Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2014-2015 Season thread

I've watched SNL since it first premiered in the 70's. A dedicated viewer. However, I'm another one who
feels last night's show was, well, really lousy. I do like Cecily Strong and Kate Mckinnon a lot, as well as
Taran, but their talents are simply not given the writing they deserve.
But the main thing now is, as hard as the show may try, it's simply not anywhere close to ANY of the
"Key & Peele" episodes over the last several years. I actually laugh out loud during every
episode, unlike SNL. Also, the K&P sketches are so well written and produced, it's the best sketch comedy
show I've ever seen on TV. SNL now seems to have given up....maybe they realize they're not as good as K&P. And even though K&P often do get off color regularly (i.e. the "Farts For Names At A Cocktail Party"
sketch) it's never, to me, offensive. While the sketch I've mentioned is only on Hulu+,
someone was nice enough to record it off their TV screen and posted it on youtube.
If you're interested........

 

It's not that they turn off their brains. It's that they work on a show where most of the material is either based on current events or designed to showcase a host who is selected only a few weeks in advance and may be meeting the writers for the first time on Monday.

 

True, they do try to be current and topical on most of their bits. I only meant that I would have thought that there would have been a little bit of built-up inspiration for some bits.

 

"I called the park. They've been closed two hours".
That sketch was genius.

 

I dozed off early owing in part to a raucous, late Friday evening. But I gather from various reports that I didn't miss any revelations, eh?

 

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bad-boys/2815277

 

I just watched last nights show. Unbelievably bad.
The kid on the update bit was the only bright spot.

 

My lawn.

You're on it.

 

I say its never too early to mock, but I'll bet I bet a lot of people would lose their heads if SNL did an ISIS sketch. Maybe an ISIS outcast that the other ISIS guys all avoid cause he keeps making videos where he only gives the infidels haircuts instead of beheading them and doesn't understand why nobody wants to watch his videos.

I'd laugh at it if done well.

 

You may like this unaired sketch intended for last season's Andrew Garfield episode.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/web-exclusive-wing/2779012

 

I absolutely love K&P and totally agree that it's the best sketch show out there right now (and the under-appreciated Inside Amy Schumer is great as well), but I don't think it's directly comparable to SNL. K&P isn't live (and the presentation is downright cinematic) and produces less than a third of the content SNL has to. What I will say though is that K&P is really the only sketch show--or comedy program in general--that actually has a decent comedic take on Obama. SNL doesn't really have any excuse for not coming up with something as brilliant as Luther, Obama's anger translator. That's a slam dunk idea--for years all the late night shows have been lamenting that there's nothing 'funny' about Obama they can latch onto. K&P is the only show that actually made the leap to, "Well, then let's build something funny around him!"

There actually was one SNL sketch that had a K&P vibe to it, the best of the night IMO, and was undoubtedly influenced by the East/West Bowl sketches on K&P: the NFL players listing their convictions. "Treason!" probably got my biggest laugh of the night.

Pratt was a really good host. It wasn't the strongest episode, and I actually kind of liked last year's premiere more, but I feel like this was a more confident premiere if that makes any sense. Pete Davidson made a great first impression and Michael Che wasn't on top of his game but he already feels more at home at WU than Cecily Strong ever did.

 

The toys coming to life skit was funny and disturbing at the same time.

 

Possibly the worst season opening I've seen. Nothing was funny to me.

 

Yeah the animal hospital skit was bad. The show came off as a bad rehearsal that made it to air.

 

An average episode with some great moments, but overall felt rather disjointed IMHO.

Opening nerves were very much on display! Was surprised to see an experienced performer like Michael Che fumble so much, but SNL is a one-of-a-kind pressure cooker for performers. That's one of the things that makes it such great training ground. Other than that, he seemed to find his groove and did deliver some very smart material. Not sure how the chemistry between Jost and Che will play out, but I sure hope they develop some and do it quickly. It felt like two amusing guys just taking turns, like an audition almost. The ending bit with

Kyle Mooney's brilliantly weird humor continues to win me over and stand above everything. Missed seeing more of Kate McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan (though Bobby was terrific as a bit player in the very funny bar rap scene near the end).

Best bits: He Man and Lion O, the Marvel trailer spoof, Bad Boys, Booty Rap, and the NFL Intros. Worst: Animal Hospital, by far. Why was it so far up in the show? Must've killed at dress.

My 21-year old daughter is visiting and watched it with us last night, so she had to tell me who the music guest was. I'm used to being perplexed by the musical act, not an automatic fault of SNL in my book. Some of the new talent I see and go 'I'm not into it, but I can see why fans are'. Ariana Grande...meh. What really makes me feel old is the fact that up-and-coming stars are now 'influenced' by Mariah Carey. OMG. Maybe I should just stop watching TV!

