SNL in the Media

[ChromaKelly]

5 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

I took that less as political and more as Obama not being all that easy to make fun of. An incisive show could make fun of any politician, but SNL hasn't been an incisive show since about 1993. The show's struggle to find someone who could impersonate him didn't help matters. It took years for them to even realize brownface wasn't an automatic chucklefest. 

Exactly. Up until a couple years ago, they didn't even have a suitable black man (Keenan Thompson's not the right build) and a black woman to play Barack and Michelle Obama. And, say what you want about them politically, there's really nothing to make fun of about them.  What's there to spoof? The Rock Obama was about all they could do. Jay Pharoah's Obama was passable, he had the speech cadence down.
SNL has been fairly relentless in criticizing Bill Clinton's slimy womanizing and Hillary as a shameless power-hungry "I'll do anything to be president" so I don't really get the SNL is too far left thing.

[ruby24]

When it comes to political impressions, SNL's strength has always been in creating characters of the people we know, not lampooning the politics itself. They were never able to create an Obama character that resonated. Back in the 80's they had the same issue with Reagan. I guess it's just one of those things. Someone needs to be able to find something in the personality of these people to hook onto, and it's been easy with many of our presidents, but not this one. Managing to better imitate his voice and mannerisms (which Jay did better than Fred Armisen, but still was never definitive), isn't the same as creating a "character" of him.

It just didn't happen. And since we haven't seen Obama in over a year (I don't think Jay did him at all last season, did he?), I guess it's safe to say they ultimately just gave up. I'm surprised they didn't want to even do one sendoff skit this season though. I figured they would. Assuming Hillary wins, they could have done a funny transition skit in December or something, about her trying to push him out of the White House early.

[pivot]

Their lack of Obama in skits is due to their lack of diversity in the writers room and in front of the camera and the quality of the people involved in the show. Key and Peele, The Daily Show, Larry Whitmore, etc. have all been able to effectively mock Obama. SNL is just junior varsity level comedy show now full of untalented white guys for the most part who just can't deliver. 

[SpikeGal]

6 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

.
SNL has been fairly relentless in criticizing Bill Clinton's slimy womanizing and Hillary as a shameless power-hungry "I'll do anything to be president" so I don't really get the SNL is too far left thing.

Not enough for me. I want more, dammit. I want more! I mean they had Melania Moments (not funny to me!) can we please balance it out with Bill Moments? I mean can you imagine? He would be trying to talk but more and more women would walk by and he'd get more and more distracted...so distracted he'd never be able to finish!

Hey, somebody get me SNL's e-mail! I got a skit idea!

[ChromaKelly]

Just now, SpikeGal said:

Not enough for me. I want more, dammit. I want more! I mean they had Melania Moments (not funny to me!) can we please balance it out with Bill Moments? I mean can you imagine? He would be trying to talk but more and more women would walk by and he'd get more and more distracted...so distracted he'd never be able to finish!

Hey, somebody get me SNL's e-mail! I got a skit idea!

They had Bill on The Family Feud. SNL is under no obligation to provide equal time to bashing each side's candidate. Or each candidate's spouse. Melania Moments was like one minute long.

[SpikeGal]

8 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

They had Bill on The Family Feud. SNL is under no obligation to provide equal time to bashing each side's candidate. Or each candidate's spouse. Melania Moments was like one minute long.

They should if they want good ratings. Not only Democrats watch TV ya know!

And come on, Bill Clinton is ten times funnier them Melania Trump!

[ChromaKelly]

1 minute ago, SpikeGal said:

They should if they want good ratings. Not only Democrats watch TV ya know!

And come on, Bill Clinton is ten times funnier them Melania Trump!

They've been making fun of Bill Clinton since the 1990's.

[SpikeGal]

Just now, ChromaKelly said:

They've been making fun of Bill Clinton since the 1990's.

And he NEVER gets old! :)

[SpikeGal]

4 hours ago, pivot said:

SNL is just junior varsity level comedy show now full of untalented white guys for the most part who just can't deliver. 

