SNL Watch

[951]

I'm on the west coast so it will be another 3 hours until I see it but can someone keep an eye on SNL and see how much Kerry bashing they will do tonight?

[59millionmorons]

1. Don't wait up

It was lame. They made shit up tat didnt even happen in the debate.

[Scooter24]

Oh you have to admit

The swift boat vets/adobe photoshop spoof was funny

[Dickie Flatt]

6. not really [n/t]

[mountainvue]

69. I noticed the

audience wasn't laughing.

[951]

70. same

[Philostopher]

3. Pretty pathetic.

And Affleck's monologue wasn't funny, either. We turned it over to VH-1 Classic after that. The Hair Metal Memories show on there is funnier than SNL was shaping up to be.

[graywarrior]

4. Already turned it off after 10 minutes. It sucked.

[lakemonster11]

73. Yeah

Luckily none of it was memorable enough to stick with people.

[deadparrot]

2. Too kind to *.

Kerry has points that can be exaggerated/mocked, but they dumbed him down COMPLETELY to *'s level.

[Dickie Flatt]

5. delete

delete

[951]

8. Re: Swift Vets "Satire" SLAMS Kerry

Why did you edit your post I liked it

[Dickie Flatt]

10. I didn't [n/t]

[jlcfan]

9. A good parady on the Swift boat veterans

The Debate was funny, a lot of Bush Hard Work jabs. And Kerry using his hands

[newyawker99]

78. Hi jlcfan!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[RareLubbockDem]

7. it's really lame....... eom

[nostamj]

11. LAME!!!!

the debate sketch was WRONG and unfair to Kerry. stupid.

this show SO sucks these days.

[951]

13. I expected the Bush admin would use SNL as an avenue for their agenda...

Thats why I was hoping they would premiere after the election.

[politick]

46. Oh come ON!

SNL has always been fair in its satire to politicians. I didn't see it tonight, so I houldn't say anything about that specifically. But to say the BushCo is USING SNL as some sort of evil too...? By golly, criminy, it's way worse than we thought! And I didn't even think it could get worse.

[jdj]

34. they went all ABC and wrote it in advance.

They had to rehearse it before, so they probably just changed a couple of things to make it accurate.

[crickets]

39. That would explain a lot

I don't think they changed enough, though.

[leftistagitator]

12. They whored it up.

They said Bush looked dumb, which was true but they managed to make it not be funny. Then they said that at the debate Kerry flipflopped and started saying Saddam had links to al Queada and WMDs. They didn't have the courage to talk about the truth about what happened at that debate, instead relying on tired stereotypes to make a meager attempt at humor. They couldn't find anything real to attack Kerry about, so they just made shit up. It doesn't suprise me, these are the same people who before the war basically said that Powell "proved" that Iraq had WMDs and called the UN a bunch of pussies. These writers don't have the courage to speak the truth, which is a major reason why they just aren't funny.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. Leno is more truthful than this!

:grr:

I would LOVE to see SNL TAKEN OFF THE AIR!

:grr:

:argh:

[DerBeppo]

58. not fascist at all...

not one bit.

[RummyTheDummy]

28. Oh for Christ's sake

Lighten up. Lorne Michaels is not a whore for BushCo.

Sorry you were born without a sense of humor. Life must be torture for you wearing that tin foil hat all day.

[leftistagitator]

49. If you think SNL is currently funny...

then you have no right attacking other people's sense of humor. What part of that dreck did you find funny? They can't even do a funny bush impersonation, how untalented does a cast have to be to fail to do that?

[Brundle_Fly]

54. well said

It was funny, both the pres and kerry took a bashing, its not satire if you just bash one of them, it's bipartisan comedy.

get a sense of humour.

and Lorne Micheals is a Canadian

[jdsmith]

67. "not satire if you bash just one of them"????

Satire is not supposed to be fair. Satire is supposed to take sides.

Satire has a point of view.

[951]

68. I thought satire is supposed to be funny and somewhat accurate.

[jdsmith]

77. Read Swift, Twain, Voltaire, Mencken, etc.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

14. As of 12:04 a.m. they have hit Kerry much harder and they...

better hit Bushler's character with some TRUTH or else BOYCOTT!!!

:grr:

[RummyTheDummy]

30. We must be watching two different shows

They hammered *

News flash: This show is not a Kerry campaign ad.

[thinkingwoman]

63. I saw the same show as you

My family had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard. Of course they satirized Kerry as well...but the slammed W's "hard work" line worse than they did Gore's "lock box" four years ago.

