S43.E11: Jessica Chastain / Troye Sivan

[cpcathy]

Also thought this was one of the worst of the season. Jessica Chastain is a pretty lady, but she's NOT funny.

Totally agree on Kate. I love her, show, please don't make me hate her! Kate as Mueller was WAY too much. Didn't need it, as we had already had two other WU guests. She does not need to play everybody.

Just as a sidenote, I've said it before, but Mikey and Alex are making the season for me. Heidi is really coming on strong too. Luke Null should start packing his stuff up now.

[JZL]

I agree that Wiig-ness is a bad thing and hope that doesn't happen to Kate.  The primary antidote for that is Cecily Strong.  They are both formidable talents.  The rest of the female cast ain't too shabby either these days. 

[Hanahope]

That Stormy Davis sketch was very on point, without becoming too much of an exaggeration like What Does it Matter (as true as it probably is).  

They totally ignored Pennsylvania in the Amazon sketch, both Philly and Pitt.  Come on, they could have found something to parody Philly,

maybe they felt they already did with Fresh Prince, which I found pretty funny.

Agree that Aidy needs to be a bit stronger for SHS. 

Great WU as always.

[Mumbles]

I would love to know whether Kate is lobbying for all these parts or whether Lorne, the producers, writers et al realize she's a critical darling and just cast her in them or write them for her.  Maybe because I do like her so much, I'm *hoping* it's the latter.

I've said it before but she's not reached Wiig level of annoyingness because she is less of a scenery-chewer than Wiig and unlike Wiig, when Kate is in a sketch where she's just a "supporting" role, she lets the others shine.

[lou ann b]

Mikey and Alex are quietly going about their job of becoming the go to guys..the "glue " that Hader became. Beck Bennett is also becoming invaluable...I also worry about McKinnon overexposure. Love Chris Redd so far..Luke. .is a guy. I feel bad cause he's a Cincinnati guy,but he's not on enough to make an impression. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by lou ann b

[possibilities]

On 1/22/2018 at 10:46 AM, Mumbles said:

Yeah that was so unnecessary. Burk Bennett could have done it and played up a formal "establishment" type who's gleefully keeping a secret.

Maybe it's payback for all the years when they put Kenan and other male cast members in drag. I actually don't mind Kate playing male characters. I thought she did a great job with Mueller.

I loved Cecily's Stormy Daniels bit, though I hope it's one and done. And actually I kind of sympathized with "Does it Matter?" I have scandal fatigue and there's no end in sight.

I think the problems with the show this season are the writing, not the cast.

[juno]

I have wondered just how good this season would be without the constant jokes regarding the present administration.

As possibilies said earlier, I have scandal fatigue as well and am tired of seeing the constant political jokes.

[helenamonster]

On 1/21/2018 at 7:53 PM, Giuseppe said:

I feel like everyone knows what 'vocal fry' is except for me.

Lake Bell is here to help:

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, juno said:

As possibilies said earlier, I have scandal fatigue as well and am tired of seeing the constant political jokes.

I just want to clarify that I liked the "Does it matter?" skit because I feel that way.  I don't want them to stop doing political stuff. I liked that skit because it reflected how I feel, not because I want them to stop talking about it. My fatigue is caused by the constant scandals, not by the comedy about it. I find that for me the comedy is actually helpful in surviving the situation.

[peeayebee]

On 1/22/2018 at 1:48 PM, heatherchandler said:

I am really not enjoying McKinnon this season.  I always liked her before, but she is over-doing it these days.  I used to be excited, but now I am now dismayed when she appears on-screen.  

I don't think I'm quite to the point of feeling dismayed when she appears, but I'm not enjoying her as much this season. I haven't been liking her impressions lately, but some of that is probably due to the writing. Still, I can't help seeing "Kate" when she is portraying someone, rather than that person. 

 

On 1/22/2018 at 5:43 PM, JZL said:

I agree that Wiig-ness is a bad thing and hope that doesn't happen to Kate.  The primary antidote for that is Cecily Strong.  They are both formidable talents.  The rest of the female cast ain't too shabby either these days. 

I think any of the women are more than capable of creating great characters. The guys, too, except for the cipher of ... is it Luke? I just can't say about him yet. However, I remember feeling that way about Alex in his first season, but now he's one of the best.

[Princess Sparkle]

22 hours ago, lou ann b said:

Mikey and Alex are quietly going about their job of becoming the go to guys..the "glue " that Hader became. Beck Bennett is also becoming invaluable...I also worry about McKinnon overexposure. Love Chris Redd so far..Luke. .is a guy. I feel bad cause he's a Cincinnati guy,but he's not on enough to make an impression. 

"Luke is a guy" just made me bust out laughing, because it's so true. He is the Jon Rudnitsky of this season, and it's even more apparent because the rest of the featured cast is so good - Mikey & Alex are amazing, Melissa is growing on me, Heidi is going to break out in a major way, and Chris Redd is already a star. 

As a watcher of The Bachelor, nothing has ever been truer than when they said Arie "is attractive depending on what light he's in." This might actually be the sketch where they ripped the most from the actual show - they used the actual bachelor's name, there are four Laurens this season, and one girl actually is into taxidermy. They didn't actually have to do a whole lot to parody it.

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, Princess Sparkle said:

They didn't actually have to do a whole lot to parody it.

This is becoming a widespread problem with our world these days.

[Phishbulb]

2 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

He is the Jon Rudnitsky of this season

I think this is kind of an unfair comparison because Luke legitimately hasn't been on enough for me to even tell if he's a worthy addition to the cast or not. Rudnitsky had the pirate sketch that revolved around him which was awful,  a poor Anderson Cooper imitation, and then his late entrance in the Space Pants sketch which didn't help matters. He did several things on the show that were actively bad.

But Luke's one thing that he's done was somewhat of a clever idea for a sketch- and for what it's worth, his performance in it wasn't bad. He WAS supposed to be an annoying dick, so we can't hold that against him. Once the reveal happened in the sketch, he did a good job of underplaying his bully character actually being insecure and just wanting to be appreciated by his fellow students. 

It was an odd way for them to introduce a brand new cast member- by giving him a sketch where the first 2 minutes were him (intentionally) bombing with bad material. I don't know if he will be able to recover from that by season's end.

The weird thing is that when he was first hired the clips circulating of him showed him with a guitar doing funny songs, so I thought he would have tried something like that on Update by now, if that's what he was known for before SNL. 

[Bruinsfan]

2 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

"Luke is a guy" just made me bust out laughing, because it's so true. He is the Jon Rudnitsky of this season...

At least Rudnitsky was/is hot, and had that one memorable skit with Miley Cyrus. I honestly wouldn't know Luke's name if not for this thread. It's as if some grip just wandered into the scene from backstage and the show continued on rather than stopping to shoo him back to where he should be adjusting stage lights or moving amps for the musical guest.

I don't mind Kate doing the male characters buried under prosthetics and wigs, but her performance as Mueller seemed neither funny nor particularly cutting to me. By contrast her Jeff Sessions has had me rolling on the floor on several occasions, and I think I hyperventilated when they first revealed his opossum tail.

[lou ann b]

The only bits that Rudinsky had that hit for me was the "Dirty Dancing" pantomime during Update,and the Miley sketch.. The Update bit was funny and original. .but he didn't build on it...he was-is a cutie, I agree. I will just mention my other featured player crush...Paul Britton. ..ah...the French dancing...

[Fiftyninth]

Funny, I find Luke Knoll much more my type than Rudnitsky (but nobody’s more yummy than my beloved Beck Bennett!).