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Dr. Teeth

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UncleSonny

UncleSonny 6572

Posted
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58 minutes ago, Lobo said:

A mutual friend in Austin comedy, says that Mulaney still wants to go back and do Weekend Update for a couple seasons.  FWIW

That would be pretty awesome. It kind of seems like a weird career move but he's been carving his own kind of career out for a while now so I could see it. Relatedly, I keep expecting Lorne to eventually hire some already famous people to join the cast for a season or two as ringers. If some of the old guard are leaving it may be a good time to throw some money at a few stars and see if you can get some hype for next season. 

I guess they've tried that before to mixed results. Was it Billy Crystal and a few others that were cast after they were already pretty famous? I think with the right people it could be pretty fun though. 

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henrygandorf
henrygandorf

the best nate special is probably his most recent on prime.  the two netflix ones are also solid.  there are also a bunch of assorted clips you might find on youtube or on siriusxm comedy channels (th

Celery Man
Celery Man
mdmost
mdmost

You are very wrong if you don’t think this is great. The monkey sketch and the Port Authority Duane Reede are pure Mulaney era SNL writing. 

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19100

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1 hour ago, Lobo said:

I'm sure it's lovely, but he's got too many jokes in his reservoir to hang it up and now and be her ornament. 

If he was a little more down the middle with his political humor (I get it these days, when the shit from one side practically writes itself...all you gotta do is leave your mouth agape and wiggle your pencil around as you read the quotes verbatim).  And a little more empathetic and connected with others more, he could be the next Carson or Letterman.  But late night doesn't need a Jost-type right now.  Maybe not until the end of the decade actually.  I could see him developing and running a political show for HBO or SHO in the vein of On the Brink, Veep, Last Week Tonight, etc.  And possibly being on it himself.  

I have no idea what his plans are, just recently found out this year he was married to Scarlett.  I love his sense of humor, but understandably it won't appeal to much of America so he'll have to narrow his next project which I suspect will be wildly successful.  

I think Che would do excellent at W/U on his own.  He plays off Colin, off the guest characters, and if you pay attention-a lot off the audience, so effortlessly.  He can carry the desk by himself, but it may not be quite as funny.  

A mutual friend in Austin comedy, says that Mulaney still wants to go back and do Weekend Update for a couple seasons.  FWIW

I don't disagree.  He was funny as shit as the Duke in C2A.  I laughed my ass off. 

I think Jost and Che are excellent together.  I would love to see them continue with just W/U.  I think it is the funniest part of SNL.  

I like Mulaney.  I think he is hilarious.  

 

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Herpa Derpa

Herpa Derpa 6125

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20 hours ago, UncleSonny said:

I guess they've tried that before to mixed results. Was it Billy Crystal and a few others that were cast after they were already pretty famous? I think with the right people it could be pretty fun though. 

84-85 was a severely underrated season with a one-off cast that included Crystal, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Martin Short. But they also had to do it because Murphy, Piscopo and Kazurinsky had just left at the end of 83-84 and they had nothing to draw in viewers.

Then they tried the same tact for 85-86, but going younger, by adding known stars in Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey, Jr. that almost killed the show again.

Thankfully, they went back to the formula of unknown, up and comers the next year with a cast that included Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon.

It's definitely time for a major overhaul. Boot the majority of the repertory cast (average age 36) and promote the fresh featured players (average age 30), and add more cast members under the age of 30 and see what the new breed has got. The average age of the original cast was 27, 25 if you take out Garrett Morris. Eddie Murphy was 19 when he joined the cast. If you want to cultivate viral, meme-worthy comedy, you're gonna need cast members that actually grew up and honed their comedic chops in the TikTok and Insta world.

The best formula has always been a collection of young, off-the-wall funny people with an older member to anchor and provide gravitas to a skit (Morris, Hartman, Hammond, etc.)  Currently, it's comfortable older folks trotting out tried and true formulas. Like watching a later years Dean Martin Roast where the average age of the participants is 77.  Give me the envelope-pushing Jeff Ross' and Don Rickles' of tomorrow. SNL was never about comfortable comedy.  Right now it's like an old pair of shoes. It works, but there's no spring in the step.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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^
Good points.  '84-'85 was once again, almost the end of the show.  They gave Ebersol a wide berth to reboot and a budget to sign some big mercenary names to fill out the cast that was decimated previously.  Although it was a season shortened significantly by the writer's strike, it remains (at least to me), one of SNL's all-time best.  That my parent's let me watch it throughout 3rd grade makes it even better in hindsight.  

Belushi, Hall, and Gross were serviceable, sometimes shining.  Julia Dreyfus was underused of course, because I loved her then as I do now---but in very different ways.  Stephenson and Kroeger were filler cast. Shearer was kind of the wild card in all of it.  But Guest, Crystal, and Short did what they were paid to do, brilliant comedic actors who also took the heavy lifting of co-writing most of the brilliantly funny season as well. 

