Board 8 > Who here still regularly watches Saturday Night Live?

(+) Yeah! (+)

And what are your thoughts on the current show?

I've been really enjoying it lately. I think Mikey Day was a great addition to the cast; I definitely see him sticking around for a while. The other two new additions are fine but pretty underutilized so far.

It seems like they're really struggling to try to make sketches for Leslie Jones that aren't just her in the exact same role each time. Meanwhile Kate McKinnon is just always excellent.

Some of my favorite recent sketches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-XuT5qKt00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDydKwmrHFo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SmUVySf85s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZM3jvlvgVw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSvNhxKJJyU
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I can't handle the current Weekend Update. It has fallen so far from the Seth era, which itself was good but not great.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

I can't handle the current Weekend Update. It has fallen so far from the Seth era, which itself was good but not great.

Yeah, Weekend Update isn't great. I really just watch for the sketches anymore and zone out for a lot of the Weekend Updates and musical performances (unless it's someone I'm particularly into)
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I love colin and che. Colin knows when a joke will suck and plays it up and i love it. Dont really like any of the features. Seriously dont need to see the bar mitzvah boy ever again.
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I think alex moffat is fine. Melissa seems like all she can do is impressions which sucks for her but shes reeeeeally good at them
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Colin is, for me, the least funny person in America. He's got a punchable face.
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GTM posted...

I think alex moffat is fine. Melissa seems like all she can do is impressions which sucks for her but shes reeeeeally good at them

Yeah I like Melissa but I'm not sure how long she'll be around there. Anytime they use her for anything other than impressions it's super brief. Like you said, the impressions are excellent though, which makes her really valuable for sketches like "Celebrity Family Feud" but not a ton else.
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And yeah Alex Moffat's just sort of there. I like his Eric Trump though.

Mikey Day surpassed him and Melissa almost instantly; he seems like he's been part of the cast a long time with how he fits right in
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Yea Leslie Jones has always had the problem of being stuck in one similar role throughout all sketches unfortunately, and I think she does have talent so it sucks


Haven't really been watching it lately tbh
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I don't always get to see it live so I end up watching all the sketches on YouTube the next day (which is actually kind of nice because SNL goes way overboard on the commercial breaks).
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also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS00xWnqwvI

so good
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Very interested to hear people's thoughts on Melissa Villasenor. I've known about her for a while through comedy/podcasts and thought she could be really funny, but when I heard she was added to the cast of SNL I wasn't sure it would be a good fit. I mean yeah she can do impressions, but her actual style of comedy never felt like something that would fit well into a "team".
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It seems like every sketch to feature her significantly has to be basically made for her and her impressions. The Zoo-opolis sketch is probably the best example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCPSoKpLXZQ

The impressions are great but the forced setup makes for a pretty lame sketch.

Meanwhile other sketches she's featured in; she's just kind of there, usually briefly, like they're unsure what to do with her, possibly because her voice/persona sticks out so much on it's own that when she's not doing impressions, she doesn't really mesh well with the scene

https://youtu.be/jVpw0LknV20?t=159

The corporate retreat sketch actually worked well with her since the "funny voice" the others were doing was all but her regular voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M63Z8bkRtcg
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It's been years

I can only stand a few people on the show currently, Kenan being the best cast member
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We have the series to record and watch it almost regularly now. The Louis CK clown thing absolutely destroyed me, I was losing it.

The weekend update with the Jesus painter woman talking about the super creepy botched statue was also hilarious.
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Not counting the Weekend Update people:

1. Kate (honestly in her own category; nobody else comes close)
2. Beck
3. Kenan
4. Cecily
5. Mikey (really shockingly strong right off the bat)
6. Pete
7. Vanessa (used to be one of the top, but she's been dropping lately)
8. Bobby (Bobby >>> Piece of Toast)
9. Sasheer (she's good but underutilized)
10. Aidy (coincidentally, I loved her in Horace and Pete)
11. Kyle
12. Leslie
13. Melissa
14. Alex

Leslie, Melissa and Alex are the only ones I'd call weak right now. Leslie and Melissa are good but need typecast to do anything, while Alex is fine but overall forgettable.
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I've watched every week for the last couple years, it's been very good.
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I haven't really watched it since the Forte/Hader/Samberg/Sudekis/Wiig era ended. God did I love that batch.
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KCF0107 posted...

I haven't really watched it since the Forte/Hader/Samberg/Sudekis/Wiig era ended. God did I love that batch.

Yeah, they were definitely strong (although my taste for Kristen Wiig's humor varies pretty heavily)
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Looking at your ranking list though, I see that Nasim Pedrad and Taran Killam must no longer be part of the cast. Keenan Thompson must be approaching longest-tenured cast member ever right? Isn't the current record holder Darrell Hammond?
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KCF0107 posted...

