Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2011-2012 Season thread

Yeah, I'm assuming that Hader only sees some of it before going on air.

 

This was discussed earlier in the thread. Someone said that Hader doesn't see any of Stefon's lines before going on air. I find it hilarious when he breaks character and laughs at the cue cards. Some SNL fans seen to regard this as a mortal sin; for me, it's part and parcel of doing a live TV comedy show.

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen Vanessa break character. There was one sketch this season where Kristen did something so out there that Vanessa broke, iirc.

 

http://crushable.com/entertainment/video-vanessa-bayer-looking-for-love-before-snl/

Pretty Funny...

 

+1 on all your points.

I really enjoyed Stefon at the beginning but now it's clear he hasn't read what is on the prompter and it breaks him up. It's predictable and not fun anymore. And maybe someone is writing Gilly skits to get back at her for creating it (I'm half kidding but I'm surprised she doesn't like the character if it keeps showing up) I remember Alec Baldwin doing a Christmas type of show where he just introduced her off camera and then she showed. His tone of speech showed disgust for the one note character.

 

I'm sure she has at some point - it would be difficult not to.

However, one of the funniest skits I saw this year was Kristen and Maya Rudolph as game show model presenters with a strange possibly Eastern European accent that was clearly cracking them both up. Bill Hader was losing it, Maya and Kristen were losing it whiel they performed and Vanessa, as the despondent loser kept straight faced the whole time. I don't know how she did it.

 

That's the skit I was thinking of.

 

I watched it a couple of times. We must have seen it differently.

 

Vanessa probably has broken at some point. It would be almost impossible to never have done so. But I haven't noticed it, and its certainly not a habit. I remember the skit you guys are talking about above, but that is one where she definitely did NOT break. She always seems to completely commit to the characters she does and I'm looking forward to seeing her get the opportunity to completely carry some sketches next year.

That's cute. I think she's just being as banal as possible, spoofing the average semi-desperate girls dating profile.

 

The object of the show is to make people laugh, yet we judge the performers on it by their ability to refrain from laughing. I understand that it wouldn't be funny if every cast member cracked during every skit, but if one cast member is so funny that they crack themselves up or crack another cast member up, so what? That means that someone isn't "committed to their character"? This isn't experimental theatre or a Daniel Day-Lewis movie.

 

My interpretation as well. On that level, found it to be pretty clever.

On Stefon... it allows Hader to "improvise" with scripted content. I think that's the dynamic that keeps the character fresh. It wouldn't work in a sketch context.

 

Hader may be losing it during the Stefon bits, but even though I assumed that's what was going on, I also interpreted it as Stefon's own giggling over the crazy scenes he describes. Those break-ups fit in with the character well enough that I don't find them distracting.

 

The thing is, in the early years of SNL breaking up on camera was very much frowned upon. They wanted to be the anti-Carol Burnett show. Somewhere there's a quote from, I think, Belushi, where he says the original cast found that show to be very unprofessional because they kept laughing at each other and that comedy was a serious business etc. Obviously Lorne lightened up over the years and it's become a semi-regular feature. Jimmy Fallon somehow managed to turn it into a career. So if you've watched from the beginning like me, seeing Fallon and Sanz regularly crack up was a sad sign that times had changed.

 

Hader loses it in the Stefon bits because between the rehearsal and live shows, the person he writes them with adds and changes stuff, and he doesn't see the changes till they're live on air. He mentioned that in an interview I read or saw somewhere...

 

Stefon absolutely kills.

 

I've got the first season on DVD. It's been a while since I've watched it, but I watched it all when I got it, and I'm pretty sure that cast members were laughing and breaking character from the get-go.

 

Name one Kristen character/sketch that pervaded pop culture as much as "Lazy Sunday," "Dick in a Box" or even "I'm on a Boat." Kristen was unquestionably the 'star' the show focused on, but digital shorts were just about the only thing in the past ~10 years aside from Tina Fey's Palin impression that really resonated beyond the regular SNL audience.

And let me just clarify, my feelings for Wiig being overrated aside, she deserved a big send-off. I wish it'd been a little less sappy, but given the "graduation" theme that kicked it off, incorporating Andy and Jason would've been easy, even if the spotlight would still go to Kristen. Lorne saying, "oh they're just fatigued because it's the end of the season, they may stick around" seems like a cop-out line to save face IMO.

There were too early ones I can think of; in the second or third episode, Chevy Chase does a fake ad for a droolers' support group or something and he cracks up, and then Candice Bergen ironically screwed up a line in a sketch with Gilda--Gilda did an ad-lib, and Candice was out of it.

I think it's fun to have the occasional reminder that this is indeed a live show, but when you design for it to happen (like not showing Bill Hader the finalized Stefon lines), it's a cheap and inauthentic gimmick. But the audience seems to love it, so...

Part of it also is that people enjoy when the 'established' players like Bill and Kristen do it, but if it were, say, Abby or a featured player, it seems unprofessional. I guess you sort of have to earn it, which is what made the first Debbie Downer so fun (it wasn't typical for Rachel Dratch to break character). These days more than ever the show thrives on the familiar, which some (myself included) feel is a crutch and others appreciate.

 

After 37 years of bits like Weekend Update, how could certain aspects of the show not have become familiar?

I tend to agree with the point of view that, from the earliest days of the show, there have been recurring characters and catchphrases and all of the things that people decry about the show today. I grew up watching Belushi's samurai character, the Coneheads, repeating Weekend Update characters such as Father Guido Sarducci, Rosanna Rosanna Danna, Emily Litella, etc. Then Eddie Murphy came along and made Buckwheat and Gumby into recurring characters, and so on and so forth. At some point in the late 80s/early 90s, I stopped watching the show regularly, and I missed huge chunks of the Phil Hartman/Will Ferrel years, but I recently started watching again, and I personally find the past two seasons to have been as good as the show has been since the 70s, at least based on the eras I have really paid attention to.

I'm not sure what people want from this show - they've been complaining that's it not as good as it used to be since Chevy Chase left - but it hasn't stuck around for nearly four decades and become an institution for no reason. Of course, anything that does become an institution is set up for attacks simply because it is an institution, but I'm glad the show is still around and I still enjoy it.

 

All good points. The repetition of characters and certain sketches through the years has been welcomed by me anyway. Sometimes a character or skit hasn't been explored enough or used enough to justify using them only once. Imagine what SNl would have been like if Rossane Rosanna Danna or Emily Littela or the Killer Bee didn't keep coming back. Television is based on the reassuring return of characters we know.

I also bailed in the mid 80's until just recently. I missed too much Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz and I've really enjoyed the last two years of shows. The writing is pretty good and the performers have been great. Jason Sudakis is the one I will miss the most. His timing and use of his voice was perfect. Can you imagine anyone else having a funnier delivery when he does the sports announcer introducing KY Jelly or Stay Free Maxi Pads? I can't.

 

Anyone else notice how this thread (about to close very soon, as it reaches 1,000 posts), lasted as long as the season itself ?

 

I just watched the Jagger episode.

I thought the skits were lackluster, as most of the season was. But Mick was fantastic. Loved all the music and it was great to see Jeff Beck. He still plays like the master he is!

Sad to see Kristin leave. Can't wait for Adam to leave. He brings nothing.

Hope the others rise to the occasion.

I've watched the majority of SNL episodes since the beginning. This season was not a good one.

 

Adam who?

 

Adam Sandler. You have to admit he brings nothing to the show these days.

 

Sorry, I meant Andy.