Weekly SNL Saturday Night Live Thread

[FindingNamo]

I actually laughed into coughing fits during the slumber party scene. I didn't realize Drake would be so completely committed to the comedy.

[Jordan Catalano]

The BET skit was hilarious!

[Kad]

Drake is charming and attractive.

But, geez, these sketches were all awful.

Ariana Huffington on Weekend Update was the only real highlight for me. "As the busboy said to the waiter, 'Chris Christie is finished already!' "

[FindingNamo]

That's so funny, cuz I laughed at every sketch. Different strokes, I guess. Mine just so happen to be face down on a bean bag.

[Jordan Catalano]

The only one that I didn't think worked was the Indiana Jones sketch.

[tazber]

Yea, that one was really bad.

Otherwise I laughed constantly through the rest of the show.

Oh, one other sketch I didn't like: "I Know".

[SNAFU]

The Poetry Teacher?

[FindingNamo]

"Are you all right?"

[Jordan Catalano]

I wish they'd make a Jacob the bar mitzvah boy movie with Vanessa playing both Jacob and his Mom.

[romantico]

When is Seth Myers last night on Weekend Update? I thought it would be last night.

[ucjrdude902]

He apparently said today at TCA he's got 2 more.

[ClydeBarrow]

The Detention/Poetry sketch was my favorite followed by the Slumber Party one. The Indiana Jones one was THE WOOOORST! It's not funny to have a woman wondering around saying the same two things over and over.

[NYadgal]

Slumber Party was laugh-out-loud funny.
Drake was great, but the women really captured the 'girls'.

The bit with 'Jacqueline Bisset" in the back of the seats, during Weekend Update was really funny.

[Liza's Headband]

[Jon]

That illustration omits Tim Meadows, who, like him or not, was the African-American who lasted the longest (or has Keenan Thompson been around longer?)

Also, didn't the entire original cast, not just Garrett Morris, leave in 1980?

[Liza's Headband]

You're right. They omitted two of the most successful African-American players on SNL, Tim Meadows and Tracy Morgan. But perhaps the point was just to highlight and not point out every single actor. Maybe. I don't know.

[FindingNamo]

The most important thing to do to support one's argument about lack of representation is to leave out examples that don't back up your point.

[Liza's Headband]

Do you think omitting two players is enough to completely disprove HuffPost's graphic? There is no doubt that SNL has a questionable past with casting minorities.

[FindingNamo]

Yes, I know, and it looks even questionabler if they leave off two of the longest-serving cast members of color.

[YouWantitWhen????]

So, I guess there are no funny Latino comics now?

[Liza's Headband]

Or Asian comics?

[SNAFU]

Hmmmmm did In Living Color or Mad TV go through the same scrutiny? SNL had criticism a few seasons back where there were no female cast members. I do not think it is a conscious decision. Looks at their casting pool, The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade.

[FindingNamo]

I LOVE that media folks who have not given two craps about race are just NOW making a big deal about SNL. They had a black guy for the first five seasons they almost never used. This is not a show that has made any great claims at being representative of the population at large. And obviously, it has taken time for them to get strong women and people of color. They obviously have heard the criticisms and have taken some corrective measures.

[YouWantitWhen????]

For the record, I was being a wee bit sarcastic. I do think more diversity helps SNL stay fresh long term and help to reinvent itself.

EDIT to make comprehensible.

[FindingNamo]

You're right it does. Pointing out that leaving off Tim Meadows and Tracy Morgan on that chart is as convenient as Fox News putting little Ds beneath Republicans caught in scandals is not the same thing as saying SNL is a perfectly cast show. Seeing them try to respond to the criticism the way they have is much more heartening than Lena "voice of her veneration" Dunham saying she went to Oberon so obviously she really cares about race matters and, um, it would be more racist for her show to NOT be all-white.

[Wynbish]

Ugh, Lena. Lena needs to stick that q-tip in further next time.

Also, what's the point of casting for diversity, and then sticking them in the background or featuring them in non-memorable character sketches? It's like they're placeholders. The only Cleghorne sketch I remember is when she as Natalie Cole was duetting with more deceased musicians, and the only Meadows character I remember is Ladies' Man. And that's it for me, personally. I could think of 15 Cheri Oteri characters before I think of two of Cleghorne's