Isn't that the truth? Been that way since Tina left. I remember one Weekend Update that happened soon after Romney lost the election where Seth made a joke where he said something about how it should be obvious why Romney won the southern states. Behind him were pictures of Romney and Obama. Then  he said, "It should be very obvious..." and they blew up the pictures so the faces were closer. Then he said, "Very obvious..." and the pictures were blown up even more so that only their skin was visible! My jaw DROPPED to the floor when he did that! I was like, "Oh...no...you did NOT just go there!!" I bet hundreds of TV's in the south quickly changed their channels after THAT!

Of course that was years ago so I can't remember the joke word for word but I do remember that punchline and I was like, "Oh God...what year is this again?!" How did this guy get his own show?!

[helenamonster]

SNL is an entertainment program and has no obligation--legal, moral, or otherwise--to be moderate or unbiased. It's not even remotely radically liberal, but if it wanted to be the most lefty commie pinko socialist propaganda show in the history of television, it would have every right to be so. Sure, the suits at NBCUniversal might not like that, but the show is doing just fine in the ratings (highest rated season premiere in eight years, since Tina debuted her now iconic Palin impression) and that's all they care about. Don't forget that this show was started by a bunch of dirty hippies (including Lorne, before he started making money) and it's probably going to stay that way until the end of time.

[SpikeGal]

35 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

  Sure, the suits at NBCUniversal might not like that, but the show is doing just fine in the ratings (highest rated season premiere in eight years, since Tina debuted her now iconic Palin impression) and that's all they care about. Don't forget that this show was started by a bunch of dirty hippies (including Lorne, before he started making money) and it's probably going to stay that way until the end of time.

I don't know about NBCUniversal, but I have a feeling MSNBC would welcome that!

Oh yeah...I forgot about that! I guess because Tina Fey was such a damn great Head Writer and she stuck it to both sides so well you can forget that the show was founded by hippies.

Sigh...they'll never be another her!

[helenamonster]

NBCUniversal is the media conglomerate that owns all NBC properties, including Saturday Night Live and MSNBC. It is in turn owned by Comcast.

[ChromaKelly]

8 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

NBCUniversal is the media conglomerate that owns all NBC properties, including Saturday Night Live and MSNBC. It is in turn owned by Comcast.

Which is in turn owned by the Sheinhardt Wig Company...

[vb68]

Tom Hanks will host on Oct. 22!!!

That's what I'm talking about! Long overdue!  And noting especially for Helenamonster,  Gaga will be the musical guest.

[Princess Sparkle]

19 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Tom Hanks will host on Oct. 22!!!

That's what I'm talking about! Long overdue!  And noting especially for Helenamonster,  Gaga will be the musical guest.

AHHHH!!!!  I'm so excited for that - I know it wasn't the last time he hosted, but I watch that Celebrity Jeopardy sketch where he played himself at least once a month.  This is a run of really good hosts to start the season.

[lou ann b]

That is awesome about Tom hosting. Sully,the photo bomb of the bridal couple,  now SNL.Tom Hanks is America's Sweetheart.I love the guy.

[helenamonster]

2 hours ago, vb68 said:

Tom Hanks will host on Oct. 22!!!

That's what I'm talking about! Long overdue!  And noting especially for Helenamonster,  Gaga will be the musical guest.

I feel so much love! From this forum and this show! Picking all peeps I like for hosts and musical guests.

1 hour ago, lou ann b said:

That is awesome about Tom hosting. Sully,the photo bomb of the bridal couple,  now SNL.Tom Hanks is America's Sweetheart.I love the guy.

He also found at student ID that belonged to someone at my school (I think it was last year) and tweeted out a picture of it so that she could get it back (which was awesome, because it costs $50 to replace them). It went viral and she got it back and I think she ended up going on one of the national morning shows to talk about it. He's the best.

[BoogieBurns]

38 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

I feel so much love! From this forum and this show! Picking all peeps I like for hosts and musical guests.

He also found at student ID that belonged to someone at my school (I think it was last year) and tweeted out a picture of it so that she could get it back (which was awesome, because it costs $50 to replace them). It went viral and she got it back and I think she ended up going on one of the national morning shows to talk about it. He's the best.

Will you get tickets to go to this show?

[ebk57]

This is your Ham4Ham show - Pizza for everyone! 

[helenamonster]

On 10/7/2016 at 3:02 PM, BoogieBurns said:

Will you get tickets to go to this show?