Think about just 17 episodes and Fernando's Hideaway, Willie & Frankie, the guest hosting of Weekend Update by huge names, Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers Jr.-America's first albino lounge crooner/gameshow host, and maybe the funniest pre-taped segment ever---the Men's Synchronized Swimming team.  And Larry David was also a writer.  

 

Anyway, so yeah---Mulaney was in serious talks before Jost/Che tookover Update to come back and host it just as a co-writer and host.  Not as a rep player.  One of the reasons he hosts every single year these days despite not having much to promote is that he wants to remain tight with the writing team in case he does come back.  Plus he purposely lives pretty damn close to 30Rock.  I think he'd be free to write a few hours during the day then still get stage-time around the city Tue-Thu, then do the show on the weekend.  He wants it for 1-3 years until he figures out his next TV or Broadway project.  No idea if this is still valid with rumors of Jost being gone.  Plus Mulaney has looked pretty fucked up last few times I saw him on TV, plus a recent divorce.  I'm thinking he might be back on the perfume kick again.  

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17551

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23 hours ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, he's got two little kids.  He's earned the right to exit on his own terms.  He was always funny on the show, even when the writing was piss poor (which has been most of his career on SNL). 

I've always thought Cecily Strong is so well rounded---character comedy, impressions, musically, some physical comedy, even reading the news for that short stint.  Not much she can't do and she's tall and beautiful to boot.  I don't know if she can carry a whole series on her own, but she's very versatile and I look forward to her next projects which I'm sure Lorne will somehow fuck up for her.  But she's got Tina in her corner and that's always a good thing.  

I never "got" Pete Davidson.  I know he's funny, it's in his bones.  Even when he's doing the awkward, emo thing (most of the time)...he's funny in his core since the day he was born.  I'm sure he'll be wildly successful as he apparently does have some "It" factor that I can't see.

Bryant and McKinnon are usually very funny together.  I figured McKinnon would stick around awhile longer.  

Jost did bring on another co-head writer this year so that should been my first clue.  Che can handle W/U all by himself.  Not sure what Jost will do after this, he's not great at comic acting.  But he can show-run/produce and would be a great collaborator for a number of other funny writers out there in the SNL alum universe and beyond.  And I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, the man can write political humor as good as anyone in America in the last generation.  If he was just a little warmer and more sincere, he could be the next Letterman with 5x the political joke firepower.  As it is though, he's too polarizing for now---he can't play to 40% of the country and the late night lineup is already overcrowded with hose kinds of guys (Kimmel, Meyers, Colbert, Noah, et. al.).  But was always a fan, sorry to see him go.  

 

I think Cecily Strong could have a very successful, lucrative future in porn.  I hope she looks into that.

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smuggs

smuggs 9353

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6 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Think about just 17 episodes and Fernando's Hideaway, Willie & Frankie, the guest hosting of Weekend Update by huge names, Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers Jr.-America's first albino lounge crooner/gameshow host, and maybe the funniest pre-taped segment ever---the Men's Synchronized Swimming team. 

Whenever I think about my all-time favorite SNL bits I always come back to it. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

 

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17551

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19 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Think about just 17 episodes and Fernando's Hideaway, Willie & Frankie, the guest hosting of Weekend Update by huge names, Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers Jr.-America's first albino lounge crooner/gameshow host, and maybe the funniest pre-taped segment ever---the Men's Synchronized Swimming team.  And Larry David was also a writer.  

I think that one is #2 for me, behind Dick in a Box.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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If anyone is a big fan of the subsequent Guest films (Guffman, Best in Show, Mighty Wind, Mascots, FYC), go back and watch that Synchronized Swimming video sketch.  Obviously we already know from Spinal Tap and other projects that he's hilarious in the most subtle way before he goes and makes these films. 

But the SNL sketch is what I look back on and realize his true genius.  From Synch Swimming forward, you realize he can very slyly play this funny, eccentric person surrounded by egomaniacs and lunatics (basically him in every one of his films).  But what makes him so special is that when you really listen to him, he's actually the most insanely fucking bizarre person in every scene.  He's so fucking dry and subdued that he seems like the center of the madness swirling around him, but really he's the fucking agent of bizarre.  Shearer and Short are these two crazy fucking idiots who want to invent a sport in the pool and one of 'em can't even fucking swim.  Those two are funny, but what makes the sketch perfect is...here comes Guest.  Who not only doesn't try to talk them out of the worst idea in the history of sports, he wants to choreograph the fucking thing, drowning and all.  

You've always appreciated his films. But when you watch the SNL sketch through that lens, you'll see his individual acting a whole new, brilliant light. 

