Saturday Night LIve

115,578 Views | 901 Replies | Last: 11 hrs ago by tk for tu juan
drewser95
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The best "regular" one, at least
Hank the Grifter
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For me the clear winners of funniest (actually funny, not the forced craphow many times are they going to redo the alien abduction skit?!?) moments of the show were a) Spade's line of "I got a feel for it" after sitting back down to crap on Mulaney's skit and B) "Expecto fellatio". Yeah they've beaten the scared straight skit into the ground too but that line was perfect.
Murphy's impression of Morgan was fantastic too but I've seen him do it before on other shows so knew what to expect there.
AustinAg2K
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Whaler said:

I thought SNL was a hilarious show in the 1970's and 80's. There were a lot of good years after that too, but now it's hard to watch most the time. Too bad. Colin Jost and Michael Che are the worst "Weekend Update" hosts in the history of the show.


When I get old, I hope I'm still able to find humor in this world.
Hank the Grifter
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Was really disappointed in the representation of my fave cast of the late 80's and very early 90's.
I think we got a tiny Lovitz bit, Myers' Coffee Talk bit, a picture of Carvey's church lady on black jeopardy, and a mention of Nealon and Miller on the top ten Update list (by the way Miller is easily top three on that list and arguably should be first). I realize Hartman and Hooks have passed, but still would have been nice to see more of a hat tip to that era than just two of them getting actual screen time.
Iowaggie
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FWAppraiser said:

As great as SNL is (50 freaking years!?) they really stink at these anniversary shows. So much potential to work with and they throw out 3 hours of uneven mess. Some of it hit, a lot didn't. In a way, I guess it's symbolic of the show.

But come on. No Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtain, Chevy Chase, Dana Carvey, Darrell Hammond, Bill Hader (just off the top of my head).


You left off Joe Piscapo
AustinAg2K
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Hank the Grifter said:

Was really disappointed in the representation of my fave cast of the late 80's and very early 90's.
I think we got a tiny Lovitz bit, Myers' Coffee Talk bit, a picture of Carvey's church lady on black jeopardy, and a mention of Nealon and Miller on the top ten Update list (by the way Miller is easily top three on that list and arguably should be first). I realize Hartman and Hooks have passed, but still would have been nice to see more of a hat tip to that era than just two of them getting actual screen time.


We also got a Sandler song. I agree, though, the show was very focused on the past 10-15 years. I think that's how these Anniversary shows for SNL are going to go, though. They keep expand their library, which means less time to devote to older decades. I suppose if you want the 80s and 90s, they are probably better represented in the 25th or 40th specials.
Complete Idiot
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AustinAg2K said:

Whaler said:

I thought SNL was a hilarious show in the 1970's and 80's. There were a lot of good years after that too, but now it's hard to watch most the time. Too bad. Colin Jost and Michael Che are the worst "Weekend Update" hosts in the history of the show.


When I get old, I hope I'm still able to find humor in this world.



Pro tip: what you find funny early in your life will still be funny when you are old


We don't change as we age. For me, it was a surprising discovery
AustinAg2K
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Complete Idiot said:

AustinAg2K said:

Whaler said:

I thought SNL was a hilarious show in the 1970's and 80's. There were a lot of good years after that too, but now it's hard to watch most the time. Too bad. Colin Jost and Michael Che are the worst "Weekend Update" hosts in the history of the show.


When I get old, I hope I'm still able to find humor in this world.



Pro tip: what you find funny early in your life will still be funny when you are old


We don't change as we age. For me, it was a surprising discovery


Yeah, but that doesn't mean that has to be all you find that's funny. I've enjoyed SNL since the 80s. I still think they put out funny stuff. Not everything hits, but not everything hit back in the early days. We just remember the big hits. We forget all the misses. I think Colin and Che might be the best Weekend Update hosts. The kids from Please Don't Destroy are great. There have been plenty of great skits the last two or three years.

Obviously, there are better casts/seasons than others. But each year, they still put out funny stuff.
Jugstore Cowboy
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Quote:

We also got a Sandler song. I agree, though, the show was very focused on the past 10-15 years. I think that's how these Anniversary shows for SNL are going to go, though. They keep expand their library, which means less time to devote to older decades. I suppose if you want the 80s and 90s, they are probably better represented in the 25th or 40th specials.
Yeah, I thought they did a good job of covering the series history without short-changing the more recent stars.

For my favorite era, there's no shortage of content on the internet if you want to hear Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Spade, Norm, Conan O'Brien, etc talk about their time on the show. Lorne's appearance on Norm MacDonald Has A Show was pretty good, and even discussed how he felt about the famous Sinead O'Connor episode mentioned earlier. I think Carvey and Spade are still doing their podcast regularly. If you're a Jim Downey or Norm MacDonald fan, do a google search for both of their names and you'll find a couple great podcast segments, including from Conan's.
oragator
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Murphy and Ferrell in a sketch together was everything I never knew I needed.
I think Kate McKinnon is awful, but I was dying on the alien sketch..
Murphy was awesome as Tracy a Morgan; even in that one sketch you could see how he carried the show when he was on.
More breaks by the cast than I've ever seen, it probably because they were with people they grew up laughing g at.
It was interesting they didn't have Chevy or Jane of Dan do anything but maybe it was their choice.

