Saturday Night Live

Destroy: The writing staff.

Now *that's* funny.

I hate Jimmy Fallon.

D: Jaret's Room, Mango, Adam Sa...I mean, Jimmy Fallon's guitar parodies

I think Jimmy Fallon is rather funny, but not nearly as funny (nor original) as he seems to think he is.

Actually, I think the plight of SNL is that they have some extremely talented cast members, but don't have the solid writing to back it up like in some days of yore. There are sporadic bits of amazingly funny stuff ("I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"), but it's just not SOLID.

Weekend Update is awful, sorry. There's no bite to the jokes. they seem happily surprised if a joke does well, and if it doesn't they lean reaaaal hard on the "it's not funny; isn't that funny!?" thing that is the death-knell of television comedy (cf Johnny Carson, Conan's monologue)

Everyone keeps banging on about SNL and I've never seen it - indeed, living in the UK with no Sky means I probably never will. Is there like a SNL Best Of DVD around? Or should I not bother - is it over-hyped rubbish?

I liked the bit about Larry David. The part with him and Dick Ebersol standing by the elevator sounded just like something out of "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

make talk about the old snl. converse about the dim bulb sketch.

The M'OD bio "Mr Mike" is worth a read. He bitched when the original cast started to do recurring characters, cuz he thought that was too much like Carol Burnett etc.

the writers' terror of offending anyone makes most of the sketches heavily dependent on unfunny gimmicks and repetition, much like conan o'brien's show these days.

(i ACTUALLY roffled the first time i saw this sketch)

-- joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 04:22 (2 years ago) Link

was actually bumping thread to say i have a crush of shame on kristin wiig

why shame?

maybe shame bc she's totally annoying?

yeah, that

shes kinda horsey too

i dunno i used to get real madtv vibes & think she was really untalented but now i kinda think shes the funniest person on the show

she never tina fey

I'm guessing Lorne is friends with J.J. Abrams, right? I had no idea who that singer was and I almost laughed for the first time in the episode when i heard that weird affected post-Taylor accent where "FINE" is always pronounced "FOINE" and then i thought to myself I WONDER IF THIS SINGER HAS RICH PARENTS and then i googled. I can really call them.

Eh, she’s had an album in the Billboard top ten for like half of 2024. I don’t think she needed her dad to get on SNL.

xpost Her career in general has undoubtedly been helped by her rich parents, but Lorne doesn't need to be friends with J.J. Abrams for it to make sense for him to book an artist whose new album debuted at #2, who has two top 20 singles from that album, who's opened for Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, and who's currently Grammy-nominated for best new artist.

yeah she is famous AF. her music isn't quite as terrible as I assumed it would be.

sarah sherman is the funniest person to be on SNL in quite some time by some measure, IMO

this morning my wife and child were watching a game show were people compete against hamsters. It's hosted by Sarah Sherman.

that's the best offer her agent could come up with?

do you think her NTS show is something her agent suggested too

oh i had no doubt that that singer was known/famous/a hit - even though i don't know her because i'm old - she just looked and sounded so much like a rich kid. and it turns out she really is.
when my kids were in middle school - they are 21 and 19 now - girls were singing like that at the school talent shows. its a vocal sound that has really lasted.

do you think her NTS show is something her agent suggested too

i don't know. i'll have to think about it. in the meantime maybe you'd like to know that I prefer lace-up shoes to slip-ons. just to give you something to hold you until I can answer your other question.

ok! keep us posted if you think if any other young women whose ongoing career choices you want to disparage because they consistently reflect a personal creative sentiment instead of following instructions from someone else to follow financial imperatives.

It seems like non-SNL gigs for SNL people is a narrowing field. Hollywood isn't making theatrical Comedy features or Sitcoms like that used to, so there's streaming features, limited series or Indie films that still aren't sure things. Podcasts and Satellite radio are happening, but not necessarily lucrative. If you were a stand-up before, you can still do that for better money than before. Of course you can do commercials too.

bravo, sic! i accept your chastisement of my moral shortrcomings. we all should have such incredible rectitude. i'll get back to you about your other question later.

Sarah Sherman did college radio at WNUR, which is pretty "out" as far as college stations go (or at least it was when I lived in Chicago), she's friends with the guys at the Hausu Mountain label, she definitely has the cred for NTS haha

i mean that with love, i think sarah sherman is cool!

she has a great comedy/comedic voice. you have to be born with one of those. i can definitely see her doing a lot of animated voice work if she hasn't already. also, she is a member of The Democratic Socialists of America.

She’s also Alan Sherman’s granddaughter! Or so I assume.

Sarah Tecumseh Sherman

from what I recall all outside jobs cast members get while on the show need to be approved by Lorne Michaels. This came up again recently when Pete Davidson was talking about how starting pay for cast is $3k/episode, which gives you some perspective when you wonder why people who seemed good left the show without getting fired.

That payrate started getting disputed the moment it left his mouth. Supposedly today it's a bit higher (remember: Pete was hired 10(!) years ago), somewhere in the neighborhood of 150K a season for a new featured hire (for 20-ish episodes) and a variable raise every year you do the show.

Legend has it Kenan makes sick $$$.

fwiw my family loves the hamster show, and they enjoy Sherman more than Mikey Day hosting Is it Cake?, where my wife finds hime extremely irritating. All I know is now my kid wants a hamster and that's not gonna happen.

