S47.E09: Paul Rudd / Clip Show

[JZL]

I don't know if Tina was as lousy as she was rusty and barely rehearsed.  The jokes were turds and she knew it.

Rudd kept saying they filmed some of the pre-tapes the day before and one as late as 5am that morning.  If they're already in that close contact that late in the game, why not go ahead and do the show with no audience? 

As much as I liked seeing Tina and Hanks and Martin and Short, they probably should have bagged this one.  Good for them for trying.

I thought we might see the old-timey Hartman-Hooks pre-taped (fantasy?) one.  I don't remember what it's called and can't find it on Youtube.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

2 hours ago, JZL said:

I thought we might see the old-timey Hartman-Hooks pre-taped (fantasy?) one.  I don't remember what it's called and can't find it on Youtube.

I love this one 

 

[JZL]

Thanks.  [Right in the ole feels, every time]

[Mediocre Gatsby]

4 hours ago, JZL said:

Thanks.  [Right in the ole feels, every time]

Right? Two talented people gone too soon. And apparently they were good friends. As soon as you mentioned the video, the song started playing in my head. I'm glad you brought it up. 

eta: I was remembering the Paul Rudd/One Direction sketch and trying to think of any other male star who could have pulled that off. I *loved* how he interacted with the little girls and they interacted with him. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Mediocre Gatsby
Forgot why I started the post

[proserpina65]

18 hours ago, Jody said:

They Had To Have Something On The Air ! People Would Want To See Saturday Night Live !

Eh, they could've re-run something from earlier in the season or from last year.  They didn't have to run a "new" show at all.

17 hours ago, JZL said:

I don't know if Tina was as lousy as she was rusty and barely rehearsed.

For me, her delivery came across as "I'm going to tell a joke now, so get ready to laugh", which I don't personally like.

[Pete Martell]

6 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

For me, her delivery came across as "I'm going to tell a joke now, so get ready to laugh", which I don't personally like.

For me that was always her Update delivery, which is one of the reasons I quickly tired of her at the desk, but the weird, loose format for this episode made me enjoy her a bit more. Many of the jokes were duds, but that's typical Update - at least this time around she had material beyond George W Bush, random jabs at female celebrities, and gay jokes.

23 hours ago, JZL said:

Rudd kept saying they filmed some of the pre-tapes the day before and one as late as 5am that morning.  If they're already in that close contact that late in the game, why not go ahead and do the show with no audience? 

A number of cast had reportedly either tested positive for COVID or were not going to show up that day, so they would have had to do a lot of rewriting, most likely. 

[Dev F]

13 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

For me, her delivery came across as "I'm going to tell a joke now, so get ready to laugh", which I don't personally like.

Part of that is just her Update style, like Pete Martell mentioned. But I suspect something else was going on too: Toward the end of the Update segment, Tina tells a groaner of a joke and then remarks, "That one stays!" It's the kind of comment you sometimes hear in the show's dress rehearsal footage -- in other words, she's telling the writers not to cut the joke between dress and the actual show.

What that says to me is, Tina and company didn't actually know that they were recording the performance intended for broadcast. They probably recorded a "dress rehearsal" of the few studio segments with the intention of coming back at 11:30 ET to perform them again live, and only decided afterward, Eh, that was good enough, let's all go home.

So if Tina's delivery was a little weird, it might be that she's a performer who doesn't totally lock in for the dress rehearsal, preferring to "save it" for the live show. Only this time the live show never came.

[possibilities]

I agree the show was not the greatest. But I think they were all under a huge and crushing stress burden and in a genuine crisis and I really think if there's any time to cut them some slack, this is it.

 

[vb68]

26 minutes ago, possibilities said:

But I think they were all under a huge and crushing stress burden and in a genuine crisis and I really think if there's any time to cut them some slack, this is it.

I think that's the main point. Given the circumstances, they did what they could.

And I'm certainly not going to second guess all the factors and ramifications of completely cancelling an episode.

Wikipedia says Jimmy Fallon, Jon Hamm, and Candice Bergen were all originally going to appear. I really admire Bergen's consistency in showing up for the Five Timers sketches. She's as reliable as Steve Martin.

Anyway, watching "An Evening with Pete" again, I think that's a goodbye at the end of it.  At least for now. Doesn't he start his Joey Ramone movie in January?  

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, vb68 said:

Wikipedia says Jimmy Fallon, Jon Hamm, and Candice Bergen were all originally going to appear. I really admire Bergen's consistency in showing up for the Five Timers sketches. She's as reliable as Steve Martin.

Anyway, watching "An Evening with Pete" again, I think that's a goodbye at the end of it.  At least for now. Doesn't he start his Joey Ramone movie in January?  

This would have been Candice's first Christmas show since 1976 so I'm sorry we missed that.

Pete tends to just get to go when he wants and then come back, as do many vets in the cast now I suppose. I could see him taking off for a while then returning for the last few months to say goodbye. 

[Milburn Stone]

I liked a lot of the show. But I think the part I liked best was the non-hug sign-off.

Ironically, given that SNL is supposed to come out of the world of improv, the live portions of this episode were more improvisational than any in a long time. And it was refreshing.

It reminded me somehow of that prime time show Lorne had for a while in the eighties, The New Show. Which I always liked.

 

 

[theredhead77]

On 12/22/2021 at 5:30 AM, Pete Martell said:

Pete tends to just get to go when he wants and then come back, as do many vets in the cast now I suppose.

I think, and this is pure speculation, that the stability of SNL has helped Pete's treatment for his mental illness, and addiction recovery, tremendously. I say good for Lorne and the SNL team for providing this stability for Pete so he can continue to get healthy and grow his career.

I have a soft spot for him becuase he has been so candid about his struggles, and he has been an active part of normalizing these topics of conversation.

[Pete Martell]

On 12/26/2021 at 9:08 PM, theredhead77 said:

I think, and this is pure speculation, that the stability of SNL has helped Pete's treatment for his mental illness, and addiction recovery, tremendously. I say good for Lorne and the SNL team for providing this stability for Pete so he can continue to get healthy and grow his career.

I have a soft spot for him becuase he has been so candid about his struggles, and he has been an active part of normalizing these topics of conversation.

Mentally I am still in the place where it seemed like SNL was making him miserable (season 45), but  he does seem to be happier now, and they have stopped exploiting his love life, which helps.

[vb68]

On 12/28/2021 at 8:09 PM, Pete Martell said:

Mentally I am still in the place where it seemed like SNL was making him miserable (season 45),

I still think it's obvious there was some big Sit Down where all that got hashed out because Pete's attitude totally shifted, and he is one of Lorne's most loyal soldiers now. It shows in his work, too. I thought an Evening with Pete was brilliant.