S43.E16: Bill Hader / Arcade Fire

[mtlchick]

Aside from saying Google owns Waze (both with their owns pros and cons but WAZE FOR LIFE!), what distracted me the most was the Jurassic Park auditions.  Especially with having Gwen Stefani and Lisa Kudrow in Phoebe mode because Friends wasn't even on the air and No Doubt were not popular yet in 1992.  

 

Bright notes: Leslie's Whoopi impression, Pete's brutal honesty twisted with humour ("BUT SORRY ABOUT YOUR REBOUND PROBLEM!"

 

In terms of Bill Hader, I love Stefon, but the Californians needs  to get stuck on the 405 permanently.  And I feel he was taking full advantage of the wheelchair in that sketch until he realized how weird it was getting and he lost it. 

[theredhead77]

2 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Genuine question, if I was from SoCal or familiar with it at all would I find this sketch funny? I just. Don't. Get it.

Probably. I don't know a single person from CA who doesn't find it funny and those conversations have been had, for sure. 

I used to have to take the 405 to the 55 to the 22 to the 57 to the 91 to avoid traffic during my 25 mile commute. Or the 133 to the 5 to the 55 to the 91. And so on.

Having this type of geography knowledge requirement doesn't make for a great sketch. 

2 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

ETA: Waze all the way!

Waze once had my friend turn left into the LGB airport, then left back onto Lakewood to avoid the airport traffic. It lost all credibility with me after that.

I loved Stefon, always do. The shout-out to Seth with "A Closer Look" was nice. I'm so happy they are still an item in SNL world ( Seth still has his Stefon figure on his desk too)

Edited March 18, 2018 by theredhead77

[peeayebee]

I used to be devoted to Mapquest. Now it's Google Maps. I've never checked out Waze. What's so great about it?

[absnow54]

2 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Especially with having Gwen Stefani and Lisa Kudrow in Phoebe mode because Friends wasn't even on the air and No Doubt were not popular yet in 1992.  

Lisa Kudrow at least played Ursula on Mad About You in 92, who was the precursor to Phoebe. But yeah, No Doubt didn't become big until 1995. The impression was funny at least. 

[VCRTracking]

I think my favorite impression in the Jurassic Park auditions was Kate's Jodie Foster because she was specifically imitating my favorite scene in Silence of the Lambs. The one which I think made it a Best Picture winner:

Turning "He was so heavy... so heavy." to "It was so sticky...so sticky." made me laugh so much.

I don't think you have to know a lot about the LA freeway system to get "The Californians" sketches. You just need to know it's insanely complicated:

 

Poor Pete, but I'm glad he can still laugh about his problems. Favorite line: "Like Kevin Love's a handsome, rich basketball player. His uncle is a Beach Boy. The worst one, but it's still sick!"

I think a girl with an Irish accent is so hot even a fake one so I liked hearing Cecily and Kate in the game show sketch. Kate also looked cute as a redhead and the way she was sitting until it was just to hide her hand for the joke later!

I admit to laughing a lot at the toilet in a lamp sketch. Beck is so funny to me when he's embarrassed and ashamed!

Edited March 19, 2018 by VCRTracking

[pythonite]

Loved the show. Lots of lowbrow humor for sure. Favorites were Stefon, Motorized chair, Pete and Irish Dating. And Arcade Fire. I loved when they won the years biggest Grammy, and everyone was like, "Who the hell are they?" Not SNL watchers. 

Quote

 I do wonder if the people who really love The Californians are Californians or people who have spent quite a bit of time there.

I'm 5th generation Californian and I can sometimes hear my own accent, but it's not that accent thank god.

I read the idea for the Californians came about by Fred & Bill riffing on driving around LA at the table reads, then Fred brought out the crazy accent for the first live show, which Kristen & Bill had not heard before. You can see their reactions in the first Californians appearance. I don't think The Californians is 'over' because we don't know what happened to Karina. Or seen the last of Rosa...

[Tachi Rocinante]

Mad TV did the "old people in motorized wheelchairs" bit much better 20+ years ago with Seth Green and Alex Borstein.  They ran a greeting card company and were tyrants.

[lovinbob]

The Irish dating thing ... I don't think I'm offended by it, because I can take a joke, but it just seemed like such a random thing to make fun of. Like, is there a tradition of Irish people dating their cousins that I don't know about? 

I ask this, and then I remember that my great grandparents had the same last name. No one ever suggested they were related, but in the old country it's probably not a stretch ...

Edited March 19, 2018 by lovinbob

[peeayebee]

Maybe after Saoirse Ronan was on the show, everyone just wanted to do an Irish accent.

[Princess Sparkle]

God, this episode made me miss Bill Hader so badly. There are some people who are just lightening in a bottle on SNL, and he's one of them. This might have been my favorite episode of the season. A lot of people touched on my favorite parts, but I absoluetly lost my shit when Stefon whispered to his lawyer, and then looked completely proud of himself that he said "little people". Part of me wonders too if John Mulaney whispered a new updated thing for Bill to say in the next part of the sketch.  And I will never get tired of Bill's Alan Alda impression, because it's so random, but completely spot on.

