Ongoing Saturday Night Live Discussion Thread
- Thread starter JirinPanthosa
- Start date
I didn't see any of it after Kanye West was on. Did Dieter ever make an appearance?
My favorite part other than "That's when you break" might be Larry David's interaction with Jerry Seinfeld. "I know, it's like we got the last two tickets to Disneyland before it burned down!"
I don't understand why Kanye West chose to do a medley of his songs rather than just sing one completely. Although I did like the staging for his number.
Also I loved Jane Curtin's remarks about Fox News. And "Don't answer the door! It's always a shark!"
They seemed like they tried to do a bit too much with the Celebrity Jeopardy bit. Cycling out six characters, multiple Connery topic puns.
I don't understand why Kanye West chose to do a medley of his songs rather than just sing one completely. Although I did like the staging for his number.
Also I loved Jane Curtin's remarks about Fox News. And "Don't answer the door! It's always a shark!"
They seemed like they tried to do a bit too much with the Celebrity Jeopardy bit. Cycling out six characters, multiple Connery topic puns.
While generally I agree, this felt more like stage fright. It's been so long since he's been on the stand-up circuit, and with the reception his movies have gotten over the last 10 years or so, I don't think he feels comfortable in front of an audience anymore. I think he's lost that cocky self-confidence that made him Eddie.
Also I enjoyed when Tim Meadows tried to list the cast members from worst to best, and the worst was Robert Downey Jr. (If it wasn't somebody with a billion dollar career they probably wouldn't have mentioned who was in last. Fortunately it was somebody with no need to be insecure about his failure on the show. 
)
And when Sarah Palin asked how much they would pay her to run for president again.
)And when Sarah Palin asked how much they would pay her to run for president again.
She looked terrific and sounded like she could still handle the Weekend Update desk. One of my favorite parts of the show last night.
I lived Simon and McCartney's little "I've Just Seen a Face" duet. I generally liked Kanye's set. Jesus Walked is a great song.
BTW, The Californians always goes on too long, although I love the bit. I'm from Cali.
But the surprise to me was Mylie Cyrus, an artist who prior to last night and other than some of the lurid headlines, has never made so much as a blip on my personal radar. I really enjoyed her "50 Ways". She has a much stronger (and more sultry) voice than I thought.
Hard to believe that they didn't want Eddie to do one of his old bits. My guess is that he refused for whatever reason. It's pretty common knowledge that he hated Buckwheat, but maybe felt the same way about others, like Gumby, and Mr. Robinson. but I can't help but feel that if he'd gotten to hide behind one of his characters, any stage fright (if that was what it was) would have disappeared.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable night. One complaint I had though was with the audience. They seemed "dead" all night. When Akroyd launched into his Bass-O-Matic bit, I expected chaos. They acterd like they didn't know who he was or what he was doing. Then later I realized that the audience consisted of mostly of the show's guests and other celebs. No wonder
. Even though it didn't necessarily need it, an audience full of actual fans would still have lifted the energy of the show. Oh, and Taylor Swift -- why? (other than ratings)
Last edited:
I would have liked to have more of the 80's crew appear.
Just saw the last half hour.
#6: "I think Beck was the best, even better than Beyonce."
#5: "Sit down, Kanye."
Beautiful.
#6: "I think Beck was the best, even better than Beyonce."
#5: "Sit down, Kanye."
Beautiful.
Would have loved to have seen Julia Louie Dreyfus.
I don't think most people are even aware that JLD was a cast member. That era is very rarely shown anymore. Because it's generally pretty bad, but certainly not because of her.
None of the above is a good reason for not having her on the tribute. She was legitimately a cast member and...they had Taylor Swift on for godsake. Drefuss would certainly have been a much better choice.
I still marvel at the fact that someone as hugely talented as Dreyfus could have been so overlooked on SNL. Even Chris Rock managed to get SOME play. But one of the things she has said is that when she was on the show she was unaware that she needed to "shmooze" the writers in order to get stuff written for her. Bet Lorne regrets that.
You didn't like the Wayne's World sketch? I thought it was hilarious, especially the Kanye digs.
Well, she was on the last two Eddie Murphy seasons and the Crystal/Short/Guest season 10, which are generally well-regarded. I wonder if part of the reason they are not shown much is because Lorne Michaels was not involved in those years?
And she and her husband are a cast twofer. But maybe they just didn't want to go?
Well, she ended up with Larry David who wouldn't schmooze to get his stuff on, and the rest is history. Any interviews where Larry David talks about his time on SNL are hilarious. Dick Ebersol, the boss, asks him where he was going on a Tuesday night, Larry says, I've finished writing, I'm going home. Ebersol says, but we work all night on Tuesdays. And Larry just says "You do, but I don't" and goes down the elevator!
After seeing various SNL anniversary specials over the last 25 years, they've become like an award show to me. Some good parts, but a lot of self-satisfied dreck to skip through. And they've done enough of them now that there's almost a formula. It was good to see a lot of the old timers, though.
I'm pretty sure (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that Dreyfus' tenure never overlapped with Michaels. She was hired when Dick Ebersol was producing and I think she got let go when Michaels came back and cleaned house.
IMO, there have been two truly bad eras of the show. 80-85, and 97-03.
Being a good comedian isn't always related to being good on the show. Mark McKinney was amazing for five years on Kids In The Hall but he didn't work on SNL.
Being a good comedian isn't always related to being good on the show. Mark McKinney was amazing for five years on Kids In The Hall but he didn't work on SNL.
I liked both the Jeopardy one and the Wayne's World one, any Kanye digs aside.