophomore Bobby Moynihan). The host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, has been a favorite (target) for JumpedTheSnark for a while, and is the subject of a very upcoming post, and it was nice to see SNL take note of Fieri and his propensity of take meals to the extreme (For further proof, just visit his BBQ-Sushi joint, Tex Wasabi’s). Here’s hoping Moyniahan reprises his Fieri impression again, and soon (and maybe they can throw in an Alton Brown for good measure. Oh, and Melanie Hutsell could stop by with her acclaimed Paula Dean mimic).
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However, the recent sketch from an SNL member that I enjoyed the most is actually a bit I caught on Jimmy Fallon last night (okay, former SNL cast member). I was describing to my roommate a segment in which Fallon instructs his house band The Roots to improvise song lyrics based off scant facts about audience members and to compose the tunes in a very specific musical style (like Bollywood movies or a Disney opus); lo and behold when I turned on the show last night he was playing this very game (and with all respect to Jimmy, the Roots are the most talented people on the program). So after this bit we kept the dial tuned to Late Night and caught this sketch with guest (and mixed martial artist/street brawler) Kimbo Slice:
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It certainly wasn’t the smartest piece, but I laughed harder in those 3 minutes than I did during the 60 odd minutes of material on last week’s SNL. And to Fallon’s credit, while his interviewing skills are still very suspect, Late Night has putting out some of the best (and most absurd) comedy bits of all the late night talkers (take note, Jay).
And as for SNL, Ryan Reynolds hosts this weekend, so I have high hopes. If it’s not funny, at least I know it’ll be charming.
In a feature I’ve been meaning to link to for days, NY Mag’s Vulture blog slideshowed “The Michaela Watkins Club,” a gallery of other not yet ready for prime time players who had blink and you missed it stints on SNL. When researching for my post analyzing the dismissal of Watkins and Casey Wilson, I noted these brief tenures, and it’s a fun piece. It’s also interesting (And encouraging. And simultaneously defeating.) that the roster of comedians who quickly got the hook varies from stars like Ben Stiller, Damon Wayans and Janeane Garafalo to others who faded into obscurity like Patrick Weathers, Dan Vitale and Emily Prager (who never actually appeared in a sketch, so I guess she also started in obscurity). And I also enjoy that Paul Schaffer moved over from the SNL band and had a brief turn as a featured cast member,
One gripe, however: the inclusion on this list of veteran SNL writers Jim Downey (James to you), Alan Zweibel and Tom Schiller. Sure, their appearances as cast members might have been relative failures, but between the three of them they amass writing credits for 742 SNL episodes, not including specials. Citing Downey seems particularly egregious considering that by himself he boasts 488 SNL writing credits (and counting) and is one of if not the main voice for political humor at SNL . The feature also notes that Downey, “might be best known for penning the majority of Norm MacDonald’s jokes during his controversial reign as anchor of Weekend Update.” While he did he did receive some attention for this, I would argue that after 22 years of working on the show (with a few gaps in there) he had his most visible and acclaimed run last season, penning the Democratic Presidential Debates sketches that received so much press. There’s no denying that the show was lauded last season for its election year sketches, and with Downey at the heart of the political commentary it seems silly to include him on a list of all-time SNL casting miscues. And, at the very least, he might be better known as Andy Samberg’s Dad (and Jonah Hill’s boyfriend).
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Quick Jim Downey trivia:
Appeared in There Will be Blood as theproprietor of a real estate office (with a heck of a beard).
In yesterday’s Washington Post columnist Tom Shales previews the trepidation that is coming with the soon to arrive 35th season of Saturday Night Live. He is right on when he asserts that SNL
“…has been up and down in ratings and quality (never falling as low as it has risen high) over the decades…”
It does seem that every year there is the traditional “Saturday Night Dead” headline, but then SNL rises from the ashes and continues to the be preeminent sketch comedy in our popular culture. Where Shales I think missteps is suggesting that Lorne Michaels is nervous about the upcoming season, since they will no longer have the election to exploit. Shales writes,
“Still, for Michaels, the good news can barely hide a world of worry. ‘It comes and goes like everything else,’ he says, with his usual nonchalance, of the show’s success. But this season seems predestined to be worrisome. There’s no election, for one thing.”
To me, that doesn’t sound like someone who is worried. Shales, himself, seems to indicate this, noting Lorne’s signature “nonchalance.” No, despite the fact that the cast and writers can no longer mine the cultural and political zeitgeist that was the 2008 electoral drama, I don’t think Lorne Michaels is worried. SNL goes through this cycle every four years; it has sourced material from nine presidential elections and it’s always managed to survive, even if it sorta treads water for three seasons until the next round of primaries. But the truth is Saturday Night Live is now an institution, a fabric of our culture and just as permanent a television fixture as 60 Minutes. The cast will change, and so will the targets and the comedic sensibilities, but as long as there is TV (or semblance of it. Hello Hulu.), there will be SNL.
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Shales also attributes concerns over the news season to Tina Fey’s commitments to 30 Rock and in effect her inability to reprise her defining (and campaign derailing) Sarah Palin impression. Well, despite the fact that Tina Fey is the nexus of 30 Rock, and that appearing on SNL last seasonexhausted her, and the added responsibility of being a mother, her show shoots at Silvercup Studios in Queens, and I think if Lorne asks really nicely she can manage an appearance or two. But you know what? Sarah Palin was so 2008. If SNL wants to repeat a fraction of its success of last year it needs to stay relevant. And to do that it needs to forget last season, no matter how acclaimed it was. Because if they try to imitate 2008 it’ll be just that, an imitation, a poor, disappointing copy of the original.
However, that being said, here is my favorite politically themed sketch from S34:
Well, there was no denying that the energy level was turned up to 11 on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, with a burst of adrenaline that was no doubt due in great part to Joseph Gordon Levitt’s raucous enthusiasm, and, perhaps, with the scathing reviews after last weekend’s January Jones episode, the cast and crew felt they had something to prove. And they came out and put on an entertaining, upbeat, cue card independent show. But was it actually any funnier?
Was that an infomercial for Bud Light Golden Wheat or an episode of Saturday Night Live? It was a little hard to tell at times, as the newest member of the Bud family served as the 
Jumped The Snark 
