Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2020-2021 46th Season Thread

Everyone was predicting it would skyrocket after his appearance. Frankly, with Elon's stake in Bitcoin, his influence over crypto startups and the amount of money he has in traditional currencies, he doesn't need to tweet or appear on TV to game the crypto market.

 

No problem. Miley Cyrus is not suffering for want of an adoring audience. I'm just glad that she's kept herself from being chewed up and spit out by the misfortunes of Fame and Youth. She was pushing the boundaries for a while, and I'm glad that she didn't capsize. Given how fast I've seen her think on her feet, it would be really tragic if she lost that quickness and got sloppy and dullwitted and trainwrecky.

Her voice is what it is- extroverted, in line with her personality. And raspy. I enjoy a bit of vocal fry in singers, including female singers- Stevie Nicks, Macy Gray. As long as Miley doesn't overdo it, she has a good sounding voice.

 

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She can definitely sing and I'm with you in that I dig some "rasp."

Something about her execution strikes me as a little insincere, however. I don't know what it is and it's probably just me. She does "over-sing" a bit, IMO, but there is something else that keeps me from fully embracing her voice.

 

The kids! They've been miseducated. The message of media conditioning is that everything in art and performance has to be bold, edgy, ultradrama, upfront and commercial-friendly. Especially in music. Especially for pop music vocalists (the center stage of pop music is singing, and it always has been.) Subtlety, depth, and other content-related attributes get very little notice in popular culture, much less praise.

Consider the TV program The Voice. You never hear any candidate on The Voice singing so much as an especially deep cut from the catalog of a famous singer, much less an obscurity, or a song by anyone who lacks name recognition with most of the audience. Old or new, it's always a super smash hit. That's to say nothing of the fact that non-standard voices have little to no chance on The Voice. I watch the show sometimes, and often enjoy it. But I don't find it at all compelling, because it's a predictable showcase, with an unwritten but nonetheless obvious set of rules for judging vocal talent. Take for example the "vocal fry" quality of Miley, Macy Gray, or Rod Stewart: I've never even seen/heard someone with a voice like that even featured on The Voice in a first audition. Much less someone with a voice like Corey Harris, or Nick Drake, or Chet Baker, or Frank Sinatra, or Fred Neil, or Swamp Dogg, or Little Jimmy Scott, or Bill Withers. As for the female singers with singing styles that harken to the "traditional pop values" of the pre-R&B era, they never make the cut, either. So no one with a voice like Sara Vaughan, Tierney Sutton, Dionne Warwick, Rosemary Clooney...

So Miley is an outlier as it is, as far as singing voice. But she does have an outgoing personality and a stage act that is very friendly to post-MTV Pop Values. The industry emphasis on the obvious grand gesture, along with the valorization of Transgression. Miley just happens to be comfortable in that wheelhouse.

Beyond that, Miley Cyrus is still very young. Young people are typically Exaggerated. Just on account of their youth.

 

Haven't watched it in a while - used to watch it all the time. I've been off and on playing the crypto market, so I pretty much had to watch for a little while, to see what Elon had to say. That opening sketch was pretty much the lamest I have ever seen., and I kept just wishing it would end, but it just went on and on and on. Also, the Weekend update segment has become so detached from reality I don't find it funny.

 

What a turkey that episode was. They’ve actually had a few good ones this season but this week’s was painful. I like Miley Cyrus more than I like her music- not sure if she merits being on so often. And they really need to have some more turnover on the show- l always thought it was a stepping stone, not a career.

 

I think there a couple guys from the Flaming Lips orbit.

Not defending it, but the complaint may be due to isolated writing instead of bouncing/building up ideas in a room together. Colin Jost has done Seth Meyers interviews where he implies the cast barely see each other off set for this season.

I thought a couple other episodes this year were worse. Some past seasons easily had far worse episode.

Surprised more here aren't aware that NBC is paid good money for certain people to host. Not sure if Musk wanted attention for cars/coins whatever or if it was all a self ego stroke. Movie companies pay NBC money to promote movies via hosting. Not every week, and may also explain some of the "who?" music acts. Ex SNL head writer/ex-update host Tina Fey hinted at lots of corporate "synergy" in the 30 Rock show she wrote. It only pays the host something low like $15k which can be chewed up in a NYC week for entourage/dining/extra clothes/after party.

It's the over singing. Just wish she'd ration out the big notes. I think she's a bona fide arena artist, but her singing style on a live mic is not a great idea for big tours.

 

I enjoyed the episode. I like Miley Cyrus, she's got more talent than people seem to give her credit for.

Elon Musk looked like he enjoyed his stint on SNL. No real surprise about his announcement of Asberger's Syndrome. He kind of comes across as a Sheldon Cooper.

Favorite part has to be his explanation of crypto-currency. "So what is dogecoin?"

 

That seems like the sort of claim that requires stronger evidence than "Tina Fey hinted at lots of corporate 'synergy'" on a different show.

 

Why would NBC spending 90 minutes indirectly promoting a Fox movie? Etc.

Timberlake told Vulture in 2009 that he made $5,000 to host in 2009. Clearly there are other contractual mechanics involved. There's also usually a key host related tv ad placement in the first 15 minutes, or after the monologue.

This was also told to crew in Vancouver from a past host when hanging out on set. I've also heard this from a Vancouver based backing music who did the show while talking to them at a record store. I'm more surprised this any sort of secret.
They aren't filling 20 hosts a year on $5k and memories when watching as a kid.

I think some of the skits are straight up purchased as well. There was a Peloton exercise skit this year and that car ad when the Dad borrowed his neighbors money for a flashy car after losing his job. Some companies chase that "youth marketing" hard and don't mind the sarcastic SNL writing.

 

Which part of this is supposed to be evidence that NBC is paid good money for certain people to host?

 

I really enjoyed last night's (May 15) episode! One of the best of the season easily for me. The Michael Jordan skit, The Muppets parody, Gene's Birthday - lots of laughs from me.

 

You think the host helped write some Of that stuff ?

 

I’m not sure what their policy is with the host doing writing chores but - if it’s allowed - it wouldn’t surprise me.

 

Watching on Hulu now, and somebody improved the show. For the last few weeks I've fast forwarded through most of the show. Not today. So far.

 

Heidi Gardner killed it in the Michael Jordan skit.

 

Probably worth noting - both the Hulu stream (as of this morning) and YouTube are missing the Broadway sketch, possibly due to a music licensing issue (I'm guessing). I only figured it out after reading The A.V. Club's review of last night's show.

 

Weird, one episode hosted by a billionaire without show business talent or experience was largely bad.

The next hosted by a veteran comedy/sketch performer/actor was much better.

I wonder what the difference was???

 

Not sure if that theory holds water - the Maya Rudolph-hosted episode was pretty bad too.

 

but we know last nights host can write great material

 

Solid episode last night, laughed out loud a couple of times, especially during the Muppet show skit and weekend update.
Heck, I even liked the musical guest. Whose name I already forgot and never heard before.

 

Mostly agree.

The musical guest lost me on the first song with the “I got my drivers license” lyric. I just don’t care for teen heartthrob stuff.

Was last night the season finale?

 

no one week left

 

OK, so the satan’s shoes guy is up next. I’m so tired of flavor of the minute musical guests. I wish they’d book Keb Mo or Jason Isbell.