 

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Gardner Barnes

Gardner Barnes 1562

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84-85 was a severely underrated season with a one-off cast that included Crystal, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Martin Short. But they also had to do it because Murphy, Piscopo and Kazurinsky had just left at the end of 83-84 and they had nothing to draw in viewers.
Then they tried the same tact for 85-86, but going younger, by adding known stars in Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey, Jr. that almost killed the show again.
Thankfully, they went back to the formula of unknown, up and comers the next year with a cast that included Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon.
It's definitely time for a major overhaul. Boot the majority of the repertory cast (average age 36) and promote the fresh featured players (average age 30), and add more cast members under the age of 30 and see what the new breed has got. The average age of the original cast was 27, 25 if you take out Garrett Morris. Eddie Murphy was 19 when he joined the cast. If you want to cultivate viral, meme-worthy comedy, you're gonna need cast members that actually grew up and honed their comedic chops in the TikTok and Insta world.
The best formula has always been a collection of young, off-the-wall funny people with an older member to anchor and provide gravitas to a skit (Morris, Hartman, Hammond, etc.)  Currently, it's comfortable older folks trotting out tried and true formulas. Like watching a later years Dean Martin Roast where the average age of the participants is 77.  Give me the envelope-pushing Jeff Ross' and Don Rickles' of tomorrow. SNL was never about comfortable comedy.  Right now it's like an old pair of shoes. It works, but there's no spring in the step.



The cast members I would like to stay. The rest can go.
Beck Bennett
Chloe fineman
Alex moffat
Mikey day

All are outstanding character actors with good impressions.

Che/Jost as well. WU is solid and has been for the past few years.

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Red Five

Red Five 40852

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Dude above got the two best. Ferrell and Murphy. Most underrated is Tim Meadows. Second place, Will Forte. Worst cast member is a tie between a lot of people. I’ll go with Walken as the best host, just because how absurd that is. Best skit almost has to be Celebrity Jeopardy, for longevity. Personal favorite cast member is Farley or Norm MacDonald.

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ztejas

ztejas 43418

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4 hours ago, Reynolds Woodcock said:

Peak Time: Coincidently, whenever responding poster was under 30.

Rock Bottom: Coincidently, from and after responding poster’s 40th birthday.

Nah. Not sure when the peak was but I'd probably say the Farley years. It was pretty funny through the 2000s and I think really fell off after that. Bill Hader leaving in 2013 kind of did it for me. 

The "peak years" might align more with people's ages but I hope no one 30 or under finds whatever garbage they are rolling out these days funny. 

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immortal13

immortal13 4059

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35 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Funniest thing that has happened to SNL in the last few years was when a funny guy got the gig, subsequently got cancelled because he said some questionable things in the past, and then dropped this zinger of an apology. He should have gotten re-hired for this response alone:

image.thumb.png.3a9c9ac86f90bb54a74e8f3f9a2e9bfb.png

What's the zinger, Madtv reference?

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11456

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I got pretty lucky. I was 90's kid, and my parents always let me stay up late to watch it. I grew up on Farley, Sandler, Spade, Hartman, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Norm Macdonald and later Will Farrell. 

I think the best ages to enjoy the show are between 6th and 12th grades. If you're watching SNL in college, you're doing it wrong. 

Favorite cast member: Hartman 

Favorite Weekend Update host: Macdonald 

Favorite Weekend Update guest: Spade. He always killed in the Hollywood Minute. 

Favorite host: Walken. The Continental and More Cowbell are iconic sketches. 

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Nole-4-Life

Nole-4-Life 802

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I enjoyed the Farley era and the Ferrell era. I thought the original cast was ground breaking, but it doesn't really hold up. For reference, I'm 60.

Probably my favorite cast member is Darrell Hammond. That guy was so versatilie.

Favorite skit might be canteen boy. Couldn't pull that one off today.

Rock bottom would be the Charles Rocket years.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20934

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as with music, the body of work from a period in SNL history always seems great in retrospect once you've forgotten all of the garbage skits that made it onto the air alongside the classics.

Rock bottom has to be just prior to Eddie Murphy, and for me peak is somewhere in that early 90s window with Farley, Myers, Carvey, Hartman, Rock, Nealon, etc. Was Sandler on at the same time with all of those guys?

Underrated is probably the recentish cast that people still think of as new SNL and therefore garbage but was actually fairly good - Hader, Wiig, Forte, etc. Actually most underrated cast member could be Kenan Thompson. Kinda similar to Tim Meadows in that he's never been the absolute standout guy, but he's been on forever and is a critical utility player for the cast. He's been on since 2003, holy shit.

One severely under-appreciated bit of the broader SNL canon is the Macgruber movie. It seems impossible that a movie based on that skit premise could be any good, and it was pretty universally panned, and of course it is a very specific type of humor, but it's actually great

 

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

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Posted (edited)

The rock bottom for me was in the 80's, that one year that Anthony Michael Hall and Randy Quaid and Robert Downey Jr. had the worst sketches and didn't seem to care. Joan Cusack and Damon Wayons were also on that season for their one and only year.

Just googled it, 85-86 (season 11). Name a worse season, you can't.

Edited by DonkeyCigars
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ztejas

ztejas 43418

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Posted
9 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

David Koechner is criminally underrated and was only on the show one season.  T-Bone the executioner is drop dead funny. 
 

 

 

I've always wondered why he hasn't had a better career. Only a few standouts but he's pretty damn funny in everything. His character in The Office is great. 

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