least funny current SNL castmember

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

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

you've already made it clear that your opinions on SNL are dogshit stupid, step down.

you would find that guy funny

i voted for armisen

why do u guys watch this show signed curious

it's kenan thompson, and it's not even close, come on

xpost
i still think it's 75% funny. I like all these guys

occasionally i try to watch it and can never take it for like more than 10 minutes - ive seen some skits i like but as a whole it just seems so terrible and awful - anyway i voted samburg since i hate that guy

I like Kenan. I actually like all these people, but if pressed I'd go with Seth Meyers.

Voted for Hammond because it's always kind of sad to see this dude in his 50s appear in one sketch a week to show off his latest so-so impersonation (or worse, Bill Clinton for the millionth time).

darrell hammond vs. seth myers
xxp

Think about it like this.. Hammond still collects a check for doing 10 minutes of work a week, usually doing impressions he can do in his sleep.

does that make him funny?

yeah that seems really sad

I wonder if they just keep him around so they have someone to play old people?

It's stable work.

Of course, now that Armisen and Sudekis are occupying the main political characters, Hammond's days might be numbered.

sudekis' joe biden is lol imo

Hammond is on the show so infrequently that when he came out to do clinton last week I expected applause like when akroyd comes back

You know what's sadder, though, is when Dana Carvey shows up on talk shows 15 years after SNL and can't help busting out with the Church Lady and Hans and Franz.

seth meyers = big david spade douche vibe, voted for him even though the wknd update stuff is good

word...Carvey's recent HBO special was pretty depressing

http://www.zvents.com/images/internal/6/0/4/3/img_83406_primary.jpghttp://www.nationwidespeakers.com/images/biopics/DarrellHammond_868.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AvIB4ZqSUvg/RgXne3JOBNI/AAAAAAAAAio/wq-_79bdJOE/s200/darrell+hammond.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/08zZa0gaGT7PZ/610x.jpg

sudekis' joe biden is lol imo

hell fucking yes

i don't really care that much if SNL has a black guy do an Obama impression and/or someone who does a funny Obama impression but i really want Armisen's run on the show to end just so I don't have to see his shitty impression anymore

will forte
bill hader
seth meyers
jason sudeikis

^ i think all these dudes are funny but they're just too similar.

forte and hader are basically interchangeable

i've always classed Armisen and Forte together, partly because they started at the same time and partly because they both have a certain kind of default 'weird guy' wheelhouse of character types. Hader is kind of in that area too but i think his impressions are way more killer than anything those guys do and even his generic weird guy characters tend to be kind of on a different vibe.

Yeah, I've developed an intense love for Bill Hader recently. He's in a zone.

Darrell Hammond, no contest.

Voted for Hammond because it's always kind of sad to see this dude in his 50s appear in one sketch a week to show off his latest so-so impersonation (or worse, Bill Clinton for the millionth time).

― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Monday, April 13, 2009 1:12 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^otm

i'm not going to argue with j0rdan anymore because it's become clear he's watching a bizarro world version of snl that they don't broadcast in my area

It must be depressing having to hear Hammond make his pitches at the writers meeting:

"So how about instead of an FBI agent to negotiate the captain's release from the pirates, they send in DONALD TRUMP! You know, everyone gets shot in the end and he goes 'You're fired!'"

hahahaha

WOULD WATCH THAT SKETCH

lolololololol PP

wiig is n/l compared to all others

would marry nqa

Hader's bringin it right now.

wiig is n/l compared to all others

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Monday, April 13, 2009 2:09 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

would marry nqa

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Monday, April 13, 2009 2:09 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what

he'd marry luriqua

i think he already did, posting like that!!

forte and hader are basically interchangeable

Seriously dude, I'm starting to wonder if I can take you seriously on anything again.

i think hader is funnier but they've got similar styles

next level
no questions asked

xp hader is the funniest guy on the show. forte is forgettable. they do look kinda similar though...

voted kenan but to be fair armisen and hammond are not that far behind.

I don't get Wiig's characters, like I don't even get what's supposed to be theoretically funny about the Target sketch. Is there anyone in America laughing at that? Will that person explain where the humor in the situation is supposed to come from?

I voted Kenan though, because I think I remember finding Wiig funny in something or another and she's good at selling herself in a stupid character, whereas Kenan just isn't really a very funny person or serious actor. His career as a comedic actor seems sorta like a fluke. (Even Kenan and Kel was ALL about Kel imo - Kenan was the straight man.) I'm sure he's a nice dude and I don't really have anything personal against him...he's just never made me laugh.

it seems like they killed the target cashier character off

Kenan is much better in a straight man role than he is as the wildcard character.

target lady easily her worst character, i love wiig to pieces but i won't rep for that shit

me too

He's done that character at least five (and probably more) times. Sorry you've missed him.

did she just say "fuckin"????

...okay, Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson were dumped for this shit?

Biker Chick Chat

Sept. 26 2009 - Sept. 26 2009 R.I.P.

pretty obv post-second musical performance sketch there

Megan Fox said on Fallon a couple nights ago that SNL has five new writers this season. Is it possible the bad ones were fired and replaced with even worse ones?

good digital short

i'm willing to bet that next week either lady gaga performance will bring more laffs than the funniest sketch

Yes, digital shorts obviously exempted from regular sketch bashing.

which one was the digital short? that horrible transformers thing?

Context.

If someone had said last Wednesday, "Hey, go to youtube and check out this transformers sketch with Megan Fox and a naked dude playing Optimus Prime", I probably would've groaned. But surrounded by all the horrible live sketches tonight, it seemed like genius.

Also, I think the "official" digital short tonight was Will Forte as the SWAT commander/lamb farmer.

It just happened to be the only sketch I paid attention to after switching on TV around 12:30.. If that was the episode's highlight, that's pretty fucking sad. A few minutes later the biker chick sketch came on and I had to change the channel.. It made me so upset, I couldn't even get 30 seconds into it.

But maybe that's just me.. yay internet. I have an opinion.

Didn't see the Will Forte thing but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Highlights: Keenan's sexual aid dvd ad, Forte digital short, Optimus Prime digital short, Keenan as Jean K. Jean on Update, U2 playing out the episode with "Ultraviolet."

Lowlights: Every remaining second that's not listed above. It was truly one of the worst SNL episodes in recent history.

Season premieres always suck on this show. But Jean K. Jean is ALWAYS a winner. MOAMMAR DEBARGE!

Oh, wow, is Darrell Hammond finally gone?

he was on the thursday weekend update thing a week back, so i somehow doubt they're totally done w/ him yet.

just now realizing that wiig is the only permanent female cast member on the show :/

That new girl did indeed say "fucking", will she be Normed?

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.