I was hoping for a real Don Pardo tribute rather than just a photo before a break. It was a great photo, but he deserved more IMHO. Hammond did a nice job and I think we might get used to him in that role, but man oh man was it strange and sad to not hear Pardo's irreplaceable pipes and delivery during the intro.

dan c

 

The show has kept up very well with comedic trends over the years, IMHO. Of course there were off years that simply were never funny in any era, but I think Lorne Michaels has been surprisingly consistent with keeping up with trends.

There is most certainly a shift in humor going on here over the past couple seasons. The cynical sophisticated style of the Tina Fey and Will Ferrell era is mature, and now we're seeing a shift to more conceptual smart-but-silly style? I'm generalizing of course. Can't quite put my finger on it, but something is changing.

dan c

 

The musical act was highly original with both groundbreaking music and choreography.
It was the worst SNL I have ever seen hands down. Arianna Grande sucks.

 

I thought it was a decent enough episode, I got a fair amount of laughs. It didn't start very strong. A bit too much Aidy Bryant for me. It was like Kristen Wiig, where she would be in nearly every sketch. Only Aidy's no Kristen. She did do well in the sketch where her and Chris Pratt were flirting with each other using what they saw in music videos. And why is this writer Leslie Jones taking up time in the show? It's one thing to have her in WU, but they stick her in the NFL sketch too. Sasheer couldn't have done that part? It's not like she was too busy with her one sideline appearance the whole night.

Cold Open - Keenan did well as Ray Rice. He had Ray's cadence and manner of speech down. But Jay's impression of Shannon Sharpe was too buffoonish, I thought.

Cialis Turnt - a little funny, but nothing special. I'd never heard that word before and still don't really get it. When the sketch first started and Cecily was telling Tarran that his Cialis boner wasn't enough, and that he needed to get "turnt", I was thinking the pill was going to literally cause his junk to turn, as in bend. Or something like that.

He-Man Figure - this one could have been much better. Chris seemed nervous, and it even seemed to throw off Tarran. The idea was fine, but they could have done more with it.

Killer Animal Hospital - I thought this one was great, probably my favorite of the night.I know someone earlier in the thread was very upset by it. I have animals and I've had to put some down in the past. It's traumatic, but that was a funny sketch. I liked Cecily's exchange with Vanessa when Vanessa asked if she could say goodbye. And kudos to the wardrobe hair people for Vanessa's weirdo hairstyle in the sketch. I like when they give characters aggressively out of date hairstyles but don't make direct mention of it.

Marvel Trailer Spoof - pretty funny. I liked Bobby Moynihan's long hair when he took of his Boba Fett helmet.

WU - Colin seemed better, but maybe that's just cause he was sitting next to Michael Che, who had a rough first day at the office. He's a little hard to understand. Not to the point I needed subtitles, but I wish he would enunciate better. I did like seeing the return of Cecily's "Girl at Party You Wish You Hadn't Gotten Into A Conversation With", but wish they would rely less on her simply using incorrect words. The character is funny enough with her aggressive reactions to innocuous questions and pretense of caring so much about the world.

Monday Night Football - Okay, not great. I did like when the Phil Simms quickly hushed the other announcer when he asked about the punishments for the infractions.

Bar sketch - pretty good. I liked Aidy in this one. Might have been funnier to see the other characters interact and all have different styles of flirting from different kinds of music videos.

Weird 90's Sit-Com Spoof - this one was really odd, and I liked it. Seemed a lot like one of Kyle Mooney's short videos, so I'm assuming he wrote or helped write it.

Video Game Testers - I really liked this one too. Vanessa and Chris were funny.

Ariana Grande - Eh. Cute girl. Not much of a voice. She sounded like she was trying to do too much. I'm sure she could be pleasant enough with a good song, but she shouldn't try and impersonate Mariah Carey the way she did at the beginning of the first number. And what the hell was with the hair on that guy that joined her?

 

The guy is from Toronto I just read.
On behalf of our city, I'd like to apologize...

 

I'd love to say she's beautiful, but she's what....15?

That would be creepy!

 

She is 21.

 

21 is the new 15.

 

Yeah I thought it was weird but somethjng about it definitely made me laugh at the absurdity of it.

 

N

Not a bad idea....I would be in for that and NBC woukd have an awfully cheap show!

 

I knew who Arianna Grande was, although I had barely heard her music before. I had no idea who the host was.