On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 3:31 PM, Mark J. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I've only seen two sketches on Hulu/nbc.com--I got a kick out of
> Kirsten Wiig's gonzo Lennon Sister bit, although they got some things
> wrong in parodying the Lawrence Welk reruns (beginning with the fact
> that they are not a PBS show, they're an American Public Television
> show--and PBS only runs a continuous translucent logo bug on special
> events coverage). And even if the sketch went on a little too long,
> Anne Hathaway did a great Julie Andrews-as-Mary-Poppins (some less
> prejudiced people on Sepinwall's blog said that she could join Goodman/
> Baldwin/Hanks as an annual guest host).
SNL has an interesting problem right now. Palin gives them a purchase
back on Tina Fey, who simply kicks ass. I have Chris Rock's HBO
special still unwatched on my TiVo, so i will reserve judgment on this
until after I get a chance to see it, but Fey may be the most fearless
person working in comedy right now - and to do it on a primetime
sitcom and what has become a relatively tame SNL is an astounding
accomplishment. I would be shocked if she was not the main writer
behind that opening debate skit, as well as the star performer. It is
not just her uncanny physical similarity, or capture of vocal
mannerisms. Fey is a really good observer of both people and politics,
and has a good hitting percentage in nailing the funny essence of a
person/situation. Kevin mentioned during the debate that Fey would not
be worth her comedy reputation if she did not milk the "say it aint so
Joe" line - and she did, but not directly, and the way she did it was
(IMO) really genius. It was funny, and got to the heart of the
situation with an economy of expression that was truly elegant ("can I
call you Joe? Cuz I have a couple of zingers using your name Joe").
The problem is that, just as Fey/Palin is driving so many eyeballs to
SNL, they have an unusual dearth of non-Fey talent. Pohler (who has
never been quite as funny as SNL thinks she is) will be less and less
available. I do not have the loathing for Kristen Wiig that Dave is
able to work up, but she is clearly not up to shouldering the heavy
load they keep placing on her to carry so much of the show. Without
Pohler they don't really have a go to female player. I actually like
most of the guys right now (Forte and Hader, Samburg and Sudekis) but
they are not really different enough from each other to give the show
much variety. It seemed last year that they were going to make Samburg
a real break-out type star, but for some reason he seems to have taken
a step back into the pack recently.
I thought the last show was going to be just awful, and (Palin-like I
suppose) I was surprised when it only was the typical uneven mix of
very good, very bad, and average. Like Mark I liked that Mary Poppins
skit, perhaps because I have decided that Ms. Hathaway is simply
enchanting (I made that decision while watching the Get Smart movie,
and did not find any reason to change my mind). I thought they were
real (and surprisingly) smart with how they handled her monologue:
They knew they had one joke - it was OK but not great - they told it,
did one or two riffs on it, and got her off the stage. More often SNL
would have milked that cow to death, with the tired Q&A from the
audience, an ironic crawl down the screen, or multiple walk-ons from
the cast. Admirable restraint.
On another point - Dave has repeated his prediction recently that
Palin will do an SNL walk-on. I am still skeptical - because I still
think the Republicans get much more mileage out of portraying
themselves to the base as being unfairly picked on by the Jews in New
York than they would by making nice with them. Very few SNL viewers
will be persuaded to vote for McCain by a self-depreciating shtick,
but a lot of hard core conservatives will be persuaded to give a few
more dollars, or resist other arguments to either stay home or vote
for Obama, if they see one of "their own" being badly treated by the
liberal elites. I think his second prediction is more likely - that
she will do a top 10 list on Letterman; though Dave is pissed and
prickly enough that he may insist that she do at least one panel and
not just get off with an image making over top ten.
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