Taran Killam must no longer be part of the cast

Yeah, Taran was actually fired last year.

Darrell and Kenan are actually tied right now for 14 seasons each (with the current season being Kenan's 14th) so assuming he sticks around next year he'll hold the lead.
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I liked the melissa and aziz in bed sketch
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I watch pretty routinely.

Che has grown into a good WU anchor. He's got a good way of letting the joke play out, or knowing when to make an aside. Jost isn't as good but he leans into his smarmy white guy vibe in a way that really sells jokes that other white guys wouldn't be able to sell as effectively.

Featured Players:

Mikey Day > Melissa Villasenor > Alex Moffat

Villasenor is great but the writers have no idea what to do with her, which is a real shame. Moffat is just fine, and will probably get picked up for at least another season because of the Trump sons.

Repertory Players:

Kate McKinnon >> Beck Bennett > Bobby Moynihan > Aidy Bryant > Cecily Strong > Vanessa Bayer > Kyle Mooney > Kenan Thompson > Sasheer Zamata > Leslie Jones > Pete Davidson

Jones is pretty much only good as an Update guest or in prerecorded skits. Davidson is rarely even that useful. Sasheer Zamata probably could be great but it has never felt like she has a real champion in the writers' room the way some others definitely do. Kenan is rock steady, but he rarely gets anything new and exciting these days. Kyle Mooney is the biggest risk/reward player on the show. When he's great, he's one of the top 3 or so, but when he's bad, he's one of the worst. Bayer/Strong/Bryant are close to the same level of consistent and funny, but Strong and Bryant are a little more versatile. Bobby Moynihan is, I think, the only one who is ever really capable of being funnier than Kate McKinnon, though it feels like he's having a down season. Beck Bennett has been consistently the funniest male cast member in... a while, let's say. McKinnon is untouchable.
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KCF0107 posted...

Looking at your ranking list though, I see that Nasim Pedrad and Taran Killam must no longer be part of the cast. Keenan Thompson must be approaching longest-tenured cast member ever right? Isn't the current record holder Darrell Hammond?

Nasim Pedrad left SNL 3 years ago >_>

And has been a regular on three other network shows since <_<
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Shows how little I have watched SNL since college!
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CherryCokes posted...

Nasim Pedrad left SNL 3 years ago >_>

And has been a regular on three other network shows since <_<

That won't stop me from hearing Scott Aukerman's Don Pardo impression of her name in the intro every time SNL is mentioned.

They'll both live on forever.
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I loved Nasim Pedrad and thought she was severely underrated
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I do. This season's been pretty good.

BTW that clown sketch was ripped off from another comedian's short film: https://vimeo.com/212505740
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Oh wow

I'd like to think that was just a coincidence; it's hard to imagine Louis C.K. intentionally ripping off jokes from another comedian, especially after all that Dane Cook shit years back
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It could have been an SNL writer, not Louis CK - maybe he never saw Tig's film - but I have a hard time believing the same idea was used, and executed so similarly, without knowledge of the original.
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DUDE
TRUMP AND CONSERVATIVES
LMAO


SNL has been a joke since 2004
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Actually Melissa McCarthy's Sean Spicer has been hilarious
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KCF0107 posted...

Keenan Thompson must be approaching longest-tenured cast member ever right? Isn't the current record holder Darrell Hammond?

Yeah, Hammond and Thompson both have been on SNL for 14 seasons now. Kenan passed Hammond for most impersonations (122 to Hammond's 107 as of recently). On top of that, Kenan also became the first SNL cast member to be born after SNL's first episode in 1975.

Hammond still has the record for most episodes appeared on SNL, with 280 (272 as a cast member and 8 cameos), though I'm certain Kenan will probably pass that in a few years also.
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rammtay posted...

DUDE
TRUMP AND CONSERVATIVES
LMAO


SNL has been a joke since 2004

Reminds me of that skit where they read the dog's mind and he's a conservative and the reasonable one

They definitely are liberal for sure, but I love it when they poke fun at liberals too
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GTM posted...

They definitely are liberal for sure, but I love it when they poke fun at liberals too

They do it fairly often. They had a Weekend Update joke about how Tinder added a feature that allows users to choose from 37 different genders, or as they call it, "why Trump won the election". Twitter SJWs were up in arms over that one, it was pretty funny. Also the sketch with Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock where they're watching the election results with their white friends, who are coming up with insane logic as to how Hillary can still win, and who can't believe America's "so racist" and Chappelle and Rock are like "yeah, can't believe it....>_>".
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