[kodi]

16. swift veterans ad is hysterical

have snl players acting like the swift boat vets accusing kerry of conducting gay vietnamese weddings, wants to increase the taxes on vc snipers, replace swift boat engine with sails and back again.... a flip flp and marrying a vietnamese woman who invented katsup.

good show generally

[nostamj]

17. I was so WRONG... it's not LAME...

it SUCKS LIKE THE BLACK HOLE OF COMEDY....

I'm going to bed. fuck this shit. clinton bashing, kerry bashing TWICE, teresa bashing and none of it remotely funny.

[K-W]

25. On an off politics note, SNL desperately needs to revamp thier writers.

The cast is actually pretty good right now, but the material is horrible.

[NoPasaran]

18. I had to turn it off after the debate sketch

Not only was it lame, it went on forever. Whatever happened to the three minute rule?

[RummyTheDummy]

31. Three minutes?

Is that your attention span?

[NoPasaran]

61. I've been known to pay attention for up to five minutes

But it's a GACP that three minutes is about as long as a comedy sketch can last before it starts to stink like a fish left in the sun.

The debate sketch had three jokes. Kerry's hand shtick. Kerry contradicting himself in everything he said. Bush* whining "It's hard". Going through a couple of rounds of debate was enough to establish the jokes and milk them for all the yucks that were to be had. Dragging it out as long as they did was almost as painful as W's real life performasnce on Thursday.

[951]

66. The sketch ran for 12-13 mins

[Joylaughter]

19. In 00

They used Ferrill and Hammond and Ferril stood head and shoulders taller than Hammond. Gore is taller the Dubya but the show's version of the two was Bizarro world. Who plays Kerry on the show? Is he any good? Who's playing *? I don't think that SNL has the persuasive abilty that they did in elections past. I think that John Stewart is much more influential. I believe that SNL went over to the dark side in 98 after Monica and Bill.

[nostamj]

27. seth meyers is Kerry now

and he's LAME. Ferrell and Hammond already forgot more about comedy than either of them will ever know...

[DougieZero]

20. SNL and Election History

They do have somewhat of a lasting impact around this time of the year...

The Gore debate parody "lockbox" is a good example

Bush 41... not gonna do it... not gonna do it...

I'm surprised they have layed off Bush with all the hype tonight.

[TimeToGo]

22. Just not funny

[Placebo]

21. SNL is a DUD...

with a crap musical guest to boot.

I'm not even pissed that they were making fun of Kerry, I love to laugh at myself or my candidate as much as the next guy, that can sometimes be funnier than laughing at your opponent, but today's episode is NOT FUNNY, it is NOT EVEN ACCURATE in its satire, and they bashed Teresa, my favourite political wife in the world, so they can just go to hell.

[K-W]

23. They hit Bush harder than Kerry, I thought. The problem was,

While they mocked Bush for things he did during the debate, they mocked Kerry for mentioning his vietnam war medals, which is a joke based on a misperception.

That is the problem, they are doing jokes based on mainstream media information that obviously is unfair to Kerry.

They did a rather unfunny, but not particulary politically bad sketch about Kerry just now.

I watch SNL because I am a comedy Junky, they just suck at politics, its sad.

[Digit]

42. They were soft on *

and they were not very funny, to boot.
I can see their agenda, and the writers sucked.
Glad I will have some extra time to watch other things in the future on Saturday evening.

[crickets]

24. I didn't think the swift boat ad parody

was all that funny, but Affleck's send-up of Carville in the hotel room sketch was hilarious. If they don't start laying into Bush the way they've been giving Kerry a hard time, I'm going to be very annoyed.

[K-W]

26. wrong post

ignore

[Demoiselle]

48. I liked Affleck doing Carville, too.

It was a fairly refreshing and accurate take on the Ragin' Cajun. I didn't watch much else, because I think SNL's lacks are creative and they just plain bore me these days. I don't think they necessarily try to slant things against Kerry, it's just that they don't have the smarts to do anything original or clever about him so they fall back on the cheap untrue shots coming from the Repukes. (Actually, that's quite a condemnation isn't it!) Their opening thing on George's appalling behavior at the debate was funny, briefly, but took no particular skill to come up with (I could have written that bit...and played George as well!) and dragged on forever. They fell into the same old trap of "equal insult" for Kerry...but couldn't nail him and just made crap up instead. Daryll Hammond did his Clinton turn, and he always makes me laugh with it...but I got bored and turned off the tv after that. The Teresa body language was funny. Nothing else was.

