S50.E02: Nate Bargatze / Coldplay

[proserpina65]

On 10/6/2024 at 1:03 AM, Galileo908 said:

Digital Short: A NEW DIGITAL SHORT?! "Sushi Glory Hole" was the kind of stuff I missed from this show. Catchy as hell. A Lonely Island/PDD mashup needs to happen now that Digital Shorts aren't off the table.

I thought this was gross and fast-forwarded through it.

On 10/6/2024 at 1:54 AM, JeanJean said:

Sorry to say it,  but Nate Bargatze's opening monologue felt like listening to an old person (like me) tell a dull story.

It was amusing, but really scattershot.  His last monologue was sort of like this but tighter.

On 10/6/2024 at 8:44 AM, Pete Martell said:

The Mile High sketch is one I almost enjoyed, but the unprofessional breaking from Bowen and Mikey derailed it.

For me, that was the funniest part of the sketch - watching Bowen desperately try not to break and fail miserably.

21 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

but I'm tired of seeing "frail" Biden.

I was really hoping they'd stop with the "Biden is old" jokes once he dropped out, but no . . . 

12 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

He’s the perfect Biden, I think the addled jokes are spot on.

I actually think Carvey is a terrible Biden and the addled jokes are unfunny and not spot one for the most part.

11 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

And I've never understood the "extra virgin" olive oil thing either. It makes as much sense to me as extra pregnant or extra dead.

It means the olive oil is cold-pressed and unrefined.  Extra virgin as in not extracted with heat.  It does sound weird, though.

 

[RobertDeSneero]

4 hours ago, baldryanr said:

If he's going to pop up to be senile just for the sake of being senile then what's the point? 

I'm sure there's a way to do it where you can show the difference between Biden maybe being senile vs Trump's dementia.

 

Rewatched the episode.  Jane Wickline seemed mostly fine for an early role.  She could maybe look up more when playing a song.  Some people really loved it, so I think it's probably just more stuff that pleases some but not all people.

 

Washington 2 was fine.  Not as good as the original, but still worth doing.  Nothing was bad, really.  Seems like a fine episode.

[Crashcourse]

My main issue with Jane Wickline was that I couldn't understand most of what she was singing, like she was mumbling to herself.

[Schmee]

NB not my cup of tea but I'm sure he's done better in his standup specials.

Re: Jane's song, I watched with my 17 year old niece who told me it was a parody of an earnest song about the second day of college, trying your best and not putting too much pressure on yourself, etc. that's been memed and covered a lot. She played the original version for me and like the parody, it does go on and on. So maybe Jane was trying to be faithful to the original? Regardless, it wasn't that interesting or funny.

[vb68]

With the breaking news that Shane Gillis turned down an offer to play Trump for season 50 and that James Austin Johnson's Trump was cut from this episode, it does seem like they have soured some on JAJ's portrayal and are looking for an alternative.

I Also think they were expecting a lot more buzz over Bowen playing JD Vance similiar to Melissa McCarthy playing Spicer.

I'm of two minds about Biden. I've long felt the impressions were mean. But it's so nice to see Dana on the show and that he's hanging in there after the past year. I relate and find it inspring that he's out there. I also think it would be fun for Trump and/or Vance to have to deal with The Church Lady.

Edited October 8 by vb68

[heatherchandler]

14 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I actually think Carvey is a terrible Biden and the addled jokes are unfunny and not spot one for the most part.

I guess YMMV but it is blowing up, this is just one of the MANY headlines/articles:

Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden Is the Real Star of Saturday Night Live

“Dana Carvey’s President Joe Biden also showed up, and continues to delight. Carvey has our president’s open-mouthed vulnerability and lights-out moments down. His grumpy righteousness is cranked to perfection. Waving his ice cream cone around like a toddler, smears of vanilla hanging from his lip and Rudolph’s cheek, Carvey vowed to launch a Biden 2028 campaign.”

 

 

[Pete Martell]

17 minutes ago, vb68 said:

With the breaking news that Shane Gillis turned down an offer to play Trump for season 50 and that James Austin Johnson's Trump was cut from this episode, it does seem like they have soured some on JAJ's portrayal and are looking for an alternative.

