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

Nice Vulture piece on Ashley Padilla: https://archive.ph/2026.03.02-151121/https://www.vulture.com/article/ashley-padilla-snl-encounter.html

I had no idea SNL was launching a UK edition.

Not everyone happy with the Tourette’s sketch. https://variety.com/2026/tv/global/snl-baftas-tourettes-sketch-slammed-charity-horrific-trolling-1236676593/

They ain't wrong.

Yeah i can't watch it all thru but fuck 'em

Spilling Your Seed bloopers & outtakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YopZi2toOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI1Lzi1ufOQ

https://variety.com/2026/tv/global/snl-uk-review-strong-british-comedy-format-too-american-1236696192/

I don't have sky, but from the bits of this that have made it into the internet, it looks better than I was expecting? 'Guy doing a Keir Starmer impression nervous about having to deal with Trump' is pretty much exactly what I was pictured when imagining the bad version of this, so that literally being the opening wasn't encouraging, but it seems mostly ok. I think a lot of people in the UK were rooting for this to be an epoch making catastrophe, British remake of a famous US comedy show is really the perfect combination to simultaneously trigger the country's superiority and inferiority complexes

I made it partway through that UK 'cold opening' and it was pretty dire.

thank goodness I can finally agree with you on something ;p

The cold open was kinda rubbish, but there were some genuinely good moments afterwards (including Nicola Coughlan explaining how British people just assume things are going to be shit). It absolutely knew what it was dealing with, which is why it's baffling that the trailers and the cold open were so terrible.

Half of the show was not bad at all which is about the average the US version hits in a good year. I thought weekend update worked well. Shy baby sketch was funny as was the movie review. I did not understand Irish grandpa bit but I think I’m not meant to?

Yeah, given SNL’s track record with sketches about the Irish, I was a bit worried, but young Fouracres knew what he was about, and obviously Nicola Coughlan kept it all correct.

I'm not unbiased but I thought this was absolutely terrific - way higher batting average than the US show, and much stranger/ruder in tone too. Moreover, a huge investment in a large cohort of new writing and performing talent, when the most risk-averse move would be to drop that money on getting "names". We have so much comedy talent here, it's wonderful to see them getting a moment to shine.

Have to admit the second episode was even better than the first. Excellent Prince Andrew cold open; the kidnapping sketch was good too. Hammed Animashaun a real standout as well.

Jack Black and Jack White episode was not very funny

maybe the only honest laugh it got out of me was JB going out to the first commercial break and tossing off "we'll be white black", have to admit that one got me

jack black is not very funny anymore

however, 'we talking tv' was hilarious

^^Another Ashley Padilla Banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpcMXvUi4Zg

SNL is really just the Ashley Show now for me

jack black is not very funny anymore

fixed

She's great

They also seem very invested in Marcello Hernandez being a new star but he doesn't do much for me

he's a good utility player who pulls off a lot of the heavy lifting in a lot of sketches, but they dont seem to realize he's better at that than star-character stuff

Traitors sketch on the UK show this week was excellent, but overall Riz Ahmed was a little underused. eg surely he should’ve been the bastard seagull guy rather than one of the regular cast? Unless that’s somehow going to be a recurring sketch.

Xpost that's a fair assessment

New Spilling Your Seed w/Troast & Martin Herlihy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giSyY6Qfj5s

the British pork sketch on SNL UK this weekend was incredible.

Olivia Rodrigo episode was pure meh from beginning to end

had a few decent moments, better than the Coleman Domingo episode at least.

coleman domingo episode had the FIDM robbery sketch which made up for any meh parts

The British Pork thing and the Mario sketch were outstanding this week. George Fouracres has become a national treasure in the space of two months. And I really want Aimee Lou Wood to be an actual Doctor Who companion. "What the fuck is that?" is a better line than anything heard in actual Who for years.

Tony noms are out today, and Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer are both up for best featured actress in a musical.

Aimee Lou Wood was really good. I loved how she was playing every Victoria Wood character rolled into one person during the pork sketch. But one of my favourite sketches so far this series was the jewellery one from last week. Emma Sidi is very funny, but something about Nicola Coughlan's "Why is it so long?" really got me.

SNL UK renewed for season two. Good news.

I saw a quote from a pod on one of snl subs that if Ashley Padilla gets around 8 minutes of screentime in each of the last two episodes of this season she'll set a record for most screentime in a season...which is <fucking insane>.

xpost Weird, since I was told in this very thread that everyone in the UK hated this show.

where did anyone say that?

I think SNL UK has only improved week over week. Fouracres obviously the breakout star but every cast member on there is impressive. Glad it's coming back.

It would be kind of funny if Padilla bailed on the next season before she is even promoted.

One thing I learned from the Olivia Rodriguez episode last time around is that her voice is very good, well-trained and well-controlled, but this clearly isn't nearly enough talent to break through as popular singer these days. What puts her over the top is her talent for heavy flirting with a camera.

:-/

Aimluez

if only women were able to write funny, smart and entertaining songs, maybe she could have broken through that way. alas!

People (including me) were definitely pessimistic beforehand, but the show is definitely solid at worst and excellent at best. They’re a bit fucked if Fouracres gets a better offer in the meantime, though.

Man, this sketch could have run in any era and killed in almost all of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbn5T8rMLQc

Hannah Waddingham very good value in some fairly low-standard sketches. Hammad as a rhino and the reveal of the triplets birthday sketch were the highlights for me this week. And Ania's best Weekend Update, I think.

Yeah, I didn't think it was as good as other weeks either, but Hannah Waddingham was fantastic. She should have her own Saturday night variety show.

That Auctioneers sketch is amazing, particularly considering it wound up as the last sketch of the night. I don't think anyone fucked up a line either.

It was remarkably skillfull for a sketch that may have only allowed one week for Sherman and Damon to prepare their deliveries. I didn't find it that funny but yeah, it was impressive in execution.

Matt Damon episode best episode in a year or two.

No absolute clunkers.

Cold open was same jokes and impersonations but better than usual, Mom trailer was OK, cat litter commercial was pretty good, kamikaze dolphins was kinda good. Tough Guys was annoying for a while until it got where it was going and that was a good place.

But mainly Substitute Teacher and Auctioneers. The sub was almost ruined by chloe breaking...I'm not usually too bothered by breaking and sometimes find it charming, but in this case Damon was killing it with his nonstop activity and the reaction shots from the students were so good that having one of them break was annoying.

And auctioneers felt like an old-school sketch, the kind I don't generally like. The family that's always yelling or whatever. But it was really impressive, the performance, the writing etc.

Joke Swap!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY8lNAmso1Y