Saturday Night Live

[DonTGD]

I agree with Bill Brasky that recurring sketches are only worthwhile when the second edition brings something new to the table.

I think Michael Phelps diet was something that had a pretty good premise but then sort of just repeated itself, which is another problem SNL falls into, partly because the powers that be demand a 1.5 hr show meaning skits have to be five minutes long which is not always the best skit length! It is very hard to sustain a skit for five minutes, and basically in order to do it, more plot or at least more changes in the dynamic/situation have to happen than currently happen on SNL.

If I had my druthers, they would have run with the idea of Phelps eating 12,000 calories by putting it in a premise that had a bit more of a varied structure to it. Say, for instance that there is an FDA meeting and all the FDA commissioners are saying "and the final order of business, we are of course approving again this year our recommendation of 2,000 calories a day for adults, all in favor say aye... unanimous"--> Phelps runs in and says "not so fast. Dr. Michael Phelps here. I say we recommend 12,000 calories a day!" --> grumbling among other doctors of "ugh, Phelps not again with this thing"--> Phelps calls his assistant to bring in "the new food pyramid" --> Phelps places a poster of the "new food pyramid" next to a poster of the old one, and the new one is three times as big as the old one and has "10 servings of chipotle mayonnaise" as one of the sections for instance. And he fights it out with the other doctors, etc. (You get the idea).

My point is that sketch comedy is about scenes, about dynamic situations and surprises and conflict and characters with unique traits. There is just too much coasting on SNL in terms of the imagination level. Too often you have gotten all you'll get out of the skit in the first 30 seconds which is not a good sign.

Yes, I was really happy to read that someone also thought of better ways to improve upon the same joke. I think that example you wrote sounds like a great idea.

I myself thought a much better idea than throwing "Swim Cop" out in the monologue would have been Phelps arguing with Lorne about doing a "Swim Cop" sketch around a pool set or having the different actors suggesting other "Pool Veterinarian" type sketches.

[disl]

Do you HONESTLY want me to say what was funny about it? The humor is basically based on racism, or perhaps classism. The idea is that some people don't know how to censor themselves and will talk about anything because they weren't taught manners. I do not believe those kinds of jokes come from a "good place" in our culture. Note that the male and female diners switched gender stereotypes which I think went a long way towards portraying them as sophisticated, urbane, etc while the server was anything but. So while I initially liked the way he said "up in this piece" after about the third time he mocked some kind of urban teenager character I was shaking my head.

Now, the only way to make this character less racist would be to show a sophisticated, educated African-American couple reacting to this person as a white person adopting unsophisticated mannerisms in an attempt to appear, I dunno, hip and have their reaction to it based on their views of culture. That would be funny. The character as it was, made me embarrassed.

you should add an "L" to the end of your name cuz then the initials can stand for Too God Damn Liberal

[BillBrasky]

September 27th- Anna Faris/ Duffy

[J.B.]

September 27th- Anna Faris/ Duffy

That could be pretty good - I started out with a low opinion of Faris from those Scary Movie films, but since then I've found her a funny, charming actress.

[BillBrasky]

STOP THE PRESSES and alert Jimmy Pardo, guys...

Apparently Jon Hamm revealed in a SAG Q&A session this week that he will be hosting the October 25th episode (with musical guest Coldplay).

[I love nny]

STOP THE PRESSES and alert Jimmy Pardo, guys...

Apparently Jon Hamm revealed in a SAG Q&A session this week that he will be hosting the October 25th episode (with musical guest Coldplay).

Oh Sweet Jesus! That is gonna be sick.

[TheRealAndyDaly]

Hello ASTers. Despite my strenuous objections, my friend the comedian Jerry O’Hearn has gotten himself embroiled in a really stupid controversy. He asked me to circulate this press release anywhere I could, so here it is. As you will see, my name gets dragged into this nonsense somehow. Believe me, I have no interest in being involved in anything like this.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ATTORNEYS FOR COMEDIAN O’HEARN ISSUE CEASE AND DESIST ORDER AGAINST SNL’S FEHN

Los Angeles –Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but LA-based tell-it-like-it-is standup comic Jerry O’Hearn doesn’t sound flattered when he talks about a particular segment on this week’s season premier of Saturday Night Live. He’s so steamed in fact, that this laughing matter has now become a legal matter.

The offending piece featured a political comedian named Nicholas Fehn whose material was immediately all too familiar to Mr. O’Hearn. And O’Hearn has some typically pointed words for Mr. Fehn. “I mean, this is really one of those things where you’re like ‘hey wait a minute. Excuse me!’ because I don’t know about you but as far as I’m concerned, it’s like ‘really?! Who said so?”, said O’Hearn in his usual take-no-prisoners style. “One minute I’m sitting there and it’s like ‘okay’ and the next minute I’m like ‘this type of thing is like you gotta be kidding me!”.

Ouch! Fehn can’t enjoy being skewered by a skillfully executed barrage of carefully chosen words like that.

