*nsis*

Yes, and the re-runs are taped weeks, sometimes even months in advance.

watching the chris rock one from season 22. real solid so far

season 31 steve carell.
season 34 jon hamm
both were really funny. i just skip through all the political humor. usually just skip all the skits they are not in.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/40972/satu...-drapers-guide

Thought some of you might be interested in this. I take writing classes at Second City and had the opportunity to attend to attend a lecture and Q&A with John Lutz, who wrote for SNL between 2004-2009 (I think) and appears on 30 Rock as...Lutz.

He went over his background in Chicago/Second City. Showed some clips of his sketches on SNL. (He wrote the "Halftime" sketch with Peyton Manning, the "Penelope" sketch with Neil Patrick Harris, and "Timecrowave" infomercial sketch, if you're wondering. I was glad to find out he wrote some of the few sketches I've enjoyed the last few years.)

He clued us in on what working on SNL is like, which makes me appreciate just how difficult the job is for the performers and writers. Here's some highlights:

-I'm not super clear on the standard work week, but it's something like this. Week starts on Monday with pitches to Lorne and the host. After this meeting, writers go write late into the night. Sketches are read on Tuesday. They go through something like 40 or 60 sketches, which means you want your sketch to be read as early as possible as this process takes nearly 4 hours. A list of sketches for the week is put up that night. Not sure what exactly happens on Wednesday and Thursday. I wanna say rewriting and table reads with the casted actors. Friday is blocking. Sketches go through four blocking segments, so there's not much room for error. Saturday, obviously, is the show.

-Writers act as producers for their own sketches. They talk to props, costumes, lighting, etc. Lorne has the final say on everything, though.

-If the show is running behind, writers are asked to shorten scenes on the fly. They have to relay this to the actors, stage director, lighting, sound, etc. Sometimes if a scene is running long, it will be cut short mid-performance. This explains a lot of weird/bad sketches that find themselves at the back of the running order (though they're also in the back end of the running order for a reason).

-Lorne loves to milk characters. This wasn't surprising to hear.

-Most hosts, even if they have abrasive personalities or are hard to work with for whatever reason, really want to put on a good show and give 100%. Lutz said the only hosts he did not like were Paris Hilton and Donald Trump.

-Will Forte is a bit OCD, and Will Ferrell kills every performance, whether it's live, rehearsal, or at a table reading.

That's most of the interesting SNL bits. I haven't been a fan of SNL over the last few years, and I haven't like the few episodes I've watched of 30 Rock, but Lutz was extremely personable, funny, on top of his ****, and seemed like one of those guys who deserves all the success he's had.

cool post mikey. ive always liked lutz on 30 rock.

Watching it for the first time in a while, and wow, this is awful. Each skit has at best one joke that they repeat over and over, and it isn't even a good joke. Fire everyone

Mikey, it sounds to me like Lorne needs to step down. He has the final say on everything and he loves milking characters, so basically the most annoying things about the show are his fault.

I had to fast forward through several skits last night, no surprise, most had Wiig in them. The "forget you" skit right before Cee Lo's performance is near GOAT level bad.

skimmed it earlier. Digital Short was pretty good if only for the chair freaking out on Anderson Cooper. The Espn Deportes sketch was pretty good, the new guy killed it. The Shakespeare sketch was really good imo. Jay Pharoahe's impressions are good, but are already getting old as the skits arent all that funny around them. Ceelo is a great singer, and his band was hot. ... oh and I find the Armesan/Wiig singers on Weekend Update hilarious. I know i shouldnt, but i do. Seth Myers f-ed up about 4 times.

not a terrible episode, not great.

I liked it all.

The forget you skit was great - one of my faves of this season. It would only be made better if American TV didnt have ridiculous rules and they could have had him do the original (and way better) **** You version thus reversing the entire situation. I mean it would have been like half 11 at night ffs, how stupid are your FCC rules that you cant say **** at half 11 at night.