[crickets]

50. The debate sketch

could have been a lot funnier, but they did have rehearsal constraints. It thought the Kerry hand motions were funny. He does talk with his hands more than some other people do, and it is noticeable.

I don't think they necessarily try to slant things against Kerry, it's just that they don't have the smarts to do anything original or clever about him so they fall back on the cheap untrue shots coming from the Repukes. (Actually, that's quite a condemnation isn't it!)

*nodnod* I didn't sense any malice, just lack of insight. Next week should be a good indicator as to how much attention they've been paying to the nuances. ;-)

I don't know who wrote "Carville's" lines, but it had me laughing so hard I missed some of it and had to go back later to listen again.

"You sound crazier than a tomcat in a bag of squirrels!" "Watching you two show affection is like watching two lobsters in a kung fu movie." The delivery had me rolling.

Even the not-nice-to-Clinton parts were funny - the way some people continually harp on that part of Clinton's character does annoy me, but I couldn't help laughing because the actor does such a good job keeping it light. (Maybe it's just me.)

The only other part that seemed worthwhile was the Kitty Kelley bit, which really wasn't played for laughs. Those who turned off their TVs missed the condemnation segment, IMO.

Carville was the hands-down comedy winner.

[lakemonster11]

74. I know what you mean about the Clinton thing.

I absolutely hated the Republicans' Clinton bashing back in the day, and their actions during the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal absolutely infuriated me, but even then SNL's depictions of Clinton as a incorrigible womanizer could usually crack me up.

My favorite sketch occurred after the impeachment, when several leading Republicans had been forced to resign due to their involvements in similar scandals (I'm a bit fuzzy on the details---I was pretty young at the time). Two recently-ousted Republicans are sitting in a bar, purportedly drinking away their sorrows, but really just sitting there stunned. They keep saying, "What the hell happened?" Pretty soon, Clinton comes swaggering in from a back room, one arm around a cheap-looking woman and the other holding up a half-empty bottle of wine, which he takes a couple swigs of, grinning smugly. He sees the two Republican guys at the bar and goes over to talk to them. The sketch ends with him buying them drinks, telling the bartender, "Just charge it to the President of the United States." Then he chuckles and leaves with the girl and the bottle.

The Clinton sketch was the only part of Saturday's show that I really thought was funny---I loved watching him hit on Teresa Heinz Kerry.

[mountainvue]

71. Affleck's Carville

impersonation was spot on and the funniest part of the show.

[RummyTheDummy]

29. Solid show

Anyone who is remotely familiar with the history of SNL (and clearly, by judging from this thread few if any are) knows this is a "rebuilding year" for the show. The show lost a couple of longtime cast members this year and we're seeing some new faces and probably some new writers.

It could be better, but it could be worse i.e. the Robert Downey Jr.-Randy Quaid-Anthony Michael Hall year. Or even worse, the dreaded Chris Farley era.

[CarolynEC]

36. I think part of the problem is that we're totally spoiled...

... watching The Daily Show four nights a week. TDS is just light-years funnier than SNL, and has set the bar higher than ever this election year. Granted, TDS doesn't have to fill as much air-time, but still. They're just much more willing to take a deep bite.

:)

P.S. regarding Chris Farley... I totally disagree! And I should know... I've been living in a VAN... down by the RIVER! :D

[crickets]

44. I think you're right

I got spoiled back in the 70's. ;) I haven't kept up regularly since the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, though I did tend to check in every once in a while when Eddie Murphy was in the cast, and also for the Mike Meyers & Dana Carvey era.

The Daily Show is by far the best comedy out there these days, bar the occasional classic stand up routine. I'm hoping Wanda Sykes does well on her next venture. She has a great dry wit.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vickers]

33. Yeah, but Bush is a lame-duck peckerhead

Wouldn't you agree?

[JanMichael]

35. Go back to sleep, all is well in Amerika, the War is going great and it's

only getting better.

[951]

37. You forgot...

"God bless bush... errr America" :dunce:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

51. And YOU forgot that chocolate rations are UP!

Thoughtcriminal!

[lakemonster11]

75. Since you brought it up...

I saw a creepy billboard in Philadelphia the other day:

"God Bless America and George W. Bush."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

47. Enjoy your extremely short stay. (nt)

[timtom]

59. Why did this person get tombstoned?

I've not read any of the other 17 posts, but, I thought what this person said was within the spirit of open debate and I didn't really take it to be disruptive. What am I missing?

