I don't know, but she seemed like a regular person and that made it a little awkward to watch.

Yeah I figured she was a regular person but they have to tell her ahead of time I'm sure. Just to make sure she'll play along. I know I sure as hell wouldn't want her to sit in my lap on national TV and do that stuff.

Saw Silverman at the Oddball Fest a few weeks ago and she did the exact same thing with a 16-year-old male audience member in the first row.

I saw Sarah do the same bit at the Oddball Comedy Festoval a few weeks ago to a nerdy 15 year old kid in the crowd. It was definitely not planned, but it wouldn't surprise me if they asked this girl ahead of time if it would be ok since it's live TV.

LOL oh man I'm slow. Anyway...



The Groundlings aren't amateur. These are people who have been spending years writing and performing sketch, and many are regular working actors in show biz.

Also, this isn't an improv scene, obviously. This was written and well rehearsed ahead of time.

All that being said, it's a pretty mediocre sketch, and standard fare for Groundlings. I went through the entire Groundlings training program a few years back, and was never a fan of their style of sketch comedy, which seems to be to take SNL's style and then exaggerated that ten fold. It's all character based and very over the top. High on catch phrase, low on concept.

In our classes, we literally worked on creating catch phrases for our characters. Yeesh.

On the flip side, their improv training is the best out there, and their improv shows are the best in L.A., along with some groups that perform at UCB. If you live in the LA area, I highly recommend their Wednesday night Crazy Uncle Joe Show.

Improv just might be the art form with the widest range of quality and entertainment value. Terrible improv can put an audience on suicide watch. The best improv can be an incredible and unforgettable experience.

i meant amateur video of an improv performance. like that. no production value, etc. i know these people do that for a living. still terrible

Ah. Yes. Agreed.

And yes, still terrible. It really is weird how much of a gap there is between the quality of their sketch and the quality of their improv. Although I guess a lot of people do like their sketch comedy, I just think it's pretty uncreative.

The riverboat sketch actually is a decently funny concept, but I can't help but think that it would've been funnier (the SNL one) if it were in the hands of better performers, like Will Ferrell. Just picturing him smiling through his performance while talking about how he's doing the show as some sort of indentured servitude makes me chuckle just thinking about it.

This needs its own thread. Was anyone in there that we would know now? I listen to Marc Maron's podcast and it seems like every other comic he interviews was a Groundling at one time or another.

If there's interest, I could definitely do an AMA about my time in the Groundlings school, or if that isn't enough to constitute its own thread, an AMA about being an actor in L.A.

Or I could just type up a couple long posts about the Groundlings. I definitely have a couple of doozy stories. I guess I have kind of a love/hate thing with the Groundlings. There is a lot of politicking in the program, and it often feels manipulative and exploitative, but you can't argue with their final product, as far as the quality of their work, as well as the resumes of those who are in the company.

I often describe it to people as the Scientology of improv schools. It's a big money machine, but at the same time does produce good work. My saving grace was the fact that I never quite drank the Kool-Aid, meaning that although I took the classes and appreciated it every time I was passed onto the next level, the style of humor was never for me. And considering such a teeny tiny percentage of people actually make it into the main company, I never got my hopes up and just tried to take away as much as I could from the classes.

So the day that I eventually was cut from the program, I wasn't too upset. Others were totally devastated because they feel like it's their only chance to get on SNL, etc. which is of course not true.

Anyway, let me know what interest there is.

As far as people I studied with who are on the scene now, Blake Anderson (Blake from Workaholics, the guy with the long, curly hair) was in my level 2 class, and Jillian Bell (who plays Jillian on Workaholics, the kinda chubby coworker, and also recently had a pretty big part in 22 Jump Street, seriously, she is majorly blowing up right now) was in my level 3 class.

Both were really goddamn funny, and the interesting thing were both were the youngest in our class. Blake was only 19, and Jillian was only 22 if I remember correctly. I don't think Blake went on to join the company, in fact I don't even know if he passed level 2, but I do know that Jillian went on to be a member of the main company.

Ali Wong was also in my level 2 class. She's done pretty well for herself in the world of standup, and has made a few appearances on @Midnight.

My level 3 teacher was Ben Falcone, who has been a pretty big working actor for awhile, but recently has become much bigger due in large part to his wife's, Melissa McCarthy's success. He's had a part in pretty much every project she's been in the past few years. In Bridesmaids, he's the TSA Agent that her character hits on on the airplane and then they end up hooking up at the end.

I can assure you an AMA would interest me but I can't speak for others. We've had some pretty bad AMAs over the years so I doubt it could possibly be the worst we've seen.

id ask some questions out of morbid curiousity mostly

That was as close to perfect as SNL can get. I even dug the musical guest

I lol'd at Stefon tonight after seeing some video that Hader did about how John Mulaney would sneak stuff in on the teleprompter without telling him about it. You could tell that he had no idea that the Dan Cortese stuff was gonna be in there.

