• SNL (trying to stop themselves laughing)- Close Encounter
    15 replies, posted
[video=youtube;PfPdYYsEfAE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPdYYsEfAE&feature=youtu.be[/video]
I wonder if this is a sign that SNL's circle is getting back around to being funny again.
[QUOTE=Robman8908;49274475]I wonder if this is a sign that SNL's circle is getting back around to being funny again.[/QUOTE] It isn't. What this skit doesn't show you is that the rest of the night sucked and he literally laughed at every semi-funny joke and was reading off of cue cards on one skit. [or he just really looked like it]
[QUOTE=Robman8908;49274475]I wonder if this is a sign that SNL's circle is getting back around to being funny again.[/QUOTE] it's better than it's been, but it ain't like the golden era stuff by any means.
[QUOTE=Incoming.;49274753]It isn't. What this skit doesn't show you is that the rest of the night sucked and he literally laughed at every semi-funny joke and was reading off of cue cards on one skit. [or he just really looked like it][/QUOTE] SNL always reads off cue cards / scripts / teleprompters, I don't think SNL's ever been real improv (except mabye when it was starting out)
[QUOTE=Toro;49274820]SNL always reads off cue cards / scripts / teleprompters, I don't think SNL's ever been real improv[/QUOTE] This is true... they just used to be better about not making it obvious.
[QUOTE=Robman8908;49274899]This is true... they just used to be better about not making it obvious.[/QUOTE] There's been breaking since Season 1. If anything they got [I]better[/I] at not breaking, this is the first occasion since Season 41. Also, [QUOTE=Toro;49274820]SNL always reads off cue cards / scripts / teleprompters, I don't think SNL's ever been real improv (except mabye when it was starting out)[/QUOTE] Nope. Lorne's been super against improv from day one. Yes, I find it weird he recruits people with a background on improv but he doesn't like breaking and/or going off script. Gosling was nervous as fuck but I wouldn't say every skit sucked. Some skits, like the one where he was in a bar, just didn't land. But the Wiz sketch and the Santa Baby short definitely landed.
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;49275551]There's been breaking since Season 1. If anything they got [I]better[/I] at not breaking, this is the first occasion since Season 41.[/QUOTE] I was referring to cue cards and the lack of improv... of course breaking has been around since the beginning, it's one of the staples of the show, in a way.
I don't know, this still doesn't do anything for me. I kinda smiled at some of it but it just felt like a bunch of people laughing at their own jokes that aren't that funny. It's almost annoying to see them crack at something so simple and uninteresting because its like, really? You guys found it that funny? Seems more like they're purposefully "cracking up" because it signals to viewers that this is so funny they can't help themselves, so we should be laughing too!
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;49275551]Nope. Lorne's been super against improv from day one. Yes, I find it weird he recruits people with a background on improv but he doesn't like breaking and/or going off script.[/QUOTE] Frankly, since the pseudo-improv has been slowly degrading over the years, they may as well just ditch the "Live" part or start allowing some more improv, because its gotten to bad recently I just change channels. Wheres those bags of glass when you need them. I call it pseudo-improv because it gives off all the signals that improv usually give.
[QUOTE=Incoming.;49275594]Frankly, since the pseudo-improv has been slowly degrading over the years, they may as well just ditch the "Live" part or start allowing some more improv, because its gotten to bad recently I just change channels. Wheres those bags of glass when you need them. I call it pseudo-improv because it gives off all the signals that improv usually give.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Robman8908;49275575]I was referring to cue cards and the lack of improv... of course breaking has been around since the beginning, it's one of the staples of the show, in a way.[/QUOTE] Okay, what people usually don't get about the cue cards is that the process of making Saturday Night Live is a grueling, always changing machine. They come in on Monday with ideas for sketches and write until Wednesday. Then, they read the sketches, make choices and go back for rewrites. The next day, they come back, rewrite, make choices. By Friday, they have a set of sketches locked in for dress rehearsal, but there's still rewrites and changes. Saturday, they rehearse, and even by the time the show starts there's changes being made. The cue cards aren't because they're lazy and can't memorize, it's because there are times when lines are being changed right before a sketch goes to air. As someone put it "the show starts at 11:30 not because we're ready, but because it's 11:30". If you go back to the first episodes, it's kinda obvious they're reading off cue cards. That's why they pick people with improv backgrounds. You need to be quick on your feet in Saturday Night Live. I recommend watching a documentary by James Franco (yes, that James Franco) called Saturday Night, which chronicles the making of an episode with John Malkovich. You'll see just how difficult things get.