Unfortunately, probably not. I'm one of those awful millennials that's ruining our country by not being able to get a job, so I'm stuck back at home in Pennsylvania. I'd love to try, but it's just not worth it to spend money on a train ride to sleep on the street for tickets to a show that I might not even get into. If I was still in school I totally would.

[galaxygirl76]

On 10/7/2016 at 10:36 AM, vb68 said:

Tom Hanks will host on Oct. 22!!!

That's what I'm talking about! Long overdue!  And noting especially for Helenamonster,  Gaga will be the musical guest.

This is the best news I've heard in years regarding hosts!! I've been waiting for him to come back and do it for years instead they keep teasing us with him showing up randomly during other host's shows.

[callmebetty]

Does anyone know if they are going to do those half hour political sketch shows one day during the week like they have in past leading up to the election?

[VCRTracking]

Lorne Michaels was the inspiration for Elaine Benes' "little kicks" dance on Seinfeld.
 

Quote

 

Among the ideas he pitched in his first season was one based on his time as a receptionist at Saturday Night Live. During his first year in show business, the legendary SNL creator Lorne Michaels was his boss. Feresten had idolized Michaels, and now he found himself down the hall from the man. Michaels needed only glance in Feresten’s direction, and Feresten would flush.

Feresten found that aside from answering the main phone line in the office, another of his duties was to man the door at the Saturday Night Live afterparties. As he stood at the door late one Saturday, he spotted his boss dancing. What he saw, as he later told me, was Lorne Michaels dancing as if he’d never seen another human dance before. The man heaved and gyrated to a rhythm only he could feel. As Feresten recalls it, Michaels may have even been dancing with Sinéad O’Connor that night — if so, this would have likely been her first appearance on the show, in 1990, not her controversial 1992 performance in which she ripped up a picture of the pope on live television.

 

[vb68]

Well this is interesting.  Kinda weird and ironic that SNL got mentioned in one of the Wikileaks dumps.  Both Hillary's and Bernie's staffs loved Larry David's impressions and tried to get his endorsement.  Just one of those behind the scenes fascinating little tidbits.

Edited October 16, 2016 by vb68

[JZL]

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/why-saturday-night-live-destroys-190600506.html

Why SNL destroys Trump but John Oliver & Samantha Bee don't.  Allegedly

I don't agree with with the thesis, really.  SNL was so lame on political stuff for so long, regularly getting it's ass kicked into irrelevance by the likes of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Key & Peele.  [sarcasm] But, by gawd, it had Seth Myers and Stefon!! [/sarcasm]

[ottoDbusdriver]

2 hours ago, JZL said:

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/why-saturday-night-live-destroys-190600506.html

Why SNL destroys Trump but John Oliver & Samantha Bee don't.  Allegedly

I don't agree with with the thesis, really.  SNL was so lame on political stuff for so long, regularly getting it's ass kicked into irrelevance by the likes of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Key & Peele.  [sarcasm] But, by gawd, it had Seth Myers and Stefon!! [/sarcasm]

I'm curious if the author of the article has actually seen John Oliver's takes on Trump -- because they have been pretty devastating --  but he really hasn't laid off Clinton either. But it brings up the issue of false equivalency as well -- because there is SO much more to dig through about Donald Trump it takes much more time to dissect everything that is going on.  Starting with Trump's actual family name -- last time I checked Hillary's family name wasn't Rodhamf (and her ancestors changed it to fit in).  :)

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, JZL said:

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/why-saturday-night-live-destroys-190600506.html

Why SNL destroys Trump but John Oliver & Samantha Bee don't.  Allegedly

I don't agree with with the thesis, really.  SNL was so lame on political stuff for so long, regularly getting it's ass kicked into irrelevance by the likes of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Key & Peele.  [sarcasm] But, by gawd, it had Seth Myers and Stefon!! [/sarcasm]

I don't agree with the thesis either (but Seth did do some good topical stuff!) I think the author has confused Lorne's repeating whatever the mainstream consensus is at the moment and going after the easy laughs with other late night show's attempt to avoid being perceived as advocating a particular POV and assumed that therefore SNL has more impact when they do something edgier. And has accepted that there has been some sort of conscious effort to go after both sides hard rather than having some good smart writers with different views like Downey and Franken to write some sharper material to go along with the sketch equivalent of a Jay Leno joke. Yes they have done some brilliant stuff this season and hit Trump hard. But I highly doubt it's had any real influence or was intended to although there has been some pieces that have clearly been written with a viewpoint and are true satire instead of "Chris Christie is fat!" It's the effect rather than the cause of the audience's shifting views.