[sugarcookie]

65. I'm pretty sure

you don't get tombstoned for "the spirit of open debate". I'd bet someone read this person's other posts before they hit alert.

[K-W]

38. They did do a good job of finding look alikes for the camp david thing.

With the grainy video it looked alot like the real Bush's

[crickets]

45. That was pretty damning

Whoever played Barb did such a good job with her mannerisms it was spooky.

[eleny]

52. AGREED about the very last skit

the grainy old film of shrub, poppy and babs was terrific. shrub running around the party dressed in cowboy hat and jeans with a huge wine or whatever bottle. then poppy and babs smoking dope on the couch. babs in her trademark Kenneth Jay Lane pearls. i wondered if they sneaked it in at the end because it was such a slap in the collective bush face.

glad i hung in for this. the rest of the program was pretty soft without fallon. they needed at least jon stewart to host the opener.

[Bake]

40. I thought Affleck as Carville was pretty good.

And Clinton making moves on Teresa was pretty good. Overall, though, the show is not up to snuff.

Bake

[drbtg1]

41. For 951 on the west coast

The Weekend Update segment had a great surprise guest. I don't want to ruin it if you're going to watch it since I think knowing would kill the material.

Otherwise, the poor writing killed the show. Honestly, a better skit could have involved Faux News making up stuff or Rathergate (i.e. have Carl Cameron and/or Dan Rather making up debate stuff). If they had to do debate stuff, they could have done more on the 32 page memorandum, the split screen, do a "inner voice, what they're thinking" bit, et cetera. But no.

Considering their surprise guest, a better use would have had the guest come out from the audience during the debate, maybe tell Lehrer to take a hike and become moderator, and lay the verbal smackdown on Kerry and Bush. A great scenario for one-liners, I'd imagine.

As is, horrible.

[951]

55. Was it.... (Don't look if you've not seen the ep)

Alec Baldwin?

[drbtg1]

62. Sorry, but...

I'm sure you know by now why I didn't want to answer before it was broadcast for your area.

[Lisa]

72. imagine if they'd had Dan Rather pushing Jim Lehrer offstage ...

... and taking control of the debate.


You're right, drbtg1 -- they missed a great setup there.

My favourite parts in the show were the already-taped segments (or they appeared to be, anyway) -- the "Swift Boat Vets" fake ad (I loved how they were introduced as more and more farfetched in terms of real-life connections "builds model boats just like John Kerry's") -- and the Kitty Kelley Camp David flashback. This just might reflect what a rush job that intro debate sketch was. Also the people doing the roles (e.g. Will Forte) haven't been at it for long, and might not know their characters that well.

Someone else mentioned earlier that they did a great job finding lookalikes (or making them up to pass at medium distance, with mock-grainy footage) -- the people playing Bar and Poppy were quite funny, and "Dubya" (even though I don't think he did do the whole cowboy act back in those days) had the poor posture and awkward coordination down pat. They also took a chance, having Reagan in there -- I bet they're going to get some letters about that.

[high density]

43. The Carville skit was funny

The Poseidon Adventure-ish thing on the escalator was fairly amusing.

But overall it was a lame opener for the season. Their take on the debate was very weak. "The Daily Show" did better with only 30 minutes to think up material.

[951]

53. Its on

I see they are still sticking with that old tired "flip flopper" theme how pathetic but I have to give them 1 point on making George Bush look like an idiot on the other hand I'll have to take away two points for carrying on that DULL sketch for 13 minutes!

[951]

56. "I hope they release that British hostage from Iraq"

How dare they use that in their sketch as for the rest of the Debbie downer sketch it sucked ass like Bush in the debates and anyone else thought that Vets for truth sketch was terribly homophobic?

[951]

57. I gave up after 30 mins hopefully next week will be better

[OneTwentyoNine]

60. They still on?? Gave up on them years ago and watch MAD TV...

Check em out,funny gritty stuff like SNL used to do....

David

[SOS]

64. The debate sketch was atrocious

The parody of Bush was accurate. Fumbling, annoyed repetetive.
The parody of Kerry was false. Kerry was not "indecisive" in the debate.
They were drawing from two sources.
For Bush it was his actual performance.
For Kerry it was repetition of the false RNC crap, completely unrelated to the actual debate.

[lakemonster11]

76. I agree...

although I think that the impression of Bush wasn't even totally right. He came across as whiny and tired, which is all right, but they totally missed the arrogant sneering angry attitude that he projected throughout the debate.