I've got Saturday Night Live credentials that are so solid that they're embarrassing. I've been watching since it began on a cold, winter's night in 1947. I hung on after Uncle Milty stepped down as host. I persevered through the Jo Anne Worley years, through the two years when Yoko Ono directed it, and even through the Half Decade of Mime. I've watched it when it was a generational touchstone and when the peak of the season was a sketch about a Roman vomitorium. I'm going to keep watching this year, too, but it's becoming clear: SNL is deeply into suckitude.
As always, it's the writing. The cast is, IMO, quite good. There are folks on it who are talented and can make me laugh. (Apparently, they all make Jimmy Fallon laugh, too, since he has yet to get through a scene without having to turn from the camera to hide is own misplaced amusement.) Chris Kattan is a funny eccentric. Seth Meyers is an excellent utility player. Darrell Hammond is a fabulous mimic and completely unfunny. Rachel Dratch's enthusiasm makes her funny. Tracy Morgan is funny with terrible material. Amy Poehler and Horatio Sans are funny in the uninhibited, self-embarrassing way. Maya Rudolph is one of my favorites although she would be funnier if she could get over her own awesome versatility. Fred Armisen is off to a good start. And Chris Parnell is as good as SNL has ever had.
But the writing this year has been just plain bad. Last night there were only a few moments that even got within hailing distance of laughter. The safety instructors sketch had a moment I found amusing when Armisen showed how to disarm an attacker by putting a pen behind her trigger. Yeah, you're right, it's not that funny. The backstage sketch in which Morgan tries to get Sarah Michelle Gellar to wrestle Faith Hill was predictable and dumb, although it did unintentionally show how Mike Meyers got Dr. Evil out of Lorne Michaels. Even Weekend Update was disappointing. (At least with Tina Fey and Fallon doing it, there's hope.) And the opening sketch, with Parnell as Bush, was a total bust. The real W is far funnier - and freakish - than Parnell's imitation.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
Sadly Dave, your assessment is keen: we want to like the show, we try to like the show, but the writing has been at a low for most of thelast two years.
2 - Bat Boy
My favortie part of the show was the saftey sketch when Armisen showed how to fend off the burglur by a series of moving their bodie pars up and down adn then a gentle push. And the blinding the burglur one was cool.
But i totaly agree, the show isnt so good, with tons of potential.
3 - Nigel E. Richardson
Back home in the UK there's a comic called VIZ that has, for most of its life, carried the slogan "Not as funny as it used to be" (or something like that).
My outsider view? The sketches are too long and just meander, relying on the cast members' schtick rather than sharp writing. And they just end rather than build up to something. Maybe it's the "live" part that's the problem -- you can't have punchy 30 second sketches if it has to be done live. The show is too long and even with 900 writers or however many they have everything has to be padded out. It's a relic of another age. Cut it down to 30 minutes, do it on video, dump the band and don't let any sketch go on after the big laugh. Of course it wouldn't be Saturday Night Live anymore but it might be more watchable....
4 - Kyle Still
Did anyone else feel like Parnell's impersonation of Bush was more of an impersonation of Will Ferrell doing an impersonation of Bush?
5 - Al Barger
Come, come. You're hardly being fair. These first two shows are not up to the greatest SNL of a quarter century, but there have been numerous good moments.
For starters, Matt Damon as college freshman Hannibal was damned funny- best thing so far this season. (Forgive the paraphrasing from memory)"No, I'm not gay. I just want to taste your sweet flesh... OK, I'll admit, that does sound a little gay." Hannibal in the mirror singing the WKRP theme song was SO wrong.
The segments of people damning Saddam Hussein for costing them their jobs and the tanking of their retirement accounts made one of the best bits of political comedy out of this whole situation.
The Christina Aguillera video sketch was a beautifully VICIOUS take on the excesses of MTV. "Not skanky enough."
It's not as consistent as I'd like, but they've got some good material going.
The part of the show that has been far into suckitude this season has been the music. Goddam, but Springsteen has devolved into the suckingest of suckitude. The fake emoting of his big performance, the exaggerated physical movement that is supposed to convince us that at least HE thinks this record is good can just STOP. He was giving up the fake hystrionics of a $20 whore.
Which brings us to Faith Hill. It's hard to criticize her songs because they are so bland and so PRECISELY middle of the road that they're hard to even describe. They're such a big bunch of NOTHING. They're not rock, they're not pop, certainly not country. Not uptempo, not ballads. Her crap stinks so bad that she doesn't even inspire me to lust. Do you have any idea how bad a physical specimen as hot as her has to SUCK musically for me not to even want to bone her? That's getting pretty far into the suckingness of suckitude.
Surely to god they could find some REAL singers. Hey, Elvis Costello has TWO albums out this year- there's a start. Even some half-assed rapper that's actually REAL would be a substantial improvement. How about Beck, Norah Jones, India.Arie, Coldplay, even James Taylor? They might be surprised what a draw could be had from some of the O Brother crowd. Ralph Stanley DOES stand at the center of one of the couple of biggest selling albums of the last several years. That would be something different. Just a thought.