Overall thought it was great, tons of nostalgia.
Lt. Joe Bookman
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Update was great. Drunk Uncle and the girl you wish you didn't talk to at a party are both excellent characters.
Bill Murray killed it on his anchor ranking.
walton91
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drewser95 said:

Overall I enjoyed it. I know people have bagged on SNL for decades about not being funny anymore, but it's still pretty impressive what they're able to throw together in a week as far as writing, sets, costumes, etc. for a regular episode.

Peacock has a lot of extras, extra docs, replay of sketches, etc. The schedule is insane, how it intensifies through the week. Just watched the doc on Cowbell. How so much can manifest itself, at the last minute, and create magic must be an insane thrill for these writers and performers.
torrid
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Here ya go Houston peeps:

Complete Idiot
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No argument there, funny is funny. But I think my point was maybe the original person you replied to never found much humor anywhere, at any age - possibly. I'm not 100% what my point was because I had a night out and drank more than I should.
torrid
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Overall I give last night kind of a mixed but general positive review. For me, the highlights were Eddie Murphy, Adam Sadler's 50 year song, and of course the Paul McCartney performance. However, just like a typical SNL episode the sketches and humor were uneven.

I think I preferred the 40th anniversary episode, which held a lot more nostalgia for me as a Gen-Xer. It was definitely a hot mess. You didn't see much of the older cast last night, and that may have to do with their relative age. My favorite part of the 40th was Wayne and Garth imitating Lorne Michaels. I can still hear Mike Myers in his Dr. Evil voice - "Yes it got a laugh, but did it get the right laugh".
One Louder
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If you can find this book anywhere, I highly recommend picking it up. You can easily spend two hours flipping through it and laughing your ass off. It's a very comprehensive look at the golden era (in my opinion).

Yoda
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I had a full SNL day, yesterday. Started by watching the rebroadcast of the original 1975 episode, which they aired Saturday. Then I watched the recent film about opening night, Saturday Night, followed by the 3 hour special.

Overall, time well spent. I'd recommend seeing the original episode before watching the movie. Made it come to life so much more.
jeffdjohnson
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A 50 year run for an all time iconic American show shouldn't be taken for granted. This show has been consistently entertaining since I started watching in the 90's. Yeah, not every sketch is good but at least they are trying stuff. Sure not every cast member is great, but they cycle in and out fast enough to stay fresh. Lorne really has a good feel for the cadence of this show. Whoever attempts to come after has big shoes to fill. I do wonder if it will fall off at that point or if there is enough institutional knowledge now to keep it running forever.
BadMoonRisin
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Nice of SNL to acknowledge that the funniest **** they did is now 15+ years old.

I watched the Writers episode of the docuseries leading up to SNL50, and its quite obvious why they cant get anyone to laugh anymore.
Claude!
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Did anyone make an OJ joke in honor of Norm?
LawHall88
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Claude! said:

Did anyone make an OJ joke in honor of Norm?
Quad Dog
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SNL started out as counter culture. Somewhere along the way it became the culture. Now they are afraid to make fun of celebrities too much because it needs those celebrities for hosting and cameos. For example they would never make fun of the Taylor Swift/Kelce relationships eventhough it is fertile ground for humor.

Once Lorne retires they need someone young to get some edge back. Go back to a smaller cast to try and create some stars.
Quad Dog
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That was a great Norm style joke with a misdirect punchline and Michael Che race humor on top of it
Complete Idiot
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Quad Dog said:

SNL started out as counter culture. Different song the way it became the culture. Now they are afraid to make fun of celebrities to much because it needs those celebrities for hosting and cameos. For example the would never make fun of the Taylor Swift/Kelce relationships eventually it is fertile ground for humor.

Once Lorne retires they need someone young to get some edge back. Go back to a smaller cast to try and create some stars.
https://screenrant.com/saturday-night-live-taylor-swift-lorne-michaels-sketch-rejection/
Brian Earl Spilner
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Whaler said:

I thought SNL was a hilarious show in the 1970's and 80's. There were a lot of good years after that too, but now it's hard to watch most the time. Too bad. Colin Jost and Michael Che are the worst "Weekend Update" hosts in the history of the show.


This post has been made every year since about 2000.
Ag97
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To me the most telling sign of how talented and entertaining SNL is in any given era is by how the actors do in movies during and after they leave the show. Look at how successful the actors that did movies while they were on SNL and after were in the 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's. Belushi, Chase, Murphy, Murray, Akroyd, Sandler, Meyers, Spade, Short, Rock, Farley and Ferrell all off the top of my head had lots movies with a large percent being what you would consider fairly large hits. I know some of the actors over the last 15 to 20 years have been in a few movies but I can't think of any that I would say were "hits". I don't hear people quoting lines from actors either from their SNL skits or movies over the past 20 years.

