There's the rub. I don't think anyone would call Galifinakis or Brand especially edgy. They're the Miracle Whip of edgy comedy; giving the impression that they're transgressive while leaving an odd taste in the mouth. Carvey and Carrey are so long past their sell-by dates that they might as well have booked Shecky Greene -- who probably could have been actually funny.
I'll agree with Donz that the Palin/Fey thing had some cultural juice, but I think that was due more to the freak value of their similar looks. Absent that, I can't see that there would have been more "relevance" than, say, Armisen as Obama or whoever played McCain (how soon they forget ...). Basically, until Lorne is pried from his chair, the show is dead in the water, and even then, probably has too much momentum to veer significantly from its current course. But somehow I keep watching. --Dave Sikula On Oct 2, 11:07 pm, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 10:42 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > > True enough, but I think they did experiment a bit more in the '80s > > and even part of the '90s. > > > As for Maron as a host, aside from Steve Martin or a returning SNL > > alum (who is plugging a movie), does Lorne have many comics as host > > anymore? > > Yes...er...no. Yes, he has had stand-up comics on fairly often (2 to 4 times > per season) in recent years, but no, not really, as almost always they are > comics who have either recently starred in a hit film or TV show, or have a > past association with SNL. Last season Galifanakis, Brand, Carvey and Carrey > all hosted - I suppose the first two may have carried with them some counter > culture aroma (though when one was the star of one of the highest grossing > comedy films of all times, and the other is married to one of the biggest > current pop singers, I think we have to put them both more in the pop than > counter culture column). Of course McCarthy herself is a comic. If she were > booked as a host because of a hot act at the comedy clubs or some web show, > instead of being in a cross over summer chick flick and network sitcom, I > guess she would qualify as somewhat counter-cultural. > > I guess the point is that Maron is an unlikely booking for SNL as a guest > host - precisely because it has never (or at least, not for a very long > time) been the kind of place that featured performers like him. Lets face > it, even Steve Martin and George Carlin were pretty damn successful when > they first appeared on SNL. The difference was that in the mid to late > 1970s, network television was not the kind of place where certain kinds of > very popular entertainers could find a home - but those days are long, long > gone. It would be hard to imagine any kind of very popular entertainer who > could not find significant face time on some mainstream television program. > The kind of performers who do not get on television now are not edgy or > subversive, just not popular enough. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