i don't give a fuck about cue cards i just don't think they're funny
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;49276027]Okay, what people usually don't get about the cue cards is that the process of making Saturday Night Live is a grueling, always changing machine. They come in on Monday with ideas for sketches and write until Wednesday. Then, they read the sketches, make choices and go back for rewrites. The next day, they come back, rewrite, make choices. By Friday, they have a set of sketches locked in for dress rehearsal, but there's still rewrites and changes. Saturday, they rehearse, and even by the time the show starts there's changes being made. The cue cards aren't because they're lazy and can't memorize, it's because there are times when lines are being changed right before a sketch goes to air. As someone put it "the show starts at 11:30 not because we're ready, but because it's 11:30". If you go back to the first episodes, it's kinda obvious they're reading off cue cards. That's why they pick people with improv backgrounds. You need to be quick on your feet in Saturday Night Live. I recommend watching a documentary by James Franco (yes, that James Franco) called Saturday Night, which chronicles the making of an episode with John Malkovich. You'll see just how difficult things get.[/QUOTE] Oh they were once awesome at what they did, but its just not like that anymore. Hell, go back 10 years and it was funnier than it is now twice over. It's just not as good as it used to be.
[QUOTE=Incoming.;49276818]Oh they were once awesome at what they did, but its just not like that anymore. Hell, go back 10 years and it was funnier than it is now twice over. It's just not as good as it used to be.[/QUOTE] I think the more correct version of "it's just not as good as it used to be" is "it's not the show I liked when I was watching it". No one's blaming you, by the way, but SNL has been around for so long it's physically impossible for the show to be the same each decade. Be it cultural changes (political commentary in the first seasons was something akin to Gerald Ford tripping everywhere, and that was considered edgy), technological changes (now that Youtube's around, people can watch each sketch of the episode over and over, unlike back then when it was a much more 'watch it saturday night or watch it never') or just changes on the cast and the writers. I bet you could find someone who watched the show back during the time you considered the 'golden age' who'll tell you the real 'golden age' was ten years before and so on and so on and so on. It's not like Simpsons, where you can put the blame on how certain showrunners went for a different style of comedy. There are so many elements that make a certain season of SNL a 'good season', and one of them includes the viewer's current state of mind. I mean, I watch SNL everytime it's on and I think it's pretty funny when it lands a sketch. It doesn't have the superstars that it had back then but it has people like Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones who just know how to make a damn good joke ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEb_epsuLqA]the 39 Cents sketch still kills me to this day[/url]). I still miss Bill Hader and his menagerie of impressions, though.
[QUOTE=Zuimzado;49276027]Okay, what people usually don't get about the cue cards is that the process of making Saturday Night Live is a grueling, always changing machine. They come in on Monday with ideas for sketches and write until Wednesday. Then, they read the sketches, make choices and go back for rewrites. The next day, they come back, rewrite, make choices. By Friday, they have a set of sketches locked in for dress rehearsal, but there's still rewrites and changes. Saturday, they rehearse, and even by the time the show starts there's changes being made. The cue cards aren't because they're lazy and can't memorize, it's because there are times when lines are being changed right before a sketch goes to air. As someone put it "the show starts at 11:30 not because we're ready, but because it's 11:30". If you go back to the first episodes, it's kinda obvious they're reading off cue cards. That's why they pick people with improv backgrounds. You need to be quick on your feet in Saturday Night Live. I recommend watching a documentary by James Franco (yes, that James Franco) called Saturday Night, which chronicles the making of an episode with John Malkovich. You'll see just how difficult things get.[/QUOTE] Thank you so much for the movie recommendation. It's on hulu and a wonderful watch. It's crazy how little sleep they get. I also never understood before watching the movie how they ever got to air with shitty skits, I highly suggest you guys watch this movie, even if just to laugh your ass off.
I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like I've seen this kind of scene often in SNL, which is why I don't laugh much at it anymore. They have some normal people and one crazy person who says ridiculous things. I just feel like I've seen this before.
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