Is SNL funny again?

[Nowhere Man]

I've been watching SNL a lot this season, I have only missed a couple of episodes and I gotta say they are actually funny, sometimes hilarious lately. I know SNL kinda turned blah in recent years with episodes missing the mark, but they still have some real funny , key players. This season is actually stepping up and has some hint of the not ready for primetime humor in the weekend update. I'm suprised, anyone else feel the same or am i the last fan left.

 

[Geck]

I only started regularly watching last year so I don't really know the kind of quality they turned out before that. But I've found this season pretty good overall, with the exception of the awful January Jones episode. Overall, I think it's been funnier and more consistent than last season. Especially in the last half hour of each show - last season the shows tended to peter out, but this season some of the best sketches have been in the 5-to-1 slot.

It's pretty hit and miss, there are usually at least a couple of dud sketches each show, but in many cases even if the jokes are a bit weak, the performers (especially Bill and Fred) can carry them. And Nasim has done a great job so far as a new cast member too. Nice to have new female faces as Kristen Wiig annoys me more and more. She's just as talented at subdued stuff and I wish she had more chances to play "normal".

Weekend Update is always my favourite part of the show. Seth is fantastic, even when some of the commentaries are a bit dull.

My biggest criticism of this season is no real A-list hosts. A lot of teen stars instead, many of whom have just sort of blended into the background without really carrying a sketch. It'd be nice to see some bigger names, both actors and comedians, again. That said, just finished watching the Taylor Lautner episode who surprised me by doing a better job than I expected.

 

[Snaploud]

They've had a few good episodes this season. Last week was garbage, though. I shut it off after a few sketches.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

I think it's been pretty funny these past few years. There's a lot of filler, sure, but I generally dvr the show and skip right through it. I don't like Fred Armisen's Obama at all. I didn't like the guy who did Bush after Will Ferrell left, either.
Anyway,SNL's always had it's ups and downs. I still cringe out how horrendously unwatchable the show became when the line-up that revitalized the show in the late '80s/ early '90s had almost all left the show(Hartman, Farley, Rock, Sandler etc) to become superstars. We were left with David Spade, Tim Meadows and a bunch of new people, and the show became total crap. It picked up again with Norm Macdonald and Will Ferrell, and even Jimmy Fallon, then it got crappy again. I think Andy Samberg and Keenan Thompson have injected a lot of new life into the show, though. Some of Samberg's sketches are among the funniest in the history of the show, IMO. I've seen "Dick in a Box" at least a hundred times now and I can't forsee a time when it will cease to be hilarious. Same with anything featuring Blizzard Man. "Mother's day" was great, too. "Deep House Dish" is a great recurring sketch, and I like "What up with that" as well.

 

[Mr Light]

The opening skit, digital short, and headlines are funny. The rest remains generally horrible. I'm kinda shocked when people talk about SNL being revitalized, because outside of the presidential stuff and the digi shorts, it's the same old same old. For me the halcyon days were Will Ferrell and the rest.

 

[Checkmate]

The opening skit, digital short, and headlines are funny. The rest remains generally horrible. I'm kinda shocked when people talk about SNL being revitalized, because outside of the presidential stuff and the digi shorts, it's the same old same old. For me the halcyon days were Will Ferrell and the rest.

This. The new cast is, for the most part, horrible. Which is bewildering because they have some really good people on there, too. Overall, it reminds me of the SNL of the late 70's before Eddie Murphy showed up.

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah I keep waiting for the next Will Ferrell to show up. Eight years later it still hasn't happened! The people they have now are good enough but the sketches are crap. Where's the great recurring sketches of the late 90s? Instead it's Target Lady and Gilly?!

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

I think a huge part of what hurts the show is Lorne's stubborn insistence that nothing be improvised. Everything must be by the script, or else. They have no breathing room. When a sketch isn't working, they're forced to keep pushing ahead with said crappy material until the commercial break. Get some people who are good at improvisational comedy in the cast, that would be my suggestion, and things might be a lot less predictable. That way when the script isn't resonating with the studio audience, they can rescue the sketch by tossing something new into the mix. It would be interesting, at the very least.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Yeah I keep waiting for the next Will Ferrell to show up. Eight years later it still hasn't happened! The people they have now are good enough but the sketches are crap. Where's the great recurring sketches of the late 90s? Instead it's Target Lady and Gilly?!

Did you see the last one that Will Ferrell hosted? They brought back celebrity Jeopardy with a surprise appearance by Norm Macdonald as Burt Reynolds. It was awesome.
http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/2009/05/17/will-ferrell-hosts-celebrity-jeopardy-on-snl/

 

[Brikar99]

I thought last night was awful, but I've seen a couple episodes this season so far that were pretty good. The fact that Jimmy Fallon isn't there sucking the life out of every sketch helps a lot... most of the time.

But honestly, when Justin Timberlake is on, they manage to strike freakin' GOLD.

 

[Scout101]

Every time I see him, it amazes me that he managed to turn himself from "boy band toolbag" into an actual interesting, funny person. Can never quite get how he did it, when no one else has crawled out of that hole. He's hilarious!

 

[ParticleMan]

Every time I see him, it amazes me that he managed to turn himself from "boy band toolbag" into an actual interesting, funny person. Can never quite get how he did it, when no one else has crawled out of that hole. He's hilarious!

The key to Justin Timberlake's hilarity when he hosts is that he is not full of himself. The best SNL hosts are ones that can go all the way with the skits and hold nothing back because they are "celebrities" and won't be embarassed...the best hosts aren't afraid of looking silly or ridiculous. Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson, Alec Baldwin, heck, even Garth Brooks were willing to go the distance and made great hosts...you can't be a good SNL host and be too self-conscious, and Timberlake doesn't seem to be.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I don't think it's funny these days, but who the hell cares what I think on such matters?

I'm probably just suffering from nostalgia for an older cast.

 

[Neeka Keet]

It has its funny moments but it's mostly unfunny and awkward. They need to start getting more hosts who have talent, not just mindless pretty boys/girls.

 

[ALF]

It has plans to be funny a few months after it's canceled.

 

[barnaclelapse]

It has plans to be funny a few months after it's canceled.

Probably.

That's the thing. As much as people are prone to bitching with this cast or that one, you can be sure that everyone is going to miss the show when it's finally gone.

 

[Trekker4747]

SNL hasn't been funny since the mid-nineties. They just don't have any good cast members or sketch ideas. And the "good" sketch ideas they have is over used. Man, I was so damn tired of seeing the overly-peppy cheerleaders during the late 90s run.

 

[ALF]

SNL hasn't been funny since the mid-nineties. They just don't have any good cast members or sketch ideas. And the "good" sketch ideas they have is over used. Man, I was so damn tired of seeing the overly-peppy cheerleaders during the late 90s run.

Much as I may agree, I remember the 90s when people complained it wasn't as good as the 80s.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

It's been hip to say "SNL hasn't been funny since (insert year)" since 1980. The truth is, the show's had its ups and downs. They had a really strong cast in the early 2000s with the likes of Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, etc., and when those people left, the show completely went into the toilet. They might be clawing their way back now, or it might be that they're bringing on a lot of hosts that appeal to people too young to remember the last time the show was funny.

 

[Shatmandu]

^^^ This is true.

We record it with the DVR, and I watch what looks interesting and zap past the rest. And since I rarely ever have any idea who the musical guest is, and don't watch even if I do, it only takes about 25 minutes at the most.

Bill Hader as Vincent Price makes me laugh with the way he says "toilet tissue."

Joe, fogey