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You wouldn't expect SNL (or any other show) to be able to come up with fresh O.J. material in 2008, but this compact piece may be the best of the new season so far. I don't know if this is the best-ever SNL cast but it might be the one with the least deadweight.
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Comments (11)
I thought both The Looker and Judy Grimes sketches were excellent, and the Deep House Dish sketch with Bear Supply had me falling off my couch. It's just too bad they wasted the first week on Phelps. God, he was bad.
Posted by Andy Grabia | October 4, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted on October 4, 2008 10:00
Really? Best of the season?
Is this maybe the comedy equivalent of the Scully effect (after Agent Scully on X-Files): the principle that a homely female co-worker will become more desirable over time provided there are no other women on staff to compare her to?
I haven't watched a whole episode of SNL in at least a decade, but I bet that now, like then, there just isn't very much funny to go around. So everybody watches extra hard in case they have some kind of malfunction and accidentally flash some actual comedy. Did you see that!
Posted by Geoff | October 4, 2008 6:03 PM
Posted on October 4, 2008 18:03
If that had been a few years ago, it would have been 20 minutes long, had every single juror, and resulted in Jimmy Falon laughing at the camera. The cast is much better.
Posted by AtlanticTy | October 4, 2008 8:21 PM
Posted on October 4, 2008 20:21
I don't know if SNL has really EVER been all that funny. Not in a fall down, belly laugh kind of way. Mildly amusing at times, maybe.
But it has been, interestingly, a meme factory, and seems to retain that potential even in the Age of Tubes.
Posted by nitus | October 4, 2008 8:57 PM
Posted on October 4, 2008 20:57
Cosh,
Solid cast, agreed (although I might say that I laughed harder at the Palin-Couric sketch). The dudes are good this year, and it has the best female comics (Wiig and Poehler, especially) in a long time, perhaps ever. Although I think adding James Franco to the cast was just another transparent sop to the influential Spiderman demographic, a tactic that has proved so disastrous in the past (Remember the Dunst years? They were unbearable).
Posted by Olaf | October 4, 2008 9:03 PM
Posted on October 4, 2008 21:03
As the VP debate sketch from last night proved, the show's definitely better. And I'm in love with Wiig. I think she's the best on the show, as well as the most versatile.
Weekend Update is still a garbage dump, however.
Posted by Mike w | October 5, 2008 2:05 PM
Posted on October 5, 2008 14:05
Wiig is unbelievable. I am wondering if she could end up as the dominant member of this cast.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 5, 2008 2:17 PM
Posted on October 5, 2008 14:17
Wiig has been the best member of the show for two years, at least.
Although I think adding James Franco to the cast was just another transparent sop to the influential Spiderman demographic, a tactic that has proved so disastrous in the past (Remember the Dunst years? They were unbearable).
Franco is not a member of the cast. He was a host, and I'm assuming on the show because of his role in The Pineapple Express. His comedic pedigree is also pretty strong. He's a member of the Apatow gang, and has been pretty damn funny in Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express. I'd also recommend his version of The Hills with Mila Kunis. He was not a bad choice for host, by any stretch.
Posted by Andy Grabia | October 5, 2008 4:00 PM
Posted on October 5, 2008 16:00
It was just a joke, Grabia (hence the "Dunst years" remark). Perhaps not my best work, but not worthy of a lecture, surely. Also, I should note, Glencross. Curtis Glencross in OT.
Posted by Olaf | October 5, 2008 5:06 PM
Posted on October 5, 2008 17:06
By the way Cosh, loved the yogurt column.
Posted by Olaf | October 5, 2008 5:08 PM
Posted on October 5, 2008 17:08
Over the last 2 seasons, SNL has been consistently funny. Losing deadweight like Fallon and Horatio Sanz really helps.
I second the comments on Kristen Wiig - she's consistently hilarious.
The only other SNL female I'd rank close to Wiig would be Molly Shannon, but Shannon was too dependent on recurring characters.
Posted by phil | October 6, 2008 10:51 AM
Posted on October 6, 2008 10:51