Has that Keenan/whoever skit with the kids in juvie EVER funny? Every one from at least this year have been unbearably bad.

Speaking of recurring: The dying kid named Danny announcing the basketball game.

Wow. They even threw in a "THAT'LL MOVE THE CHAINS" just like the one from last season, I guess just to let us know that they knew they were ripping off their previous sketch.

And I kinda liked the kids in juvie sketch this time, made me laugh a bit, pretty decent for a late-show sketch.

Ya they have like two original sketches a week it's embarrassing. I think the Danny sketch should be a joke about someone who grew up playing videogames attempting to mimic commentary based on what he has seen in video games, but instead there is no real joke, just one character being stupid.

Really didn't like this week's, save for Laser Cats 5

I thought Sigourney was pretty good, but the material was so bad. Two mediocre recurring sketches at the beginning then just a bunch of random stuff. At least there were some weird/quirky sketches that fail in an interesting way though, like the Armisen bitch character.

What trash last night's episode was. I also now have that freakin thats not my name song stuck in my head again.

It's really incredible how little original sketches they are writing. The last two sketches were meh, but at least they were relatively original so I don't mind when they fail.

I turned it off after the digital short, which was horrible.

This could be pretty classic if they used some of the mid 90s Madden Football quotes that you heard non-stop.

"That's how you get on a first name basis with dirt!"

I bet whatever studio is fronting money for McGruber the movie loved seeing its main character outed as a racist.

I quite liked the Sigourney ep but the Barkely one was more neg than pos. Prob helps that i quite like the Ting Tings and really loved the laser cats sketch and i thought Seth and WU was good.

Wasnt amazing and there were far too many repeats though, for example the darts sketch was almost word for word identical to the bowling one from a couple months ago.

Best: Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Jason Sudekis

Worst: Seth Myers, Keenan Thompson

Misused: Bill Hader, Kristen Wigg, Andy Samberg

Sexiest: Abby Elliott, Nasim Pedrad (sp?)

Next Big Thing? Bobby Moynihan

I've been as big of a supporter of SNL these last few years as anyone but it's trash now. Get rid of Myers as head writer ASAP. The guest host selections have been awful. The monologues are historically bad. And is it just me or are there double the commercials that there were 10 years ago?

Keenan makes the show unwatchable for me. They've been featuring him a lot and he does the same ****ing voice in every skit. We get it, he's black.

Keenan and Seth are my fave two on the show. No idea if SM is a bad head writer but he nails WU. As for Keenan he is easily the most consistent on the show.

Also Kristen Wiig might be misused, i dunno, i cant think of a single thing she was in when she wasnt terrible.

Keenan is much better this year than years prior. He can make it through a skit now with out cracking up and a few of his recurring characters are funny. I like the old guy with his sex advice but it's time to retire that one. What's up with that? is great and I like the juvie ones just to see Keenan go over the top trying to make the other guys laugh.

Myers isn't bad as head writer either. People bitched when Tina Fey was in charge as well so whatever. Also I'm not sure how much the head writer impacts the tone of the show or if he just supervises the writers, enforces deadlines, etc... It isn't like Myers is writing all the skits and he's been better on update than I would have anticipated.

But I think they're about to hit another dry spell. A few years back the show was suffering until they brought on a batch of new players - Sudekis, Wiig, Hader, Samberg, etc.. who had an immediate impact. The past few years have been pretty good but once again they lost some vets (Fey, Pohler, Rudolf) and, of the new players they brought in, no one seems to be stepping up. I like Pedrad though - she's had some good stuff - I liked her a lot as Ahmadinejad's wife on WU.

I'm not as big on Bobby Moynihan as others and has Abby Elliot done anything worthwhile yet? Jenny Slate, other than dropping the f-bomb on her first show, hasn't done anything either. I'd cut all three of these, keep Pedrad, and try out some replacements asap.

I'm a glutton for punishment though so I continue to love this show through good and bad. I've been watching it since the superstars year with Crystal, Short, Guest, Shearer.... Of the past 5 seasons this one is shaping up to be the weakest. Hopefully they can plug a few holes before this becomes year 1 of the 3 year cycle the show seems to go through with mediocre players.

I'm on the fence on Wiig being terrible or just badly used. Most of her stuff I hated the first time I saw it. I did actually like the one upper character the first time - though it went on too long LDO. She clearly is really badly used and I think is probably bad but she is somewhat funny in some skits and was ok in Walk Hard.

I still don't get the love for Armisen. His Obama is horrible and kills off a lot of potential humor since any skit with the POTUS is now going to be bad unless they have something ridiculous like Palin come up. I think that opportunity cost alone makes him the worst member of the cast because political jokes are usually a big part of the show. His Barney Frank is actually pretty good. His Paterson impression isn't bad but those bits are overrated IMO. Others seem to think they are hilarious. I'm perfectly fine with inappropriate (or at least borderline) humor, but I don't think it's actually funny. Every joke is "LOL this guy can't see!" I don't think Armisen's non-impression characters have a very good batting average either but that's certainly not all his fault. He did fine with the kid that says bitch all the time but other than the initial shock of a kid calling the guy a bitch there wasn't much to work with.

Otherwise I like your list.

His James Harrison WU thing was awesome. Everything else is terrible and I basically always fast forward when he's a feature.

A big problem with SNL is that it is no longer that best way for comedic talent to get recognized. If an Eddie Murphy type talent appeared now he wouldn't need SNL to turn himself into a star. Instead they have a cast of good talent sketch performers, but they haven't changed the formula enough and they keep trying to find stars and characters that they can use in movies.

Comedy Central has done a better job giving young comedic actors exposure.

i enjoy the espn ladies sports stuff

last night had to have been best SNL of the year, right?

Yes, and simply because they had an actual actor in there as host

but Keenan was brutal -- I'm dead serious when I say Michael Buble was better than Keenan

still hate Seth Myers too

Wonder if I'm the only know that thinks the Randy and Greg (the Alien) spot is funny. Keenan does ok as a straight man in that, and the multiplying Gregs was pretty good.

Hate Seth Meyers but the Tim Tebow zinger was solid.

oh man that Randy and Greg skit is painful to watch

when they throw around these ideas in their writing sessions/rehearsal/brainstorming whatever, how many people actually laughed at that and gave them the thumbs up to do it? I'm guessing the whole thing came about just because Bill Hader could make a weird noise which kind of sounded like an alien

I only watched the first half or so but I thought it was the best in a while. The "Sergio" skit had me rofling. Good monologue too.

Hamm and Buble and the final sketch (closet organizer in bar) were both very good. Even sketches that I thought failed like The Fred Armisen stenographer were at least original and not just lame rehashes of stuff they have already done.

thread title needs a butnahhhhh at the end of it