[formerlyfreedom]

Time to head to the Current Events & Politics forum, folks. Posts will be deleted if they are off topic going forward.

ETA: to clarify - posts were starting to talk about the actual election, and not the linked article. Posts have to be mostly about the article, and that discussion, and not a gateway to talking about the election. Those are the posts that will be removed.

[vb68]

Cumberbatch seems like another big get for the show.  The host selections have been great so far this season.

Edited October 23, 2016 by vb68

[JZL]

5 hours ago, vb68 said:

Cumberbatch seems like another big get for the show.  The host selections have been great so far this season.

 

Awesome.  I agree the host selection has been better the last few years.  Remember when they had Megan Fox, January Jones, and Charles Barkley all in the same season?

Edited October 23, 2016 by JZL

[mtlchick]

3 hours ago, vb68 said:

Cumberbatch seems like another big get for the show.  The host selections have been great so far this season.

 

Kudos to the talent bookers this season.  No clunkers so far.  (And may as well throw it out there: Timberlake has an animated movie coming out in November...don't let me down, show.) 

[JZL]

The show seems to be on a roll, which itself should attract a higher caliber of hosts.  You have to wonder if in some of the not-so-hot seasons, potential hosts are contacted but say, "Thanks, but no thanks."  It probably never gets that bad . . . does it?

[vb68]

According to SNL's twitter feed, Nov. 19th will be Kristin Wiig making a return and whoever The XX is will be the musical guest.

Eh.  That one isn't really helping my mood any.

[cpcathy]

So tired of her. Strangely, I like her characters, I don't think I like her as her actual self!

[PatternRec]

On 11/10/2016 at 10:57 AM, vb68 said:

According to SNL's twitter feed, Nov. 19th will be Kristin Wiig making a return and whoever The XX is will be the musical guest.

The xx are pretty good. Buddy turned me on to them a while back with this track playing at his place: 

[JZL]

On 11/10/2016 at 7:54 PM, cpcathy said:

So tired of her. Strangely, I like her characters, I don't think I like her as her actual self!

Not thrilled about this.  She and Seth Myers were too of the worst things that ever happened to SNL, imho.  I liked her at first, but she's a prima donna.  I also liked Bridesmaids, but almost everything I've seen her in since than has been meh.  (Have not seen Ghostbusters or Welcome to Me)

17 hours ago, PatternRec said:

The xx are pretty good. Buddy turned me on to them a while back with this track playing at his place: 

OMG a decent rock band on SNL?  I think I'm getting the vapors . . .

[wknt3]

A couple of the better stories regarding Alec Baldwin and SNL/Trump:

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/alec-baldwin-wont-impersonate-donald-trump-on-post-election-snl-w450165
http://www.wnyc.org/story/alec-baldwin-sheds-trump-impressions-election-day/

I'm a bit surprised that so many people seem so surprised that Alec has no interest in a long term gig, which should have been apparent from the start. He probably will do at least one more appearance since Lorne never wants to let go of anything that gets buzz and Alec knows he owes Lorne everything, but I honestly believe what he's saying.

[vb68]

I thought it was obvious when Alec broke character last week and said he was tired of being mean that he was indeed signaling that he was done. So agreed it's not surprising.

Edited November 13, 2016 by vb68

[Dejana]

44 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

A couple of the better stories regarding Alec Baldwin and SNL/Trump:

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/alec-baldwin-wont-impersonate-donald-trump-on-post-election-snl-w450165
http://www.wnyc.org/story/alec-baldwin-sheds-trump-impressions-election-day/

I'm a bit surprised that so many people seem so surprised that Alec has no interest in a long term gig, which should have been apparent from the start. He probably will do at least one more appearance since Lorne never wants to let go of anything that gets buzz and Alec knows he owes Lorne everything, but I honestly believe what he's saying.

Yeah, this was always supposed to be a temporary thing, like Tina coming back to play Palin, except...

