S48.E13: Woody Harrelson / Jack White

[Jody]

18 minutes ago, LennieBriscoe said:

1. No, she is not putting and has not put anything in jeopardy. 

2. Isn't it an effort to capitalize every word?

 

      I Feel like IF I said IT was all right for her to do that, then, they would throw IT out and Gen Kirshner would say Yes, She Should not have done that and he used to be A Prosecutor ! Glen Kirshner was the First Person I heard that said she did nothing wrong ! 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

1 hour ago, JeanJean said:

I missed it. What was he saying?

Woody pretended that the plot of his new movie was that all of the governments and media and pharmaceutical companies in the world got together and decided that everyone had to stay inside their homes and couldn't go outside unless they used the companies' drugs. The "hilarious" punchline was that Woody does drugs for free. 

Woody "doesn't believe in germ theory" https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/woody-harrelson-anti-mask-anarchist-cannes-interview-triangle-of-sadness

As for a comment upthread: No one has to "feign" indignation about that for media clicks. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Is Gina Bianchi ... real? I assumed she was a "type".

No, the name used on WU was fake but I recognized some of the stuff she said. What I read was from the point of view of one of her daughters who didn't like being expected to cater to her brother the way their mother did.

[DEL901]

35 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Is she forced to speak to the media?  I don't think social media abuse is okay at all, but why is she giving so many interviews?

My impression is she is young and foolish, with regard to giving interviews. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 minute ago, DEL901 said:

My impression is she is young and foolish, with regard to giving interviews. 

She's 30 years old!

[buttersister]

Quote

Gina Bianchi 

My DVR recorded the show. I watched WU live and thought 1) that bit sucked and 2) Jost and Che are not nearly as funny as they think themselves to be.

After hearing about Woody, I can hit delete now. Lorne needs to retire.

[rmontro]

Regarding the controversy over Harrelson's CoVid vaccination remarks:

It makes me wonder who writes the monologues?  I would expect a stand up comedian to possibly write his own monologue, but Harrelson isn't that.  I would expect the writers to write something for him.  But I certainly wouldn't expect SNL to write that particular joke, so I wonder where it came from?  Did Woody have the idea for this joke and wanted it in?  Could it possibly be a true story that he saw a script about pharmaceutical companies using its influence to make everyone take their drug?

[JeanJean]

45 minutes ago, buttersister said:

My DVR recorded the show. I watched WU live and thought 1) that bit sucked and 2) Jost and Che are not nearly as funny as they think themselves to be.

After hearing about Woody, I can hit delete now. Lorne needs to retire.

I think Heidi's very good in sketches but  her WU  characters don't do it for me.  Not so funny and go on too long.

[juno]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

JAJ does a great Trump, but it's so real it's not funny.  I never like the cold opens anyway.

This has become a real problem for this show for the last decade (or so). The inability to write funny bits to accompany the political impressions. They trot out the impression, make fun of the politician and then take some of the polititians funny traits/comments and blow them up.

Last night they take the East Palestine trip and make fun of it. That is it. Laugh at the comedian making fun of the politian. Is there a skit? Not really, and that is the problem. It really isn't that funny sometimes without a funny skit behind it. This is what political humour is on SNL now.

[cpcathy]

7 hours ago, Ottis said:

Nothing against Jack White, but that kind of music gets on my nerves. Jaggedly shouting with no melody.

I know Jack White is very revered but none of that was melodic, it was just irritating.

[Galileo908]

16 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I tuned him out when he started spouting his thinly veiled antivax "plot."

Yeah, I realized that later. I was pretty half asleep at the time.

[SHD]

31 minutes ago, cpcathy said:

I know Jack White is very revered but none of that was melodic, it was just irritating.

My take on it is that Jack White is very talented at doing things that I personally don’t like. LOL 

3 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

Woody pretended that the plot of his new movie was that all of the governments and media and pharmaceutical companies in the world got together and decided that everyone had to stay inside their homes and couldn't go outside unless they used the companies' drugs. The "hilarious" punchline was that Woody does drugs for free. 

Is that what he was rambling about? Honestly, like many others have said, he seemed so loopy that I stopped paying attention almost immediately. I was embarrassed for him.

