posted
Is it me, or does Saturday Night Live suck now? It's been a downhill slope since Sandler, Schneider, and Farley passed on. I even remember the two times Nirvana was the guest band back in the 90s. I think it has sucked since the mid 90s. The current characters just arent funny. What do u all think?
Posts: 3845 | From: Norf Karolina | Registered: Dec 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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Well, I haven't been able to watch much since Comedy Central decided to start airing MAD TV in place of it (And they take off Late Night with Conan O'Brien? Comedy Central no longer has comedy.). I have seen recent stuff, though. I don't think it got really bad until really recently. Tim Meadows stuck in there with the funny for awhile, and Jimmy Fallon as well. Rachel Dratch is good, too.
I get what you mean, though. No one can top Sandler, Farley, Spade, Myers, and all them. Maybe it's because stand-up comedians aren't as popular nowadays, and comedy movies that such comedians would star in aren't as charming and funny anymore? I can think of quite a few movies starring SNL stars from the past that are hilarious, but when you think of movies with stars from recent SNL episodes, they just don't stand the test of time (With the exception of Will Ferrell, who has moved on from SNL to do movies.).
Posts: 1830 | From: Land Under the Bed | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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I agree Lupa. Tim was ok, but to me Jimmy Fallon got annoying after awhile. He has a bad habit of laughing after everyone of his jokes. Dana Carvey ruled too!
Posts: 3845 | From: Norf Karolina | Registered: Dec 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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SNL was best during the 75-79, 90-94, and 00-02 periods. We all of course know about Saturday Night Dead during the 80s. After Carvey, Myers, Sandler et al left, there was a long period where the show was in dire need of talent (although I do think the early 90s are a little overrated). Like Eddie Murphy keeping the show alive in the 80s, Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell kept it alive in the late 90s, until Lorne found some new talent. The show rocked in the new millenium until Ferrell quit, it seemed like they had lost 80% of their best sketches after that.
They have some promise though, they have alot of funny talent right now: Will Forte could be the next Will Ferrell, Seth Meyers always makes me laugh, and Poehler and Dratch are arguably the funniest women I've seen on the show since the 70s.
Posts: 267 | From: Manitoba | Registered: Jan 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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You know, Rachel Dratch guest-starred on Monk (one of my favorite shows) and I was like, "I KNOW HER!" But then again, I recognized the woman from Tremors 3 who appeared for about 30 seconds in an episode, so I don't know what that says about me. Posts: 1830 | From: Land Under the Bed | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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It's always seemed to go in ups and downs, and since they seem to be in a bit of a down right now, better days likely aren't that far off. It's always a plue whenever former cast memebers show up as special guests; they add to the flow even when things are down. Probably SCTV would be going through the same routine had it lasted into today.
Posts: 2561 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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Tina Fey is kind of cute in that Jan Hooks sort of way.
Look at all the careers this show has jump started
John Belushi Dan Aykroyd Chevy Chase Bill Murray Eddie Murphy Gilbert Gottfried(UGH) Dana Carvey Phil Hartman Adam Sandler David Spade Chris Farley Rob Schneider Will Ferrell Mike Myeres
Thats an impressive list of funny people for the last 25-30 years
Posts: 4742 | From: Cell Block 6 | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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It's interesting noting on that list how the scales are tipped so heavily toward success for the male cast members. Jane Curtin, Larraine Newman, Victoria Jackson, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, and many others haven't had quite the success as their male counterparts (and Gilda Radner wasn't doing much better on the big screen before fate brought her to a tragic end). We've said before that comedy is incredibly difficult; it seems to be even harder to be funny and female and gain widespread acceptance, which is a bit said considering often they're just as good as, if not better than, the boys.
Posts: 2561 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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"out with the old in with the new"....all i got to say is that the old school rocks and are 10x more funnier. i can remember ROm-man "froggy man sharping his pen-cils frogg mannnn!" that or "BILL BRADSKY!!!"
Posts: 11 | From: Texas | Registered: Feb 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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To me, the Golden Years of SNL were 1975-1990. I'm including the Saturday Night Dead years in there, since I like those cast members (Also, watching the reruns, I thought Mary Gross was cute. I loved her in "Feds" and "Casual Sex?".)
Anyway, I said it on I-Mockery, and I'll say something similar here: I don't care for Farley and Ferrell and Fallon and Fey. They don't do a damn thing for me.
One of the few modern shows I like is "MAD TV". The sketches are funnier, edgier and willing to bash both political parties equally (something that SNL was never able to do even in its' Golden Years).
