Weekly SNL thread

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

An embarrassment on every level. Though I did love Vanessa Bayer's reaction during the live tweeting bit and Cecily Strong/Kate McKinnon harmonizing.

The best part was Ivanka Trump coming out and pausing for applause...and nothing. Priceless.

[SNAFU]

When I was up there yesterday dropping things off, I was told, when asked how the show was, "No one on the floor out there has the sense of fun they usually have." It showed!

 

[SmoothLover]

The writing was really off probably because the writers probably felt they had to be careful for what ever reason.

[SNAFU]

The writing was off because Trump kept saying; "I won't say that, will do this or I don't like this."

[uncageg]

Yeah, on Saturday morning news it was reported that he refused to do a lot they had written saying "it went to far"....

[MrSweetNAwful]

uncageg said: "Yeah, on Saturday morning news it was reported that he refused to do a lot they had written saying "it went to far"..."

 And somehow the Live Tweets wasn't "going too far"!?

[SmoothLover]

The trick was probably to make fun of people in Donald's current world rather than the Donald. Amarosa being Secretary of State could have been a entire sketch. The actor that does Chris Christie could have had a sketch and Carly Fiorina could be spoofed for days...Joan Crawford thing scaring Trump where ever he goes.

 

The opening fell so flat and Larry David could not even save it.

[Roscoe]

They missed no opportunity to depict Trump as an irredeemable scumbag, and they trashed his supporters via Drunk Uncle and even his sponsors via the Porn Girls, but it never took off somehow -- it just felt toothless and tentative, entirely lacking in the goforbroke brutality of the 1976 episode they ran earlier in the evening.  There was more aggression in any single image of Tina Fey's Palin than in the entire episode.

[Kad]

I found the episode very uncomfortable to watch- and not just because of Trump's total lack of comedic chops. The sketches were lame and toothless, the performers could barely muster their usual enthusiasm (even Kate McKinnon!), and Trump was putting forth the bare minimum. I believe I read it was calculated he had a total of 12 on-screen minutes.

[Jordan Catalano]

"Arons List" legit made me LOL.

Also, that was a really beautiful opening to the show.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

It was the most solid episode in a while. 

[EricMontreal22]

I was wondering if I found it so amusing tonight just because I'm jetlagged--I also thought it was one of the most solid episodes in a long time.  While an obvious target, I loved the school drama club skit this week

[Call_me_jorge]

I thought that Hamilton bit during weekend update was fun.

[CapnHook]

Very solid. Loved the music video with the girls singing about their first crushes. Love the drama club sketch. Loved the introduction. Loved Elizabeth directing herself in her opening.

[Musical Master]

This week is a huge improvement compared to the awfulness of last week.

[Jordan Catalano]

That last sketch though was so damn ghetto. 

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Banks is a true comedian and a great performer. I didn't think the opening landed the way other people did, but I love Black Jeopardy and the experimental high school theatre sketch. Kate McKinnon switching to an American accent to say "oh my God, you haven't seen Hamilton?" was my favorite part though.

[SmoothLover]

The actor was doing a good Ben Carson but audience response was so tepid. I think it is hard to parody someone who is already a parody of himself.

[haterobics]

Allegiance ran an Adele-inspired ad tonight meant to look like an SNL Digital Short:

 

 

[FindingNamo]

I liked the Thanksgiving with the family bit tonight and the kids news segment had me squealing with laughter.

[jasonf]

I thought that was definitely one of the stronger episodes this season so far.  I laughed out several times - the Adele dinner scene was an instant classic, I thought.  

The only disappointment I had was that blues sketch - it had so much potential but felt underwritten. It needed another pass or two by an editor.

I also have to say that Kyle Mooney is becoming the new Fred Armisen to me - the actor who does the same damn annoying thing in EVERY single sketch. I don't get Lorne Michaels' obsession with actors who do that. Shouldn't variety in characters be important (see: Kate McKinnon, Taran Killiam, Aidy Bryant)?

[haterobics]

jasonf said: "I also have to say that Kyle Mooney is becoming the new Fred Armisen to me - the actor who does the same damn annoying thing in EVERY single sketch."

 

Always hard to tell if they can only do one thing or they keep being asked to do that one thing again and again, though. Especially if they aren't also a writer.

[jasonf]

That's true, but I think the really talented people rise above that. It's the same reason I didn't like Kristen Wiig - even though she was given a wide range of characters, she basically was the same person in everything she did. Contrast her with Kate Mckinnon where it sometimes takes thirty seconds to even realize it's her.  

 

I'm not saying it might not be the writing, but in the case of Wiig and Armisen, after eight years or so each, I think they pretty much proved they were the same thing over and over. Mooney's only been on for two seasons, but so far I'm not impressed.

[FindingNamo]

I love Mooney and Bennett's mumbling millennials, they crack me up.  I also don't mind when there are similarities between characters of some of the actors.  It doesn't seem like that big a problem on a show that has plenty of folks who are expert impressionists along with those who are playing variations.  I'll take a comedic world that includes chameleons like Bill Hader and stars like Wiig.

[SNAFU]

I always felt that Wiig, like Molly Shannon before her, had three or four characters that they would dress up in different costumes and rename them. Shannon surprized me with her Stand Up Comedian character when she pulled that out during the end of her run.

[FindingNamo]

"Hey guys, crazy question: Is our friend Claire actually Chris Hemsworth?"

 

"I knew I shouldn't have hired these men when they showed up with little dance bags that said, 'Tisch School of the Arts' and then they asked if I supplied character shoes. Now, gentlemen, listen up: If you want to continue working at this establishment, you must expose your stinky peanut and testiballs."