Also I think they were expecting a lot more buzz over Bowen playing JD Vance similiar to Melissa McCarthy playing Spicer.

I'm of two minds about Biden. I've long felt the impressions were mean. But it's so nice to see Dana on the show and that he's hanging in there after the past year. I relate and find it inspring that he's out there. I also think it would be fun for Trumpand/or Vance to have to deal with The Church Lady.

JAJ has never gotten a great deal of response from the crowds compared to a number of other political impressions over the years, and it's been very noticeable at times. I also wonder if they see Gillis as having a conversative appeal, as I think the show has been trying to move more in that direction the last few years. 

I agree they were probably expecting more from Bowen as Vance, as he is the closest thing they have to Kate McKinnon in a cast member who pops with the audience. The biggest difference is he was not tied to political material the way she was starting with Hillary, and they aren't writing anything for Vance anyway. (the Update line where Jost chides the public for thinking Vance, not RFK Jr, is weird kind of says it all about their feelings on him). 

If a cast member were showing up as Biden, I'd still roll my eyes at the hacky writing, but at least I'd say a cast member is being used. If you are bringing back Dana Carvey, you should have more for him to do than sniffing hair and staring at the camera.

[baldryanr]

38 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

JAJ has never gotten a great deal of response from the crowds compared to a number of other political impressions over the years, and it's been very noticeable at times. I also wonder if they see Gillis as having a conversative appeal, as I think the show has been trying to move more in that direction the last few years. 

Which begs the question - how much is because of the performer and how much is because of the writing?  JAJ's Trump is pretty good as a pure imitation.  Of course, the same was true of Jay Pharoh's Obama, and they never seemed to know what to do with him.  Meanwhile, the original SNL impression (Chevy as Gerald Ford) looked and sounded nothing like the man, but was hugely popular back in the day.

[possibilities]

Writing is the key to most things, honestly. I've never felt like the acting was bad, it's always the material itself when there's a problem.

[Milburn Stone]

I agree that New Girl's song bombed, basically, and yet Mrs. Stone and I watched it all, even though we could have FF'ed. And we agreed after it was done that the reason we watched it is that we found something appealing about this actress. It was like, yes, you're bombing, but that's OK, at least you wanted to try something different, and they let you, and you'll do better next time. Like she was our daughter! As opposed to what is more often the case in such instances, where we can't reach for the remote fast enough.

Good show overall.

[Pete Martell]

10 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Which begs the question - how much is because of the performer and how much is because of the writing?  JAJ's Trump is pretty good as a pure imitation.  Of course, the same was true of Jay Pharoh's Obama, and they never seemed to know what to do with him.  Meanwhile, the original SNL impression (Chevy as Gerald Ford) looked and sounded nothing like the man, but was hugely popular back in the day.

I think it's a combination of many things.

Tiresome as I found Baldwin's Trump, he played him for four and a half seasons, and Baldwin was SNL royalty to many fans. JAJ was an unknown to most fans and is not one of the cast members who managed to break through based on huge charisma/selling a version of themselves to viewers, the way cast members like Kate or Bowen did. He's not a cast member who is generally going to get applause just by walking onscreen, as most don't. 

Another issue is the political writing, which has mostly been terrible for decades, outside of a few moments, and now you don't even get those. I think JAJ's Trump worked better on his social media pages but has been a shaky mix on the show itself. It's not broad enough or as focused on cheap seats compared to the rest of the cold opens and can't be carried on the fan familiarity with the performer.

I think there's also a lot of Trump fatigue - many who like him aren't watching SNL and many who don't like him probably don't want to see more of him.

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Which begs the question - how much is because of the performer and how much is because of the writing?

It's a combination of both.  JAJ's actual impression has been well-received in terms of his voice and mannerisms.  The failure of SNL's impression lies mostly with the writing.  For most politicians, SNL lampoons characteristics and personalities to get laughs but it's typically an exaggerated version. They aren't always great but it's their aim. The problem with JAJ's impression is that it goes the opposite way, IMO. It feels way too sedated and coherent.   Going broader in the writing might help but I will acknowledge that going broader than the real thing might be a hard thing to pull off for the writers.  It's kind of like how Veep is still a hilarious show but not as preposterous as it seemed when it first aired.