SNL was the American sketch comedy show of the 70s and 80s (Canadian honors go to SCTV). Just remember that after the 1989-1990 season finale, though, that there are too few pearls among too many swine.
Sincerely,
John Kilduff...The Rock Steady Flamethrower
Posts: 1545 | From: Greenwood Lake, New York, USA | Registered: Jul 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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Saturday Night Live... what a bunch of hams!
But, I love 'em. I miss some of the really offbeat stuff like Matt Foley, motivational speaker; Frankenstein, Tarzan & Tonto; and Sprockets with Dieter.
I also liked the ridiculous TV commercials for things like monster repellent (a kid gets his head ripped off!) and "Big Red," the toy Viking that shoots blood out of his horns!
The State, a sketch comedy show on MTV during the mid-'90s, was sometimes even funnier than SNL, and definitely better than MAD TV.
"Is that pico de gallo?... I wanna dip my balls in it!"
Posts: 974 | From: Mel's Diner | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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To me, SNL was its best during the following years:
1975-1980: The original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players, plus Bill Murray.
1987 to around 1992: Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman, etc. I enjoyed that time period.
The first half of the 80's (1981-1984) with Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, just didn't cut it for me. They were great, but everyone else was blah!
I didn't watch it during around '85-86. I think that was the time when Robert Downey, Jr. was a cast member.
I don't watch it much these days, unless they have intriguing host.
It's funny, but I prefer it when SNL has a non-comedy performer or someone who is not a comedian as a host!
Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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Speaking of SNL, here is some trivia involving Johnny Carson and SNL:
Johnny Carson actually HATED SNL when it first came along. This is partly because he was very protective of his late-night "turf", and that he didn't like any other kind of network variety show that would come on after his, except for "Late Night With David Letterman" on NBC.
He refused to have any of the cast members as a guest of the show until the early 80's, when he had Chevy Chase (who was pushing his movie "Oh, Heavenly Dog!") and Gilda Radner. But by that time, they both had long left the SNL show.
He never publicly badmouthed SNL on the "Tonight Show", but he was once interviewed back in 1976 for a newspaper article with the Washington Post, where Johnny said that SNL cast and writers were so untalented that "they could not ad-lib a fart in a bean-eating contest".
SNL's writers saw that article, and started to make fun of him during their 'Weekend Update' newscast.
It was not until the late 80's and early 90's when Dana Carvey did impressions of Johnny Carson, that Johnny started easing up on SNL.
Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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To me, the best host ever on Saturday Night Live was Christopher Walken, period. I loved his number where he was singing about the potatoes and tomatoes but he read it all the same way because it was written the same on the cue cards. Bwaha!
Posts: 1830 | From: Land Under the Bed | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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My favorite host of recent times was, and I'd hate to give him this much credit for anything. Justin Timberlake. If you had the pleasure of seeing him and Jimmy Fallon do the Andy Gibb talk show, I think you might have ****ed your pants.
My favorite years that I knew anything, The early 90's and then right around 98-2000 with Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell. I used to die with the Cheerleaders.
We are DEVO
Posts: 4228 | From: Home of the big landfill | Registered: Jul 2003 | Site Updates: 8
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Ok, I'm considering myself the odd man out here.....I haven't watched SNL in ages because, well, I think the show bites.
Clearly the best seasons of SNL were the original with the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. There's just too much irreverent humor locked up there.
However, the era with Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Tim Kazerinski, Billy Crystal, Jim Belushi and that group ranks as #2 for me. Why? Because it was during the 80's and the humor applied to me, I was the right age for the show. Piscopo doing his Frank Sinatra with Eddie Murphy as Stevie Wonder, oh man good stuff. Heck even the skits with Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest "ooh I hate when that happens" were funny.
BUT...by the late 1980's, I really began to hate the show. Why?
Repetition. Before the late 1980's, you wouldn't see the same skit every weekend. Eddie Murphy didn't do Gumby every week or Mister Roberts Neighborhood. But by the late 1980's, you'd see those lame Dana Carvy Church-Lady segments EVERY WEEK. You'd see those ridiculous "Yeeeeah thats the ticket" skits..EVERY WEEKEND. They spent less time trying to make funny skits on topics of the day, and instead focused on their characters.
Its sort of the same fate that kills any show, even MADTV suffers from it. When you introduce a character and re-use him all the time, its just lame.
SNL and MADTV would be better shows if they just aired all their fake commericals over and over. That MadTV one with the drunk GI Joe figure (spoofing the Mazda commercial from the 90's), or any of SNL's fake commercials....those are usually laugh-out-loud funny.
Posts: 125 | Registered: Jan 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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