6 - joe
You are right. I really did start watching to show in 1975. I think that was its first year: Belushi, Akyroyd, Radner, Morris, Chase. I loved the Eddie Murphy cast, the Billy Crystal cast, the Dana Carvey/Lovitz/Mike Meyers cast.
The writing does suck. I've mistakenly thought that in recent years it was the cast, but you are probably right. It's the writing. What the frick is wrong with NBC? Don't they know the writing sucks?
Maybe the young folks who watch the show actually like it, sucky writing or not? If I watch tv at that time on Saturday, I'll usually watch Mad TV. The cast is at least as good, ok, way better!!, and sometimes the writing is great too. Example, the "depressed Persian Tow Truck Driver." What the f*ck is that? Anyway, Mad TV does bring a smile to my face.
Maybe just let go of the attachment to the institution of SNL, and maybe if enough folks do that, NBC will get a clue that suckiness just don't cut no mo'.
Ok, bye now.
7 - Diana
I got her randomly, and will most likely never return...but you people have the most pathetic grasp of humor ever. I find it especially ammusing that you site Tina Fey as the hope for Weekend Update as you bash the writting. She's the head writer, halfwit. And cast members oftentimes write themselves - Fred wrote the Mpls cop skit, its from his old stand up. Of course Parnell's Bush isn't great, who could compare to Will Ferrel? Darrell Hammond is a fabulous impressionist, his Chris Matthews is right on - see him live and you'll know. Maya Rudolph is stuck on her own versatility? Way to completely make stuff up. She's the most innovative cast member on the show. The only writing problem is the sketches that are written when certain cast members (TRACY MORGAN) are too stoned to write anything decent.
8 - you're wrong
The show is blatantly terrible. Don't make excuses for this piece of shit cast. You make me sick fawning over Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon. You're fucking wrong. The ACting and the WRiting sucks because Lorne Michaels is an idiot. And you're wrong. PS Wrong
9 - Max
I agree with your assessment of the current state of SNL. About the same time you wrote this, I also wrote about SNL.
The article is on my site here.
And yes, Amy Poehler creeps me out.
And has anyone noticed that she seems to have had that gap in her teeth filled in?
10 - sales leads
I don't think the show is as funny as it used to be. I'll still watch it every once in a while though.
11 - ron
You HTNOTH. This show has sucked for a while and it is mostly the writing. Don't you just love the way Tina Fey smirks when she says something thats supposed to be witty on WE update. Her writing and acting is just plain AWFUL and these yoyo's just gave her a 4 mil deal to keep ruining the show.
12 - The Theory
I am proud of myself for figuring out what "HTNOTH" stands for...
peace.
13 - David Weinberger
Me, too.
OTOH, I like Tina Fey. I think she's funny.
14 - David Weinberger
Me, too.
OTOH, I like Tina Fey. I think she's funny.
15 - tyrone987
I don't think it's the writers.
It's the cast! Hammond and Kattan are the only good cast members.
And now that Ferrell's gone...
...The show has become almost unwatchable.
16 - Dumptrucks
SNL has been awful for over 8 years now, the only thing funny was Wil Ferral and now he is gone. Writing is terrible and so is the cast. The only person who finds this shit funny is Jimmy Fallon who can't make it through a skit without out a stupid giggle.
17 - duane
HTNOTH. Isn't that one of the Elders that H.P. Lovecraft made up to be Cthulhu's girlfriend in The Necronomicon ?
18 - Eric Olsen
"I am HYNOTH, bow before me."
19 - Eric Olsen
"But keep your hammer away from my head"
20 - TDavid
I've laughed along the way a few times at SNL shows the last 8 years. They are sort of missing the big name draws since Farley and Sandler aren't there any longer, IMHO.
Speaking of Ferrell, anybody else seen the trailer for Elf? That looks pretty wild.
21 - The Dude
Get rid of Tina Fey. She is not funny, the show has been horrible since she began as head writer, and the writers could not come up with a clever sketch even if stoned.
Come on people, get rid of Tina!
22 - Nick Jones
"I am proud of myself for figuring out what "HTNOTH" stands for..."
Well I haven't, so clue me in.
Speaking of Lovecraftian horrors from beyond time and space that can obliterate a man's sanity at a glance, can someone explain the appeal of Rachel Dratch?
DRATCH. DDDDDRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAATTTTTTCH!
She looks like she comes from Innsmouth, MA, and her name sounds like the noises I'd hear coming from the bathrooms during my fraternity's keg parties.
23 - mike
Maya rudolph is awesome... one of the best on the show. Will ferrel was great and i loved molly shannon. Amy Poehler cracks me up and i actually start laughing with jimmy fallon when he starts laughing in the middle of a skit. The show need better skits!!!! the cast is great, but the writing is the things that are keeping everyone from laughing.
24 - mike
Rachel Dratch is hilarious when she does skits with the right people!
25 - Kelley Ender
I think Eric Olsen's comment put it best. We like to like the show. But with shows this bad (I'm refering to the Oct 4, 2004 disaster) You just can't. It makes you wonder if SNL is gonna have another low stint like back in the 80's, when it was almost canned. We'll just have to wait and see.