I thought Cee Lo's first performance was a little flat for some reason but the second was solid, there wasnt a single sketch that i strongly disliked, weekend update was pretty good and i liked the digital short. The Shakespeare one i didnt think was up to par, though mainly because its end was unbelievably flat. The secret word was pretty much standard for that sketch, not my favourite but not cringeworthy bad and that was the worst of the ep.

Well that doesn't make much sense. It's his baby and minus the few Ebersol/Doumanian years he has been involved with every show.

And by that logic he's also responsible for everything that works. I'm not a big fan of recurring sketches but they do sometimes work. What's Up With That? comes to mind. Other like that kissing family and Miley Cyrus should be shelved.

It was mildly entertaining in a "I wonder if someone is going to pull a Jenny Slate" kind of way. To say it was GOAT bad is underestimating how terrible some sketches can be.

Wiig is solid but overused and being stretched thin so she ends up with more than her fair share of clunkers - like the played out "Secret Game" from last night. The fault lies with casting (Lorne and whoever else scouts for new talent). Wiig essentially has to carry the bulk of the female roles because none of the other women are distinguishing themselves - with the possible exception of Nasim Pedrad. At least the men are stronger and surviving the loss of Forte.

Letting go of Jenny Slate and Michaela Watkins was a mistake, imo. Casting is terrible right now. Look at 2005 when Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis and Wiig were brought in as Featured Players. They all had an immediate impact on the show.

Since 2005 the rookies have been Casey Wilson, Abby Elliot, Bobby Moynihan, Michaela Watkins, Abby Elliot, Nasim Pedrad, Jenny Slate, Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam. Not a single all-star in that lineup. So they have lost Fey, Poehler, Forte, Rudolph and Hammond with no one stepping up to replace them.

Agree about Wiig. She is probably the best actor in the entire cast, certainly the best female actor. The problem is not her, its the roles she is now typecast into.

I dont even think anyone in the cast is especially bad, in fact i think Paul Brittain is really good and massively underused same goes for Jay and ive been impressed with Vanessa as the other go to woman this season basically been dropped in the deep end and not struggling with it so far - but the problem is coming from writing and perhaps even direction and the show is stuck in a rut.

Yeah, there are no Amy Poehlers in there who go from newbie to featured within half a season but they dont need a HUGE star, they just need to use everyone more and have better writing. Also better hosts never hurt too.

I dont think over reliance on characters and go to formula sketches is the problem as such, its just they are relying on ****** characters in ****** formula sketches far too much that it seems to be the problem. Gold will barely tarnish but you cant polish a turd.

Obviously, but when the show has been pretty bad for 2 years now, the blame falls on him.

"Jay Pharoahe's impressions are good, but are already getting old as the skits arent all that funny around them."

I haven't watched too much SNL this season, but from what I have seen of the show, his standup, and his appearances on talk shows, this is 100% true about him in general. His impressions are pretty good. Some are really good, some are OK. But he doesn't offer much in terms of substance behind them.

Why they still have Armisen doing Obama instead of Jay is still mind-boggling to me.

Edit: I agree that Lorne needs to take a lot of the blame for the show, though I'm not sure if that warrants him moving on. I'd think they'd have to cancel the show and start something new instead of having to find someone to try to fill his shoes, too. I think a lot of the problem is Seth Meyers being the lead writer. Maybe he's a better writer than he is a performer, but I don't recall anything involving him being remotely funny to me.

Oh, one thing I forgot from the Lutz Q&A. Someone asked him, "What's the most powerful thing you've seen comedy do?" (Or something along those lines.) Lutz said, "Change an election," referring to the whole Palin/Fey thing.

I'd heard this sentiment before, and am I the only one who thinks this is ********? Tina Fey didn't out Sarah Palin as the crazy person that she is. Sarah Palin outed Sarah Palin, certified crazy. I mean, Fey looks a bit like Palin, pulled off the (very difficult!) accent, and all that, but the character is a comedy gold mine. SNL didn't pull back the curtain for anyone.

Am I crazy? I've never understood the "OMG Tina Fey is a comedy genius" line of thinking, so I feel like I may be a bit biased about this.

Tina Fey as Palin was the best part of that season.