Surprisingly pretty good. Guess the celebrity game night is the new celebrity jeopardy, but it's gonna be kinda tough to live up to Trebeck and Connery.

the impressions in that sketch were better than any Celbrity Jeopardy sketch ever. It wasn't as funny top to bottom, but everyone was spot on. (Morgan Freeman should have been someone better though)

i honestly didn't dislike any sketches last night. The cold open was stupid, but Bobby was pretty funny. The monologue was kinda ****ty too, but i don't pay much mind to those anyway.

Liked all 3 taped segments. 3 taped segments? is that a record? Continue to love Mooney/Bennett stuff. I used to watch that sketch on youtube

Dare I say Weekend Update is really good now?

Like I said, I actually watched the dude play music for once, and he seems pretty good. Might have to check out his album. I usually give the musical guest 30 seconds to keep my interest and then FF.

Cecily Strong is lookin hotter this season. She's also the strongest member of the cast and doesn't seem to get that nod much. She's less hammy, and a better actor than America's sweethear, Kate McKinnon... and *pause for long sigh* Vanessa Bayer.

Yeah, that was one of the few times I've ever been turned onto a musician I didn't know from SNL. I'm guessing that they didn't have to force stuff for an unfamiliar guest host helped the quality of the show a little bit.

Was never a huge fan of Jan Hooks, but that was a nice choice they made to play as a tribute, especially as it featured the late Phil Hartman.

Was that from snl? There was no joke so I assume no

The new black guy on it is really really good! Strong is a decent snl performer but she was awful on Weekend Update. Moving her off it it was a good decision.

Yes, that was from snl. I think that was one of snl's better casts and era's (late 80's). Have been watching since it started and still like the original best of all though.

Agree with this entire post.

Bennett's Nick Offerman and Strong's Sophia Vergara were especially strong. And yeah, that was a very mediocre Morgan Freeman.

Awesome Jim Carrey skit

Awful monologue, but most everything else was pretty decent.

at this point, i'm just starting the episodes from the first sketch. i hate cold opens and monologues flop at a 80% clip. You have Jim Carrey and you make him do... his famous Elvis impression? it was solid, but the guy used to be an amazing standup, is world famous for 20 things, and he's doing an Elvis song about pie?

Vanessa Bayer's mouth is insane. she's so damn goofy, I can't stand her. You know I'm a SNL fanboy apologist, but screw it, while I'm ranting:

I tried to stick up for Colin Jost, but the dude is just a dud. Calling him Seth Meyers lite isn't even far, as Seth Meyers has more charisma in his pinky finger, and i don't even put Seth in the upper echelon of WU anchors. The dude tells obvious, and somewhat tame jokes, and he can't sell any of them. Pause WU after Jost presents a story, guarantee you can predict the punchline to the joke almost every time.

Che is easily funnier, but he's still stumbling. dude needs to get his delivery down better and take over solo by next season. Just now dawned on me that Drunk Uncle and the Girl at the Party are the same character basically if you boil it down. Both never fail though.

Sasheer whatever - I mean, not to beat a dead horse, but i find it funny that their big diversity hire is basically worthless. What has she done? Her purpose is to maybe play Michelle Obama once a season? She stinks.

Leslie Jones is good at what she does, but that's gonna get old quick if they don't let her branch out from "loud black woman" soon.

Kate McKinnon has a decent little body on her. ... I'd watch.

I'll take my opinion that Keenan is solid and the glue of the cast to my grave. For all the hate he gets, he's often never the worst part of a group sketch. I like him when he yells in sketches a lot more than Bobby when he does the same.

Beck Bennett sucks when he isn't playing the straight man (or a sick Nick Offerman) when he tries to play a goofy characer (Jim Carrey character sketch) it just doesn't work. On the opposite end, Kyle Mooney sucks when he plays somewhat normal characters. These two should never leave their comfort zone.

You have to be pretty bad as an announcer for me to even notice you, Darrel Hammond. He's terrible. Either go full Pardo or get someone completely different to do that job.

Taran was great in the Carrey reunion sketch. Jay Pharoah as always, wasn't.

Unpaused for 6 seconds on Iggy Azelea... good god.

Jim Carrey as the old man in the billionaire sketch (which ended abruptly... seriously, they're terrible at ending sketches. The zombie sketch was horrendous despite Davidson playing a decent zombie) was the best part of the episode. Whoever wrote his dialogue needs more work. I'm sure it was Jim Carrey.

He was the best member of the cast this week by a pretty wide margin, but some sketches, which i don't even remember right now fizzled.

aight, im out

That monologue was the worst monologue I can remember. Rest of the episode was decent though.