Liza Minnelli Tries to Turn Off a Lamp

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 1:37pm

From last night's SNL. Made me smile.


Liza Tries to Turn Off a Lamp

[gravity87]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 1:39pm

oof.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 1:55pm

Too Funny. Her Paula Dean sketch was also pretty good.

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 1:59pm

This was the single most UNFUNNY thing I've ever seen on SNL in my life. If this is any indication I'm glad I stopped watching YEARS ago!

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 3:18pm

One of Kristen Wiig's worst impersonations.

Updated On: 3/11/12 at 03:18 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 3:27pm

I think it was more about the inability to turn off the light without being all showbizzy pizazz that was the point over the accuracy of the impersonation. Wiig's Ann Margret in "Ann Margret Tries to Throw Away a Piece of Paper" sounded a bit more like Kitty McPhee showing Ivy the vibrato in "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" than it did our beloved Kitten With a Whip, but there you have it.

"Let's do this..."

[egghumor]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 3:31pm

I usually love Kristen Wiig (rarely watch SNL anymore) but that DID NOT work! Give me Christine Pedi any day!

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 3:36pm

Namo's right. The humor of the sketch isn't found in the accuracy of the impression. It's the idea that Liza Minnelli has created such an artificial persona that the mere idea of her doing anything mundane is funny.

And then it went on too long, but that's SNL (Stefon excepted).

[egghumor]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 4:21pm

I get the premise that "Liza Minnelli has created such an artificial persona that the mere idea of her doing anything mundane is funny," only to me, it wasn't funny, or executed successfully.

[SamIAm2]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 4:44pm

Awful. Simply, awful.

It makes me wonder whether Radner and Belushi could have done anything with that material.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 4:54pm

I challenge you to go back and watch entire episodes with the celebrated original cast. You will be surprised how many big fat stinking sketches there were. We remember the good stuff, just like we do every five years when a new cast is derided as not being as good as the "classics" from six years before.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 5:14pm

There are a thousand drag queens who doa better Liza.

Just like you can walk into any bar in Wrigleyville and find five guys who do a better Harry Caray than Will Ferrell.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 5:28pm

That stank. In conception and in execution. And it seemed to go on forever.

In fact, I don't even believe that was really Kristen Wiig. I've seen Kristen Wiig and she's funny.

That must have been some bad drag queen doing a bad imitation of Kristen Wiig doing a bad imitation of Liza Minnelli.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 6:05pm

Namo is right. The criticisms of SNL have remained constant from day one. "Saturday Night Dead" has sprung from many a TV reviewer's creative mind, more times then can be counted over the years. Each time they believe themelves the first and chuckle at how clever they are. The sketches: unfunny, go on too long, they don't know how to end them. Yet, it is one of the only shows of it's kind in existence. A live sketch comedy show.
It has always had it's clunkers even with the original cast. Yet, each show they manage to pull of at least one or two funny bits.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 6:29pm

The first time I saw the Saturday Night Dead headline was when Bill Murray replaced Chevy Chase.

[random person 112]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 7:29pm

I don't Wiig has been pretty one-note for a few seasons now, If she had actually put in ANY effort on her impersonation it would have been GREAT but it was just really unfunny. she can be funny that's not my problem with her, it's that she's being overused and it's cheapening her.


Updated On: 3/11/12 at 07:29 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 7:30pm

Yes, and it resurfaces almost everytime there is a cast change. That is until the cast grows to become "Oh that was my favorite cast! They were awesome!"

[Patash]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 8:13am

3:39 of my life I'll never get back. It didn't make me laugh -- didn't even make me smile. That was supposed to be funny?

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 8:27am

It was a little odd that the setting for this sketch was 30 years ago.

I guess Liza is too old and too "fragile" to make it a current joke? They must think it's a low blow to do it "now," but making fun of her in the '80s is better?

It only made this one-joke sketch all the more archaic. And weird.

[lull89]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 10:13am

I did enjoy a couple of the lines that might have landed better if the impression were better.

"Will a Fosse neck do it?"
"Ben Vereen, it's long!"

[E.Davis]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 10:22am

I appreciate it for her physical comedy, even though the impression wasn't spot on.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 10:25am

Best, I think they set it thirty years ago because that is the time of the iconic Liza look that has become so enblazen in our minds.

Updated On: 3/12/12 at 10:25 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 11:32am

Sadly unfunny. Wiig is being overused on SNL. They think if they throw her in, she'll get a laugh. She's also feeling very comfortable on SNL because she is breaking up more, as she did in this skit. She was sleepwalking on this one.

I love Wiig, but this skit was the pits.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 1:20pm

I guess this was a follow up to an earlier "Ann-Margret Tries to Toss a Wad of Paper Into a Wastebasket" sketch.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 2:18pm

It was a funny idea that was almost funny for about 30 seconds. But it was mostly embarrassing to watch to the point of feeling uncomfortable. I felt like she knew it wasn't working and was desperately trying to fill out the time until it was over.

It was a little odd that the setting for this sketch was 30 years ago.

That was actually my first thought when it started. The current Liza is still pretty eccentric and fun and in the public eye. This concept seemed so forced because it relied on a part of Liza's persona that really wasn't that iconic. She was less prevalent in the public media then than she is now and this persona has mostly been portrayed to audiences through impersonations rather than examples. It was like the audience was laughing because it was just physically silly, not because they really connected the dots.