Pete has been hiding some amazing impressions in his back pocket, and he should do them more often. His Adam Sandler was killer, and he nailed his Jim Carrey impression earlier this season.

[heatherchandler]

On 3/17/2018 at 11:39 PM, Poohbear617 said:

Was that John mulaney with Stefan?

 

Yes, and he is hilarious!  I think the joke would have been funnier if he would have said his attorney's name was Roman J. Israel, Esquire.

 

On 3/18/2018 at 12:11 AM, ebk57 said:

 

Does anyone know who the person Bill called up on stage during the goodnights was (wearing a cap)?  

 

Jon Hamm - not sure why he was there...  he really likes to be at snl.

 

On 3/18/2018 at 8:44 AM, Ottis said:

I will never understand the love for Stefan. I have tried to watch that character a half dozen times over the years. It isn’t funny. What is funny about saying a Chase bank was a CVS and then a Chase bank? And talking about seizure inducing Malaysian music? It’s just random comments. Is it a NYC thing?

...

Now I have to look up these Walmart robot bees. 

 

I don't think it is a nyc thing - I am in Chicago and I love him.

The bees scared me - they remind me of an episode of Black Mirror..  If you have not seen the episode, I won't spoil it, but the bees were... not good.

 

On 3/18/2018 at 11:37 AM, LuvMyShows said:

I understand the appeal of Stefon, and a few of the things he says are cute, but he just doesn't appeal to me overall, and neither do most of the characters that they have Hader play.  Aside from the Californians, which I enjoy because the whole premise and all the characters are just inane/insane, the other characters they write for Hader are just too OTT.  They seem stereotypical in a not clever/not subtle way, like an average college comedy troupe.  And I will never understand the appeal of breaking.  Aside from the extremely rare case when a cast member genuinely does something completely different from rehearsal and the true shock/humor causes the others to crack up, the rest of the time it cannot possibly be genuine (in spite of what they say!).  These are trained professionals, they've rehearsed the skit at least once and maybe up to 5 times (SWAG guess), and they could easily control themselves.  But they know that (most of) the audience will get a kick out of it, and it can 'save' a failing sketch.  (And yes, I do believe it was faked on the Carol Burnett Show as well!)

The only breaking I truly believed, and also laughed along with was Rachel Dratch's Debby Downer.  She could not get through most of the lines - and they were funny.  Once she started to crack, the whole group lost it.

 

22 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

I don't think 'Irish people dating their cousins' is a thing as such.  I mean, it's not illegal and there's no particular taboo against it.  I think the Catholic Church requires you to get a dispensation if you want to marry a first cousin but that's about it.  I think though it would have been more common among non-Catholic Irish people as their dating pool was considerably more limited.

Hmmm?  what's that now??  It is fully taboo!

 

20 hours ago, helenamonster said:

 

Bill in the wheelchair had me rolling. Cecily is such a good sport. And on a shallow note, Heidi is really really really attractive.

 

On a much shallower note - I find her REALLY un-attractive!  

 

1 hour ago, Princess Sparkle said:

A lot of people touched on my favorite parts, but I absoluetly lost my shit when Stefon whispered to his lawyer, and then looked completely proud of himself that he said "little people". Part of me wonders too if John Mulaney whispered a new updated thing for Bill to say in the next part of the sketch.  And I will never get tired of Bill's Alan Alda impression, because it's so random, but completely spot on.

I thought it would have been funnier it, after consulting his lawyer, he would have still said "midgets."

[Milburn Stone]

6 hours ago, lovinbob said:

The Irish dating thing ... I don't think I'm offended by it, because I can take a joke, but it just seemed like such a random thing to make fun of. 

I agree, but for me the performances totally sold it.

[helenamonster]

On 3/18/2018 at 7:08 PM, mtlchick said:

Aside from saying Google owns Waze (both with their owns pros and cons but WAZE FOR LIFE!), what distracted me the most was the Jurassic Park auditions.  Especially with having Gwen Stefani and Lisa Kudrow in Phoebe mode because Friends wasn't even on the air and No Doubt were not popular yet in 1992.  

Drew Barrymore also seemed off to me. Per IMDb her career and life were still in the toilet in 1992--it would be four years until Scream helped her bounce back.

6 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

The bees scared me - they remind me of an episode of Black Mirror..  If you have not seen the episode, I won't spoil it, but the bees were... not good.

Right??? Whoever came up with this idea, I just need 90 minutes of your time...

[JZL]

More BLM's* than any show in recent memory. 

-- I'm from western Missouri but a very good friend of mine is from Van Nuys, so The Californians is hilarious to me.  Plus I just love the way Hader says the word, "CaliFFFFFFORNyunzz" at the beginning. 

-- I grew tired of Stefon fairly quickly back in the day but LMAO last night, especially the interplay with Che and Colin. 

-- @ saoirse, skilled at water boiling and garbage disposing.  These seem to be pretty unrelated skills.  Disposal of coffee press grounds???  : )

 

*Belly Laughs per Minute.