[Pete Martell]

6 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

As for a comment upthread: No one has to "feign" indignation about that for media clicks. 

A big part of the current media landscape is blowing up comments in order to generate content. I don't happen to agree with Woody Harrelson's views, but I think sites that make them blaring headlines (especially when some of those sites, like Rolling Stone, have a very dubious history in their own right) only care about fanning the flames. I know I wouldn't have paid any mind to anything he said if not for the furor afterward, furor which seems to have made the whole thing national or (on social media anyway) international news. 

8 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Scarlett Johansson is a five-timer? Low bar. 😒

She's hosted 6 times. Never great, but I think she's one of those hosts who probably came back a lot because she was willing to do silly things and presumably easy to get along with backstage.

8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Woody said he last hosted Thanksgiving 2019.  COVID started right after that in December.

I think he mixed up the last two times he hosted - he hosted around Thanksgiving during season 40. In season 45 he hosted in late September.

10 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

That's not a new problem.  SNL has had some accurate impressions (JAJ's Trump, Jay Pharoah's Obama, Hammond's Trump) that often have trouble getting the laughs that some more exaggerated portrayals (Ferrell's W Bush, Carvey's Bush) could reliably get. Of course, they've also had some really lousy impressions (Armisen's Obama) that also failed to get the laughs.

I genuinely do not think SNL has known how to write most political pieces in 20 years or more. I think JAJ is funnier than Baldwin was as Trump, but his idea of Trump is just rattling off random things, which seems to have worked well for him on social media pre-SNL, but can seem awkward in the more rigid SNL format. The main problem is that when SNL talks about politics, they either just literally recap what a politician said, or they go out of their way to lampshade how stupid and irritating the politicians are. Neither is particularly clever or funny (in my opinion). Last night was the epitome of an idea that was never going to translate well to SNL, so of course they did it anyway. 

[Irlandesa]

41 minutes ago, SHD said:

Is that what he was rambling about? Honestly, like many others have said, he seemed so loopy that I stopped paying attention almost immediately. I was embarrassed for him.

Yeah.  You had to pay attention at the end before he got to his point.  Or allegory about "drug mafias."  He kept doing tangents about the setting where he read the script but only revealed what the script was about at the very very end.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Irlandesa

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, cpcathy said:

I know Jack White is very revered but none of that was melodic, it was just irritating.

The only thing he’s ever done that ever interested me in the slightest was a collaboration with Jack Black.  They apparently billed their duo as Jack Gray.   Of course, I wasn’t interested enough to actually check out their music.  

[juno]

What is going on with Weekend Update? They are on a roll (most of the time) and then they derail it with some really unfunny bits. Even if they shortened them they are still pointless. Bill Walton and Gina? What the hell are they doing? Are they running out of material for funny skits and have to put these really long unfunny bits in.

Edited February 27, 2023 by juno

[LennieBriscoe]

I didn't watch, so this next comment is going on a review.

The sketch where the cast of "The Hippo" who, when told it wasn't happening, are crushed because of all their individual preparation for their roles?

Not a spoof on "The Whale." Ostensibly it was, but the dialogue proved it was a total dig at Austin Butler and his self-described preparations* for his movie, though. Even the fact of "Elvis" virtually closing down due to Covid-19 was mocked [Note: Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell, originally cast as Elvis's  parents, at that point quit.]. (Were these ideas left-overs from Austin's appearance? Or written afterwards out of some animosity [the cast on stage at the end pointedly ignored him])?

Then again, the host mocked Covid vaccines and protocols, so par for the SNL course. 

*ETA: Including, as with Chloe's character's going for the laugh, dyeing his hair dark before getting the role. Tell me they're not ridiculing Austin. 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by LennieBriscoe

[MrWhyt]

5 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Tell me they're not ridiculing Austin. 

they're not ridiculing Austin

[Phishbulb]

23 hours ago, peeayebee said:

"Are you going to wipe the machine?"
"Why? Did it doo-doo?"

"Did-it doo-doo....that sounds like Morse Code" 😄

[peeayebee]

12 hours ago, juno said:

What is going on with Weekend Update? They are on a roll (most of the time) and then they derail it with some really unfunny bits. Even if they shortened them they are still pointless. Bill Walton and Gina? What the hell are they doing? Are they running out of material for funny skits and have to put these really long unfunny bits in.