Legend has it Kenan makes sick $$$.

The humans vs. hamsters show is better than any SNL post-Norm.

Are we human or are we hamster

Fairly telling that there is a "nepo baby" discussion about Wickline, but I don't recall one here for the Please Don't Destroy guys, given that John Higgins is the son of a longtime SNL writer and producer, and Martin Herlihy is the kid of Adam Sandler's writing partner, Tim Herlihy.

Someone posted that Nepo Power clip w/ Dakota Johnson upthread

I don’t understand why people love Sherman so much I’ve seen her live a bunch and her comedy is like her pointing at her crotch and yelling “my pussy!!!!” And a bunch of 40 something men dying from laughter

From an article about the history of SNL and the movie, and a discussion of how show has changed and not changed over the years

Relying on outside help for political sketches—Dana Carvey, another legend, has also shuffled onto the scene as Joe Biden and Elon Musk—has become a go-to move for SNL to ensure must-see virality. Harris herself appeared in that same episode, projecting a sunny optimism while reminding viewers of the stakes of the election.

Nothing about the sketch felt groundbreaking or subversive. Politicians have appeared on SNL over the years to clarify they are in on the joke; even in that initial “radical” season, White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen hosted an episode, and President Gerald Ford uttered the famed slogan “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

https://prospect.org/culture/2024-12-13-requiem-for-comedy-dream-saturday-night-live-movie/

Oops that was supposed to be italicized beginning with “relying”

"I don’t understand why people love Sherman so much I’ve seen her live a bunch and her comedy is like her pointing at her crotch and yelling “my pussy!!!!” And a bunch of 40 something men dying from laughter"

I only know her from SNL! That might make it easier to understand. I mean, she stands out on SNL. She isn't a bland young thing. I can't say that I love her. I just expect to see her on a ton of streaming t.v. in the future and I'm okay with that.

Also, Wickline's song on this latest episode makes me think of jokes about young people getting participation trophies and being praised for every little thing. I expected Colin Jost to give her a cookie after she was done.

her comedy is like her pointing at her crotch and yelling “my pussy!!!!”

Does she say it like Borat?

Funny, I was actually just re-reading the Chicago Reader's 2018 profile of Sherman, which was my introduction to her, and which contained this description of her rehearsing a bit before a show:

As she paces, Sherman chants lines to herself from an upcoming segment about a phone sex line, during which she’ll don a pale mask resembling a dead-eyed Michael Jackson and project her actual cell number on the screen. “I want you to look at my pussy and think it’s going to teach you French because it looks like Muzzy,” she says, swaying seductively. “Do you have a rock-hard boner right now? Well, my bush is always rock hard because it’s a thicket of coarse, wiry Jew pubes.”

You are leaving out the part where you tell people that her comedy name is actually Sarah Squirm.

which i did not know until yesterday.

Since October 2023, Sherman has hosted the NTS Radio show Freakradio Emergency Hotline. Among the artists she has played on the program are Macula Dog, Doug Lussenhop, Johnny Pemberton, Clownvis Presley, Negativland, and The Residents. On September 5, 2024, Sherman began her guest starring role as dialect coach Robin Finch—for Lois Cerillo, played by Rena Sofer—n the daytime soap opera General Hospital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVJKWYTyjCI

I also know her as Sarah Squirm from her Helltrap Nighrmare shows in Chicago. Her shows were absurdist and kind of visually disgusting. So it’s really fun to see that she can be a standard SNL cast member. I never imagined she could be just the regular girlfriend or coworker in a skit.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 03:46 (three years ago)

Scott's post was the 24th reference to Sarah Squirm itt.

never seen her live, but its obvious to me that her pov comes from a genuine fascination with the bizarre and grotesque, partic regarding the body, which isn't inherently a gendered thing and is a pretty unique angle. like i feel like she uses eyeballs in gross ways more than her vagina, although maybe that's just b/c its what she can get away with on SNL? she also has a bit of that always ironic but also authentic post-tim heidecker anti-comedy thing going on. boiling her whole thing to down to just yelling about her pussy like a redditor whining about amy schumer is pretty off imo

i predict sarah squirm will last 2 seasons on snl

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 19:55 (three years ago)

xpost wait is amy schumer not pro-genocide anymore?

lol i was wrong !

i thought shed be wickland level unappealing to america

She's talked in interviews about people showing up at her shows knowing her only as "The Weird SNL Lady" and storming out partway through when they realize what her in-person show is like.

She was booked to perform here at a Comedy/Music venue a couple years ago (a show which for some reason was cancelled the week before due to scheduling or something) as "SNL's Sarah Sherman" (no Squirm) with a non-wacky headshot on all the ads, so I can understand not doing the research and being shocked.

xpost wait is amy schumer not pro-genocide anymore?

― Grape Fired At Czar From Crack Battery (President Keyes), Monday, December 16, 2024 5:03 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i know nothing about amy schumer other than that dudes have always complained about her a lot on the internet. didn't intend to imply she's also good

one thing i've learned in this thread today is that scott has access to Google.com

oh i can google with the best of them...

fun article about the history of the opening credits: https://www.fastcompany.com/91249850/inside-the-making-of-50-years-of-iconic-saturday-night-live-opening-credits