Edited November 13, 2016 by Dejana

[mtlchick]

Not to mention that Michael Stipe sort of puts blame on Baldwin and SNL for making Trump popular. 

 

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7572575/michael-stipe-alec-baldwin-snl-donald-trump-blame

[Inquisitionist]

My favorite of the Joe & Barack memes (which I can't seem to insert as an image -- PVT tells me there is no Tweet at this URL, but there is, and you'll love it):

https://twitter.com/JillBidenVeep/status/797984683912937472/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Edited November 14, 2016 by Inquisitionist

[editorgrrl]

21 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

My favorite of the Joe & Barack memes:

 

[peeayebee]

So many of them are so funny, and combined together it's a great mini-story of Joe coming up with these pranks and Obama saying, "Joe..."

[mtlchick]

http://deadline.com/2016/12/saturday-night-live-casey-affleck-john-cena-host-1201863684/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter-deadline your final hosts for 2016 are John Cena and Casey Affleck! 

[Princess Sparkle]

Just saw the last shows of the season on Instagram: Dec 10th is John Cena with musical guest Maren Morris, and Dec 17th is Casey Affleck with musical guest Chance the Rapper. I guarantee we see Ben Affleck show up on Dec 17th. 

This may also sound strange, but I don't really know how I feel having Casey Affleck as a host. The sexual assault allegations have really soured me towards him, and I don't know that I necessarily like SNL giving him a platform to host. That might just be my own hang-up though. 

[vb68]

I hear you on Casey Affleck and agree.  Beyond thinking he's such an odd choice for The Christmas show in particular, he doesn't seem to have Ben's more affable qualities that are on display when he hosts.  At least I've never seen them.  On talk shows and in general, Casey seems very uptight.  I'd love to be wrong, but I'm not looking forward to him hosting.  (Anybody who wants to know more about the allegations mentioned upthread, go to the Awards thread here.)  

Not surprised about John Cena at all.  He's been obviously courting this for awhile, with his appearance on Maya and Marty over the summer and public friendships with Tina and Amy.

Edited December 3, 2016 by vb68

[wknt3]

2 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

This may also sound strange, but I don't really know how I feel having Casey Affleck as a host. The sexual assault allegations have really soured me towards him, and I don't know that I necessarily like SNL giving him a platform to host. That might just be my own hang-up though. 

You would think they might want to avoid having someone with a troubled history with women, whose success is due almost entirely to who they are related to rather than any particular talent of his own, and has never been particularly likable or charming, host the show. I guess they figure if the allegations turn out to be true and people realize what a jackass he is they can always bring in Alec Baldwin do a killer impression of him...

[nowandlater]

In January, Jimmy Kimmel had on Casey Affleck as the No. 1 guest. I was like, "Why is he a #1 guest?" I mean, he's done stuff, but he isn't No. 1-worthy. (I was also annoyed because Kimmel had on Julia Roberts as the No. 2 guest last year, with Sally Field as No. 1.)

Casey Affleck was on Kimmel again 2 weeks ago. And I realize he's getting Oscar buzz for his new movie.

But now I'm asking, how is he hosting SNL? I mean, I just feel he isn't as worthy as Dave Franco.

[ottoDbusdriver]

10 hours ago, nowandlater said:

In January, Jimmy Kimmel had on Casey Affleck as the No. 1 guest. I was like, "Why is he a #1 guest?" I mean, he's done stuff, but he isn't No. 1-worthy. (I was also annoyed because Kimmel had on Julia Roberts as the No. 2 guest last year, with Sally Field as No. 1.)

Casey Affleck was on Kimmel again 2 weeks ago. And I realize he's getting Oscar buzz for his new movie.

But now I'm asking, how is he hosting SNL? I mean, I just feel he isn't as worthy as Dave Franco.

I guess the same way Ashley Simpson got on as a musical guest -- and since her appearance she has exploded into a musical powerhouse. </sarcasm>

[Phishbulb]

I've seen Casey Affleck be funny in a movie once, in the movie "Drowning Mona" (which is a hilarious little-seen comedy from about 15 years ago). Ever since then nothing in his career has indicated he has much interest in comedy; it's all pretty downbeat, depressing stuff (including his new movie).  I can't help but feel having Ben host the Christmas show would have been a much more fun show (also picking a different musical guest- Chance the Rapper??)