My guess is that the cast members come up with a new character, then they all decide that the "best" way to present it is on WU. 

 

6 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

The sketch where the cast of "The Hippo" who, when told it wasn't happening, are crushed because of all their individual preparation for their roles?

Not a spoof on "The Whale." Ostensibly it was, but the dialogue proved it was a total dig at Austin Butler and his self-described preparations* for his movie, though. Even the fact of "Elvis" virtually closing down due to Covid-19 was mocked [Note: Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell, originally cast as Elvis's  parents, at that point quit.]. (Were these ideas left-overs from Austin's appearance? Or written afterwards out of some animosity [the cast on stage at the end pointedly ignored him])?

Then again, the host mocked Covid vaccines and protocols, so par for the SNL course. 

*ETA: Including, as with Chloe's character's going for the laugh, dyeing his hair dark before getting the role. Tell me they're not ridiculing Austin. 

I admit I don't know anything about "Elvis," but I doubt they were ridiculing Austin. It's a good premise to have an actor gain an extreme amount of weight for a role only to have the film cancelled and then have to listen to his cast mates complain about the sacrifices they made, which were actually trivial. And then he also learns that he didn't need to gain the weight; he could have worn a fat suit. I don't see any of the jokes targeting Austin. 

 

 

[heatherchandler]

7 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

I didn't watch, so this next comment is going on a review.

The sketch where the cast of "The Hippo" who, when told it wasn't happening, are crushed because of all their individual preparation for their roles?

Not a spoof on "The Whale." Ostensibly it was, but the dialogue proved it was a total dig at Austin Butler and his self-described preparations* for his movie, though. Even the fact of "Elvis" virtually closing down due to Covid-19 was mocked [Note: Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell, originally cast as Elvis's  parents, at that point quit.]. (Were these ideas left-overs from Austin's appearance? Or written afterwards out of some animosity [the cast on stage at the end pointedly ignored him])?

Then again, the host mocked Covid vaccines and protocols, so par for the SNL course. 

*ETA: Including, as with Chloe's character's going for the laugh, dyeing his hair dark before getting the role. Tell me they're not ridiculing Austin. 

 

You should watch, it was not ridiculing Austin Butler at all.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:11 AM, Milburn Stone said:

I've always liked Woody Harrelson in movies, but after reading on this thread about his anti-vax monologue, I'm going to do my part to give this episode low viewership numbers by skipping it.

In the following NYT interview, he tries to explain his objections to Covid protocols as being "unfair" to movie crews (and he's an anarchist, so...):

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/27/magazine/woody-harrelson-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=5zVhv849w32YxEpesLOXjpB1LATek7ITt6cdbHrP25x742CP4NEZ02_XMESQpzV-JY5ql556X-lpy5qy0svfZ0oNErw3dhbZLy00nID_Nw-U2TuzNZlxO8hdU5XwPVL2OxHWRGZSTz2eqOp8WNnoFNkuah61XhJ9SyFi4cFWjI49FMBP1i0XM8BBhfBYymsre9NI9FLjBz5bYEOCfAPxgHHBY2cBHuzizpc4DUEYpSJXwNF4K35R9acYJHKtB4pcm4uhIyr7BCMwKHqAfdLcV8eueSdmEoS8PYpTRCgnJCT7Zm4xNr0DUj58aq_di4k6m7iFiChX4E5eesgHO1QicgX9v7fHmJ9sUi2Z_E3fg7DjIPNG&smid=url-share

"What’s absurd about the Covid protocols?" The fact that they’re still going on! I don’t think that anybody should have the right to demand that you’re forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask and forced to get vaccinated three years on. I’m just like, Let’s be done with this nonsense. It’s not fair to the crews. I don’t have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How’s that not up to the individual? I shouldn’t be talking about this [expletive]. It makes me angry for the crew. The anarchist part of me, I don’t feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That’s not a free country. Really I’m talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I’m not in the same position they’re in, but it’s wrong. It’s three years. Stop.