According to Bang Bang Ellington, Mr. O’Hearn’s attorney, Jerry performed around Los Angeles for two years before his insightful brand of humor exploded into the national spotlight on the Comedy Death Ray album which was released in September 2007 (due to a typographical error, his set was attributed to fellow LA-based comic Andy Daly). Fehn made his SNL debut in October of that same year and, according to Elllington, the similarities were unmistakable.

“My client has spent a long time developing his laser-sharp social commentary. He has meticulously crafted flawless set-ups and rapier-like punch lines. Then to see them coming out of the mouth of another guy on Saturday Night Live, that’s probably against some kind of law, right?” said Mr. Ellington when reached at a payphone.

This latest set-back notwithstanding, O’Hearn’s career appears to be on the rise. He makes a special appearance as a bonus track on Andy Daly’s new AST Records release Nine Sweaters, where his devastating crowd work skills get a work-out, and he's in talks to contribute to The New Yorker Magazine’s Shouts and Murmurs feature.

When asked about their chances of preventing another performance by Nicholas Fehn, Mr. Ellington said “I think my client put it best when he said ‘the last time I checked it was supposed to be the sort of thing where you go “hm. Okay”. I mean, what is this, a long time ago?’”

[Darryl]

Dammit! I thought those punchlines sounded familiar.

[I love nny]

Hello ASTers. Despite my strenuous objections, my friend the comedian Jerry O’Hearn has gotten himself embroiled in a really stupid controversy. He asked me to circulate this press release anywhere I could, so here it is. As you will see, my name gets dragged into this nonsense somehow. Believe me, I have no interest in being involved in anything like this.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ATTORNEYS FOR COMEDIAN O’HEARN ISSUE CEASE AND DESIST ORDER AGAINST SNL’S FEHN

Los Angeles –Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but LA-based tell-it-like-it-is standup comic Jerry O’Hearn doesn’t sound flattered when he talks about a particular segment on this week’s season premier of Saturday Night Live. He’s so steamed in fact, that this laughing matter has now become a legal matter.

The offending piece featured a political comedian named Nicholas Fehn whose material was immediately all too familiar to Mr. O’Hearn. And O’Hearn has some typically pointed words for Mr. Fehn. “I mean, this is really one of those things where you’re like ‘hey wait a minute. Excuse me!’ because I don’t know about you but as far as I’m concerned, it’s like ‘really?! Who said so?”, said O’Hearn in his usual take-no-prisoners style. “One minute I’m sitting there and it’s like ‘okay’ and the next minute I’m like ‘this type of thing is like you gotta be kidding me!”.

Ouch! Fehn can’t enjoy being skewered by a skillfully executed barrage of carefully chosen words like that.

According to Bang Bang Ellington, Mr. O’Hearn’s attorney, Jerry performed around Los Angeles for two years before his insightful brand of humor exploded into the national spotlight on the Comedy Death Ray album which was released in September 2007 (due to a typographical error, his set was attributed to fellow LA-based comic Andy Daly). Fehn made his SNL debut in October of that same year and, according to Elllington, the similarities were unmistakable.

“My client has spent a long time developing his laser-sharp social commentary. He has meticulously crafted flawless set-ups and rapier-like punch lines. Then to see them coming out of the mouth of another guy on Saturday Night Live, that’s probably against some kind of law, right?” said Mr. Ellington when reached at a payphone.

This latest set-back notwithstanding, O’Hearn’s career appears to be on the rise. He makes a special appearance as a bonus track on Andy Daly’s new AST Records release Nine Sweaters, where his devastating crowd work skills get a work-out, and he's in talks to contribute to The New Yorker Magazine’s Shouts and Murmurs feature.

When asked about their chances of preventing another performance by Nicholas Fehn, Mr. Ellington said “I think my client put it best when he said ‘the last time I checked it was supposed to be the sort of thing where you go “hm. Okay”. I mean, what is this, a long time ago?’”

Thank God, Maybe we won't need to hear from Fehn any further.

[KevinLee]

This is a joke, right?

[metal2000]

How could it be a joke? Mr. Fehn (real person!) better watch out, because Mr. O'Hearn (real person also!) is clearly mad as hell.

[KevinLee]

This is for real, right?

[man124]

What the hell is Cameron Diaz doing there?

[Levenbach]

Was that AST/New York/Chicago/Pakistan's own Kumail Nanjiani making a cameo in the New York Times reporter Alaska sketch?

Spoiler Alert

Yes it was.

Congratulations Kumail!

[man124]

Personally, I thought this episode was really great.

[Cankerblossom]

Good episode tonight. The only sketch that really fell flat was Agent 420. God, that was pathetic. Everything else was solid.

[man124]

the cougar club sketch killed me, I could have watched James Franco do that character for the entire show.

[JKwac]

I'm usually an SNL apologist, but I thought this episode was pretty forgettable. Although, I liked Andy Samberg's impression of Willem Dafoe.

[ROAMAN]

Of Mice & Men was good, and as usual Hader was gold every time he hit the screen. Otherwise, a throwaway.

[I love nny]

I Thought this episode was light years better then last weeks, not really shocking but there it is.