I strongly disagree it changed the election because:
a, the audience of SNL are mostly Dem supporters anyway
b, they werent the only ones ripping on Palin
c, importantly McCain was always lagging behind in the polls, if Palin was left alone entirely Obama would have still won

Its hard to say how much blame Seth Meyers should get given. Do you know what he has written and what he hasnt? Does he get lots of blame because he is the head writer or does that ignore the idea everyone else might be terrible and he is just trying to herd cats?

One thing i do know is he was key in the Tina Fey as Palin material. Thats the only stuff i know he had (or has) a strong influence in.

I suspect a lot of the problem with SNL right now is their best staff (or people who would have been their staff) have been poached to write for stuff like The Daily Show, Colbert, 30 Rock and various talk shows. Throw in, like someone said way back in the thread, that performers can go directly from doing stand up to being a star of a show, often via stand up specials, there isnt the drive for the best and brightest to go audition for SNL. Esp with it having such a gruelling schedule. It doesnt help that it doesnt have the prestige it once did either.

As much slagging as the show gets, its been there a long time, like everything in life, from arts to people in general, sucking from time to time is life. I highly doubt the show is cancelable, unless Lorne chooses to end it.

+1 to Wiig...I seem to enjoy almost everything she is in. I'm always surprised to hear people don't like her. In fact, individually, I enjoy each performer on the show, but agree the show has really sucked this season. Can't put my finger on it, but it's just not that funny. The new black guy is great, but please, PLEASE get rid of the bigger guy who has been on the show for a while. His skits are so freaking bad...nothing he does is ever even remotely funny. I don't know how he gets multiple characters...like the prison inmate, the old man w/ unusually sexual positions, etc, etc.

Keenan is in a lot because he was the only black guy and he is good at over the top material like Whats Up with That and the Prison Reform sketches, both of which i like and are liked by most viewers and both are pretty consistently good. But comedy is subjective and all that.

I think he is overused though, for sure.

Maybe this is the problem, they are finding a few different formulas that work and are just going back to the same well time and again. but without filming the writers coming up with material its hard to say why this is exactly.

I think he's giving her too much credit but Fey did have a big hand in popularizing Palin's image as an idiot. I bet if you asked 100 people who said "I can see Russia from my house", 75 would say Palin.

This last week's episode was really geared toward an older audience imo. The pop culture references (especially at the beginning of the show) were likely lost on most of the under 25 audience.

That said, even though I'm only 27 I grew up as the youngest in a large house and got a healthy dose of Password and Kenny and Dolly and both the opening and the game show had me absolutely rolling. Password was along the lines of those Vincent Price specials that couple nicely with the rise in 60s retro fashion these days. They should have saved it for Hamm imo because he nails that character every day at work. The Kenny and Dolly song was awesome just because it was host, actor, and singer all singing together and doing it well. As a musician, I really enjoyed that.

Paltrow gets a B from me. She certainly didn't have a ton to work with but she was out there certainly giving it. And she's super talented.

yeah this is probably the problem. I think Keenan is fine as well. Some of his characters and delivery are spot on. I love the "the rent is too damn high" guy. The Whats Up With That was hilarious the first two times and primarily because of him. Now its tired and old, but thats not his fault.

i like Keenan's prisoner talking to kids skit. where has that been?

i liked the "forget you" skit a lot and the digital short was great (especially when Cooper sat on the animated chair and the chair freaked out).

do agree that Weekend Update is losing steam this season.

+1 to all the Wiig lovers...she's obviously really good, and i think she really shines in the more "normal" roles than the crazy ******ed ones (which shes "typecasted" for as someone said).

Also, am I the only one whose noticed how little Abby Elliott has been used this season? I tried to google some information on it but couldn't really find anything. She's been in like at most 1 skit a week, usually in a really small like 90second filler skit---like being Chloe Kardashian or some ****. In fact shes been in such few skits this year I don't even remember if I like her or not.

Vanessa Bayer and Nasim Pedrad have been featured alot more and they aren't in the "main" cast----maybe she's out for next year?

Thought the last 2 episodes were actually pretty decent---above average for the season.