"The one thing I’ll say about that is that a big lesson of the pandemic is that it turns out most of us are pretty bad at rationally assessing risk and at handling one another’s different comfort levels with risk." Yeah, anyway, as an anarchist, I don’t do well with mandates."

So, "It’s not fair to the crews", "It makes me angry for the crew", "Really I’m talking about the crew" and "The anarchist part of me, . . ." and "as an anarchist" are his excuses.

On 2/26/2023 at 11:07 AM, SHD said:

After the sub sketch, when they showed the cast members running off to get ready for whatever was next, it looked like someone physically took Woody’s and had to lead him where he needed to go.

On 2/26/2023 at 11:10 AM, MrWhyt said:

i've seen that before with other hosts, they have their own "wrangler" to lead them to where they have to go for costume/hair/etc between sketches. The next thing we saw woody in after that was the whale sketch so it would have required quite a bit to get him into the fat suit/make up.

On 2/26/2023 at 11:23 AM, vb68 said:

That's the official handler, and that's her job to get him from place to place. I think her name is Donna. Jimmy Fallon occasionally mentions her when he's trying to put upcoming hosts at ease or telling stories.

Agreed.  A crew-woman (Donna?) also grabbed Kenan's hand after a skit and led him off, and I'm sure he's completely focused on the show.

Edited February 28, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[lou ann b]

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think the sketch was attacking Austin Butler at ALL. I saw it as more of an attack on "method" actors. Besides..no one better be picking on Austin. Yes, I have a bit of a crush.

I thought the highlight of the prison sketch was Kenan and Chloe talking to each other at the same time. That has to be so difficult to do without losing the train of thought or laughing.  I couldn't do it.

The Gym sketch was so off the wall, loved it. "A large piano, sir."..I LOL'd.

A meh show with highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

So, "It’s not fair to the crews", "It makes me angry for the crew", "Really I’m talking about the crew" and "The anarchist part of me, . . ." and "as an anarchist" are his excuses.

Was there any indication in his monologue that concern for crews is what drove him?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

Was there any indication in his monologue that concern for crews is what drove him?

Nope.  The monologue was not linear, at all.  You should watch it.

However, if you read the rest of the NYT interview: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/27/magazine/woody-harrelson-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=iGh6nCQl5W935E-kC6_7fn1oXlxfNoUtYax5nfrkgDKljhemK4lX3hkn38xeJgakfoN5XYpU1Lyk8MR32i7tpDzIcrtlp_JLA-2D_y-nqWgDWdKhEk35I3rZXKBvO1ckvIYEyikGPRvqOwukjS3YbC_MTfiNG_LFly6YSpfJrn3IkRFV_0v8E8E0lCtRf1TaxTUexM9bR_fiWYZQ8r4Xlshwfnlo7vjrJlb6WL78pz4UyW6qF6pVmaJxlGUbD-0z5Vh4e1rG5xk75NGgq9af-xZ1fekP5-dmifNx5_taWbKPfv99K0ilE511vXIhtfINh1q-Tr-7JIpsVaXcpoh-5oLXxaHRYjkEblqa_9rw4v9Ig_p-&smid=url-share

he's actually fairly liberal, politically (don't want to start a political discussion here), but also doesn't like lots of government rules. So maybe libertarian?  Libertarian/anarchist?  He's confusing.  Maybe its all the pot (which he fully admits to being addicted to.)  I'm sure that he despised governmental pot restrictions, so he fancies himself an anarchist?  But I will admit to not disliking everything he said in his interview, despite the anti-vax/masking mandate stuff, which is unusual for me.

Edited February 27, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[buttersister]

Quote

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell, originally cast as Elvis's  parents, at that point quit.

Pardon me going off topic, but I didn't know that and I'm needing a minute here. **sob** 

[formerlyfreedom]

Hey, all, please get back to the show itself, we're sliding off topic here. Thank you!

[Jody]

On 2/26/2023 at 5:18 PM, cpcathy said:

I know Jack White is very revered but none of that was melodic, it was just irritating.

 

      I Do Not Like That First Song Either ! I Did Like The Second Song ! Maybe, IT Was The Drum Beat And The Song Was A Slow Song So That Helped ! 

[RobertDeSneero]

Not gonna lie, I'm going to start calling him Pete Butt every once in a while.