Either the talent level isn't there like it was in the past, the material the new actors are putting out is too tame as not to offend anyone, or worst case, my sense of humor hasn't evolved over the past 20 year. I'm going to go with a lack of talent as the main issue.
Brian Earl Spilner
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Unfair comparison because the landscape of movies has changed tremendously in the past 10-15 years. They just don't make a lot of mid budget comedies anymore, especially with a lot of big name stars. (Old School, Anchorman, etc.)
Ag97
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So streaming taking over as the predominate format has killed comedy? I can't even think of any streaming movies made by the recent cast that are on par with anything from the early 2,000's or before. The humor and talent just isn't there. If it were, wouldn't the cast members over the past 15 years be as successful in their new formats in the same way the cast members from earlier generations were successful in their formats?
TCTTS
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jeffdjohnson said:

A 50 year run for an all time iconic American show shouldn't be taken for granted. This show has been consistently entertaining since I started watching in the 90's. Yeah, not every sketch is good but at least they are trying stuff. Sure not every cast member is great, but they cycle in and out fast enough to stay fresh. Lorne really has a good feel for the cadence of this show. Whoever attempts to come after has big shoes to fill. I do wonder if it will fall off at that point or if there is enough institutional knowledge now to keep it running forever.


I heard an interesting point about this on a podcast recently, which is that the show currently costs an arm and a leg to produce relative to its diminished ratings in the wake of peak broadcast TV, and that NBC gives it the financing it does solely because of their loyalty to Lorne. Granted, it's still a hugely popular/valuable show, and generates millions upon millions of views on social media. It's not doing bad by any means. It's just that NBC wouldn't otherwise be spending the money it does on the show, relative to its ratings, if Lorne weren't still in charge. So the point was that when Lorne finally does retire, the show will likely become something different/cheaper regardless, even if the institutional knowledge is still there. And who knows, maybe that's ultimately a good thing.
Claude!
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LawHall88 said:

Claude! said:

Did anyone make an OJ joke in honor of Norm?

That was pretty great by Che.
BadMoonRisin
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They don't have any writing talent. It's easy to see why the show sucks.

Not a single funny person hired to write funny jokes. Watch the docuseries. This show is over as soon as Lorne hangs it up.
The Original Houston 1836
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Ag97 said:

So streaming taking over as the predominate format has killed comedy? I can't even think of any streaming movies made by the recent cast that are on par with anything from the early 2,000's or before. The humor and talent just isn't there. If it were, wouldn't the cast members over the past 15 years be as successful in their new formats in the same way the cast members from earlier generations were successful in their formats?
You've got it backwards. 25+ years ago, the only way to be successful was to be on TV and then be in movies, and studios were willing to make $$ on comedies because they were going to clean up on VHS/DVD sales. No matter when you went to college, if it were after the early 90s, you had your favorite comedy movies to replay over and over. That format is now dead so there are very few comedy movies made unless they are retreads of some IP that has already worked before.

Here's a good article about the death of comedies from 2023.

https://scriptmag.com/screenwriting-advice/its-not-funny-whats-happened-to-comedies
double aught
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TCTTS said:

jeffdjohnson said:

A 50 year run for an all time iconic American show shouldn't be taken for granted. This show has been consistently entertaining since I started watching in the 90's. Yeah, not every sketch is good but at least they are trying stuff. Sure not every cast member is great, but they cycle in and out fast enough to stay fresh. Lorne really has a good feel for the cadence of this show. Whoever attempts to come after has big shoes to fill. I do wonder if it will fall off at that point or if there is enough institutional knowledge now to keep it running forever.


I heard an interesting point about this on a podcast recently, which is that the show currently costs an arm and a leg to produce relative to its diminished ratings in the wake of peak of broadcast TV, and that NBC gives it the financing it does solely because of their loyalty to Lorne. Granted, it's still a hugely popular/valuable show, and generates millions upon millions of views on social media. It's not doing bad by any means. It's just that NBC wouldn't otherwise be spending the money it does on the show, relative to its ratings, if Lorne weren't still in charge. So the point was that when Lorne finally does retire, the show will likely become something different/cheaper regardless, even if the institutional knowledge is there. And who knows, maybe that's ultimately a good thing.
Labor costs have to be pretty high. I'm curious what a first year cast member or writer makes. Those have to be the most expensive positions, but then you've still got all sorts of production, costume, music salary, etc.
safety guy
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It took kprc in Houston about 12 hours to apologize. Funny thing is that the same thing happened in Detroit. Both cut out before McCartney. The general managers at each station had apologies that were almost word for word the same. I wonder who wrote it for them. Heads should roll at both stations. Major markets doing this on the most heavily promoted NBC show of the year is inexcusable. It's not like this was a nationwide occurrence. Only a few markets were caught with their pants down and if I'm NBC, that's not how I want the network to be treated.
maroon barchetta
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BadMoonRisin said:

They don't have any writing talent. It's easy to see why the show sucks.

Not a single funny person hired to write funny jokes. Watch the docuseries. This show is over as soon as Lorne hangs it up.


Yeah. The writing is the key.

Conan used to write for that show. And Robert Smigel. That's a high bar. I don't know that they have that in the pipeline now.
 
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