The writing for Baldwin's version was better but not much. The real reason Baldwin became a cultural phenomenon is because he was a well-known celebrity whose impression pissed off the one being mocked. Having someone famous might bring back that cultural impact again.  Then again, I don't know that Shane Gillis is a household name. 

Lorne Michaels said before the season started that he planned on changing up how they approach the impression this season.  So far, from the little we've seen, I haven't seen much of a difference.  I'm curious as to what he means.

[possibilities]

I'm disgusted that they invited Gillis and glad he won't be there.

[proserpina65]

On 10/8/2024 at 4:05 AM, heatherchandler said:

I guess YMMV but it is blowing up, this is just one of the MANY headlines/articles:

Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden Is the Real Star of Saturday Night Live

“Dana Carvey’s President Joe Biden also showed up, and continues to delight. Carvey has our president’s open-mouthed vulnerability and lights-out moments down. His grumpy righteousness is cranked to perfection. Waving his ice cream cone around like a toddler, smears of vanilla hanging from his lip and Rudolph’s cheek, Carvey vowed to launch a Biden 2028 campaign.”

 

 

I don't care whether it's blowing up in the media.  I think his impression sucks.

[cinsays]

On 10/8/2024 at 4:05 AM, heatherchandler said:

I guess YMMV but it is blowing up, this is just one of the MANY headlines/articles:

Dana Carvey’s Joe Biden Is the Real Star of Saturday Night Live

“Dana Carvey’s President Joe Biden also showed up, and continues to delight. Carvey has our president’s open-mouthed vulnerability and lights-out moments down. His grumpy righteousness is cranked to perfection. Waving his ice cream cone around like a toddler, smears of vanilla hanging from his lip and Rudolph’s cheek, Carvey vowed to launch a Biden 2028 campaign.”

 

 

his grump righteousness? guess i don't see that fitting biden at all

[DEL901]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I don't care whether it's blowing up in the media.  I think his impression sucks.

Also, if they are trying to be topical, how is Biden even relevant?   

[Kel Varnsen]

On 10/7/2024 at 1:21 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

The mile high burger challenge was disgusting. Heidi should get an award just for having that mess in her mouth and all over her face and hands. And getting all her scene partners to break.

Her eating the giant burger like corn on the cob was really funny. I also appreciated how she wasn't really afraid to get super messy. I said to my daughter that I guess she is done for the night after this sketch since I imagine she would probably want to take a shower after that.

[Joimiaroxeu]

26 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Her eating the giant burger like corn on the cob was really funny. I also appreciated how she wasn't really afraid to get super messy. I said to my daughter that I guess she is done for the night after this sketch since I imagine she would probably want to take a shower after that.

Mileage varies. I don't eat red meat so watching someone assault themselves with a hamburger is likely never going to be funny to me.

[heatherchandler]

18 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Mileage varies. I don't eat red meat so watching someone assault themselves with a hamburger is likely never going to be funny to me.

All that meat is 🤢

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/7/2024 at 11:10 AM, proserpina65 said:

It was amusing, but really scattershot.  His last monologue was sort of like this but tighter.

I had read all the comments about the monologue and had decided to skip it, but for some reason I changed my mind and watched it.  I loved his monologue the last time he was on so I guess I was curious about this one.

I'm glad, because I loved it.  Maybe because I have some bumpkin traits myself?  His delivery is slow, but it's always slow.  He talks slow as George Washington, which I think makes it even better.

I think I agree with you that this monologue wasn't as tight as his previous one, but I still thought it was hilarious.

[peeayebee]

I'm a big fan of his, introduced from his first appearance. I love his sense of humor. He's a cutie, too.

[possibilities]

My only problem with the monologue was that I thought he said he went to "comedian college" and I was laughing about that until the captions told me he said "community college"-- which really changed the kind of joke it was.