[formerlyfreedom]

36 minutes ago, JZL said:

-- @ saoirse, skilled at water boiling and garbage disposing.  These seem to be pretty unrelated skills.  Disposal of coffee press grounds???  : )

You pretty much nailed that...

[vb68]

I use to think John Mulaney was being groomed for the Update Desk. I still think he would had been great at it.

14 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

Jon Hamm - not sure why he was there...  he really likes to be at snl.

Talk about somebody to needs to host again. Hey if Charles Barkley can host for no reason...

I know the ratings for Bill's first hosting ep were not good, but this was a different story. The ratings actually went up.

I learned from Mike Ryan's podcast that Update went much longer than expected. There were suppose to be two sketches after Arcade Fire's second performance . They were lucky to get one done.  They were pushing it. 

Edited March 20, 2018 by vb68

[cpcathy]

Some thoughts:

Bill Hader is an extraordinary talent. He didn't even go to school for acting, he wanted to be a filmmaker. He's just got this natural ability for characterization that is so spot on.

I am from CA and find The Californians very funny. They mentioned the city where I live once and the directions were exactly correct.

True story, from Vulture.com: John Mulaney actually whispered, "My girlfriend works at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl."

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, cpcathy said:

True story, from Vulture.com: John Mulaney actually whispered, "My girlfriend works at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl."

Hader mentioned it on Seth's show last night along with breaking during the "old husband" sketch because his wheelchair pushed Mellisa and the entire table back. Also Cecily co-wrote the sketch and the standards and practices person warned Bill not to move and keep still when Cecily sits on his lap!

16 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Drew Barrymore also seemed off to me. Per IMDb her career and life were still in the toilet in 1992--it would be four years until Scream helped her bounce back.

Well I could imagine Spielberg, who directed her in ET, and to this day is still like a father to her, would have given her a chance to audition!

Edited March 20, 2018 by VCRTracking

[Milburn Stone]

45 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

Also Cecily co-wrote the sketch and the standards and practices person warned Bill not to move and keep still when Cecily sits on his lap!

It was actually funnier that way. Thank you, NBC Standards & Practices guy!

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

It was actually funnier that way. Thank you, NBC Standards & Practices guy!

The Standards and Practices person is a lady named Betzy Torres, VP of Program Content. Tina Fey talks about her in this Inside the Actors Studio clip:

http://www.bravotv.com/inside-the-actors-studio/season-19/videos/tina-fey-standards-and-practices

I also heard Tina mention her before years earlier on Conan and how some of Betzy's suggestioned terms to substitute for not allowed on TV names of private parts were unintentionally funnier so they would use them!  She also described Betzy as "kind of a hot lady" and looking at her Facebook page, she is!

Edited March 20, 2018 by VCRTracking

[helenamonster]

21 hours ago, vb68 said:

Talk about somebody to needs to host again. Hey if Charles Barkley can host for no reason...

I saw him in trailers for two different films the last time I went to the movies--neither of them looked particularly good or interesting but he would have a reason. Not that he needs one, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt!

[theatremouse]

On 3/18/2018 at 2:00 PM, helenamonster said:

I liked the concept of the monologue transitioning right into the first sketch, but why oh why did it have to be the goddamn motherfucking Californians? Genuine question, if I was from SoCal or familiar with it at all would I find this sketch funny? I just. Don't. Get it.

I think if you were from or spent significant time in SoCal you'd probably find it funnier, but not necessarily. I first saw the sketch right around when I moved to California, and remember originally thinking "ok, um, yeah LA traffic, I guess that's the joke?" but was kind of underwhelmed and also felt like some of the more specific place-names went over my head if they were punchlines and I wasn't sure if they were. But then within a couple of weeks I found myself having or hearing other people have conversations that could've literally been the sketch. So once I realized how accurate the sketch was (not necessarily the accents but how the conversations so easily devolve into "I took the 5 to the 405 to the"....blah blah blah blah name 3 more freeways) it became funnier to me. That whole "truth is funny" thing. So I appreciated it more and found myself not necessarily laughing at the sketch when I watch, but laughing in my real life when I notice those discussions happening. So that's why I find it funny. I'm sure there's more to it. The jokes aren't just in that pattern. There's other stuff there too, from the exaggerated accent to the actual specific places they mention that you could watch the sketches and get some of it and not others, and a different person might get different bits and not the parts you did. So there's a lot of things that might be funny to someone. But also easy for all the things to go over your head. It's not my favorite sketch or anything, but I don't mind it. But I definitely went from "huh I feel like I'm missing something" to understanding how it was supposed to be funny after moving to southern California.

[VCRTracking]

Irish people watch SNL"s Irish Dating Show sketch:

[Hanahope]

Real fun episode.  Bill Hader does such great characters.

The Californians was funny.  I just got back from a trip "home" to Los Angeles and I spent time on just about every freeway in SoCal.  I'm mapping the route in my head as the characters are talking about it.

I like Stefan too, and its fun watching the actors try not to break.

The screen tests are always funny, gives all the actors a chance to do something.  And they are always spot on.