least funny current SNL castmember

Yeah, I just heard the "fucking"! Her face fell instantly. Really, though, whose idea was it to make her say "fricking" 800 times in her first sketch ever?

I can't believe anyone is rating that Grady Wilson bullshit that was unfunny as hell the first time Kenan did it. Sub-sub-sub Mad TV shit.

lol f-bomb on her first show.

somewhere, Charles Rocket is laughing hysterically

about ten years ago this show just became a blur of unfunny to me. i dont' even know who is on it anymore. I am officially too old for it.

I would maintain, based on what I know about how the show is structured, that Lorne Michaels has too much control over the content. My understanding is that he's still the last word on what sketches make it to air, often cutting or adding sketches between dress and air. So I would imagine that a lot of good, funny material is written but never seen by the public because it has to ultimately pass through the Lorne filter.

This is just my understanding, mind.

If that's indeed what happens, it explains a lot.

I think the show is better then most people give it credit for, and has always been wildly inconsistent and mostly not funny, and that even now there's still some good stuff, including this premiere which had a few moments. C'mon...Afghanafrance. Classic. But the Lorne thing must be the case, and would explain 20+ years of played out talk show and game show settings that are only funny once every decade or so.

I liked the pee-shy fake ad, both digital shorts, the russian brides..."any hobbies?" "heroin". etc. Jean K. Jean and Grady Wilson both make me laugh, even if they are one trick ponies.

I think the show is better then most people give it credit for

It just isn't daring anymore. During its Golden Age in the late 70s, SNL felt edgy and underground, even during some of the stupid bits. After that it was sometimes funny, but rarely edgy or dangerous. Now it's just lame.

I liked Kristen Wiig's mom talking to Megan Fox. Although I do like her wacky stuff for the most part, I think she can do straight work just as well, and I wish she'd have more opportunities to do so.

It's very true that SNL has always been and probably always will be pretty uneven. I just rewatched the Tom Hanks episode from '88, which is just about as classic as an episode gets. Even so, it still has a dumb Hans & Franz sketch and a game show bit that literally isn't about anything more than guessing which celebrities are Jewish.

I think it can't be all things to all people and definitely aims for a middle of the road late teen audience or whatever, but there's still plenty of weird stuff. I don't know about "edgy" necessarily but Tim Calhoun talking about having a "china-baby" is pretty good stuff.

Is it possible the bad ones were fired and replaced with even worse ones?

I can't speak to all five, but I booked Hannibal Buress once or twice for a variety show I hosted in Chicago, and he was pretty funny. People in the Chicago improv scene have lots of consistently great things to say about Pat O'Brien, too (though I've never seen him personally).

Pat O'Brien was funny onstage, but I have no idea about his writing.

I think the only wall-to-wall funny season of SNL ever was when Ebersol ran the show (with Martin Short, Billy Crystal, etc)

Ehhh, not really. What I've seen of that season was good but just as uneven as any other season. Besides, you can't expect consistent hilarity from someone as in love with himself as Billy Crystal (Or Jimmy Fallon. Or late-period Mike Myers), and he was pretty much the head of that cast.

Jimmy Fallon

His turn at the Late Night desk has gotten much more enjoyable than when it started, fwiw. He's still guilty of breaking into laughter during bits, but now he's in the right place for it.

I'm glad to hear that. Watching it a few months ago was like watching someone cut off their own hand. He's got some solid peeps on his writing staff (which has been enough to keep Kimmel on the air) so there's hope for the show, I guess.

i don't know, maybe it's what age you're exposed to it. I was about 11 or 12 when the Ebersol season was on and that is the prime age to be impacted by this stuff. most of the earlier stuff went over my head and the seasons later just seemed more and more steeped in pop cultural references that didn't mean very much to me. but the Ebersol season had great shit like that Harry Shearer / Martin Short synchronized swmming film, Crystal and Guest as the security guards....

i was the same age during the hartman lovitz hooks era and it's my favorite. by then most of the comedy was def. pretty suburban but the cast was older and very good, writing seemed slighly more polished than what came before or after fwiw. imo not being weighed down by countercultural expectations was healthy on the whole, by the time i was paying attention you kind of just knew to roll with the punches and not expect that kind of energy from 'snl'. the later cheerleader/versace lady/mongo seasons were the only unwatchable ones in my time watching it.

FYI: featured players not listed so abby elliott doesn't clean sweep this

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, April 13, 2009 1:05 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

she is a waste of a cast space, featured or not

fwiw abby elliott isn't worse than the dude with the curly hair who always plays a child

― the sultan of ban (J0rdan S.), Monday, April 13, 2009 1:06 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

monoyhan has been great this season, i retract this statement

Yeah, he is much improved.

I still don't have much time for Abby Elliott. Or any of the new people besides Vanessa Bayer, really.

http://www.pajiba.com/think_pieces/people-that-argue-snl-is-no-longer-relevant-need-to-open-their-fking-eyes.php

And no: This past season wasn’t particularly good, but individually, the cast is talented. Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon could very well be the next Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Beck Bennett is going to be playing best friend roles in comedies for the rest of his life. Taran Killam is already getting decent filmwork (12 Years a Slave, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Jay Pharoah could easily develop into a solid action-comedy star, and Vanessa Bayer will probably end up in a string of sitcoms someday.
The rest of the new cast? Who knows? But that’s the thing about SNL. We don’t often really begin to notice cast members until their third or fourth season. It takes awhile to gain familiarity, but most of these guys will eventually land a break-out sketch that makes them recognizable, and we will slowly begin to remember their names.

abby elliot is chris elliot's daughter! I had no idea

"decent filmwork (12 Years a Slave, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)" is an amazing phrase, especially since i didn't know he really was in either of those movies and it just looked like a really weird joke

So who's least funny in the 39th season cast?

It might be John Milhiser, but I wouldn't know. He's the most invisible featured player in the history of the show I think. As for people who've actually gotten weekly screen time, it's absolutely Colin Jost.

I think everyone in the cast is pretty hysterical and, when things don't work, it's usually because of weak writing.

It might be John Milhiser, but I wouldn't know. He's the most invisible featured player in the history of the show I think.

I was about to say, hey, Milhiser had a few ok moments! He was good in that men's rights sketch!

Then I realized that was Mike O'Brien. No fucking clue what Milhiser did this season.

And yeah, Jost needs to go.

Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney are hysterical IMO

I'm warming to Mooney, but I'm not all the way there yet.