SNL = Saturday Night Lame!

[knights68]

When do you think Saturday Night Live turned lame?

[captmojo]

...a long, long time ago.

But not in a galaxy far, far away.

[NovaScotian]

i think most people agree it started getting crappy after will ferrell left, but there was a long time when he was the only bright spot on the show. i think it was after norm left, since it showed the show that less willing to be outwardly offensive and absurd. still though, i think its been considerably better this past season, and i do look forward to watching it again.

[knights68]

For me, I believe the final lame nail in the lame coffin was lamely driven with the loss of Chris Farley, Phil Hartman and I agree, when Will Farrell (and Cheri Oteri) left it was pretty much similar to post Eddie and joe, Steve and John.
The question is then will they ever recover and does it really matter?

[Lord Ash]

Amen. And what is funny is that, to me, even at its worst SNL is better than MadTV at its best.

[hc5duke]

I thought this past season was actually better than the preceding few seasons (not that this is hard to do). They added 3 strong new additions recently (Andy Samberg, Kirsten Wiig, Bill Hader), and Darrel Hammond's returning to the cast has vastly improved a lot of skits. Maya Rudolph and Jason Sudeikis are also consistently funny, and Amy Poehler is probably the funniest female cast member SNL has ever had (yes, I said it, flame on!).

addendum: also, I blame Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan for SNL starting to suck. Though I think Tracy Morgan has redeemed himself in 30 Rock... Is Fallon dead yet?

[JDSBlueDevl]

Amen. And what is funny is that, to me, even at its worst SNL is better than MadTV at its best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV6In1K8zKk (Kenny Rogers' Jackass)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcjLEwZqcQI (the iRack)

[hc5duke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV6In1K8zKk (Kenny Rogers' Jackass)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcjLEwZqcQI (the iRack)
weak... I guess we have different tastes, but IMHO if those two were on SNL, they'd be the ones they cut out for syndication

p.s.
"Who would have thought bin Laden was hiding out in the cast of MADtv?"
"Man, the perfect hiding spot... the one place no one would look."

[NovaScotian]

I thought this past season was actually better than the preceding few seasons (not that this is hard to do). They added 3 strong new additions recently (Andy Samberg, Kirsten Wiig, Bill Hader), and Darrel Hammond's returning to the cast has vastly improved a lot of skits. Maya Rudolph and Jason Sudeikis are also consistently funny, and Amy Poehler is probably the funniest female cast member SNL has ever had (yes, I said it, flame on!).

addendum: also, I blame Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan for SNL starting to suck. Though I think Tracy Morgan has redeemed himself in 30 Rock... Is Fallon dead yet?

i agree with you that this cast is sweet (see above) and im on your side with the fallon sucks argument. the only funny sketches he was in were the boston teens ones, and those were weakened by his inability to keep a straight face.

still, i think tracy morgan was and is hilarious. 30 rock is simply the best show on tv right now, and i dont think your giving him enough credit for his work on snl. his only problem was that he was underused on snl. still, he managed to provide my favorite all time sketch:

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/23958/SNL_Astronaut_Jones.html

[knights68]

Why do so many people "hate" MadTV??
Come on now, the Depressed Persian Cab Driver?!!
Ms. Swan?!
Dot!?
Rusty?!!
The Lilian Verner game show?!!
Lorraine Swanson!!
Lida & Melina?!!
Marvin Tikvah?!!
And come on now, Stuart?!! nuf said there!

I'd love to pit Aries Spears against Tracy Morgan, now that would be a hoot!!!

[MrBisonDevil]

SNL still has it's good points. Andy Samberg + Justin Timberlake earned an emmy nomination for:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/censored.shtml
(Note: The post above is the official televised version. NBC also released the uncensored version on YouTube.)

Other SNL gems:
Lazy Sunday (Chronicles of Narnia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwK6ugW62is

Laser Cats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr-5kz9pWo8

(OK, I wouldn't call "Laser Cats" a gem. It's more of a 'dingy pebble'. Regardless, I still like it.)

[DevilWolf]

SNL has always been that it gets funnier the further away you get from it. Since day 1, people have watched it and said "this sucks". Then a year or two later, you look back and you think it's hilarious. So to answer the question, SNL will always be "lame" while never actually being lame.

[TNTDevil]

I mean come on! Amy Poehler is a riot and ever since they've added Seth Myers... GET OUT! (Ok, sometimes it blows) Have you ever seen the "Really?" segments- hilarious!

[Lavabe]

SNL still has it's good points. Andy Samberg + Justin Timberlake earned an emmy nomination for:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/censored.shtml
(Note: The post above is the official televised version. NBC also released the uncensored version on YouTube.)


It appears that it's no longer a nomination ... they won an Emmy for it:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/shared-gen/ap/TV/TV_Emmys_Griffin.html
(towards the bottom of this article).

It might be interesting if they perform it live, prime-time.:eek:
Cheers,
Lavabe

[Bostondevil]

Favorite SNL skits.

Thanks for the Astronaut Jones clip, NovaScotian.

I don't have clips but here's my list of my all time favorite SNL skits:

5. John Belushi as 'bad' Santa - Ho, ho, ho
4. Will Farrell as the 'baby', the name's Ted, Brogan, get used to it.
3. Will Farrell in the Star-Spangled jewel pouch, almost made me pee my pants and grossed me out at the same time.
2. Schwetty balls

1. And my all time favorite, it just never gets old, John Belushi downing a lot of little chocolate donuts on his way to Olympic decathalon gold. The clip of his winning run from some high school track in New Jersey, look at his fellow competitors, just priceless.

[captmojo]

Every time I see a box of little chocolate doughnuts all that comes to mind is "The Breakfast of Champions".:D :D