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On 9/14/2021 at 9:48 PM, longhornmatt said:

Favorite cast member:  Norm MacDonald

Least favorite cast member: Leslie Jones

Underrated cast member: Tim Meadows 

Overrated cast member: Jimmy Fallon

 

Best cast: very early 90s, when the Hartman/Carvey/Myers crew combined with the Farley/Spade/Sandler crew

Worst cast: probably that year in the mid 80s after Eddie Murphy left when they almost got cancelled and then had to completely reboot the next year

Best host: Alec Baldwin 

Worst host:  January Jones (a bunch of non-actors have probably technically been worse, but she was shockingly bad for a pro)

Best skit:  Will Ferrell as Mr. Tarkanian the evil boss circa 1999 / 2000

Peak time period: same as best cast

Rock bottom: same as worst cast, although right before Trump came along to basically gift them material was also pretty bleak, and so is now post-Trump 

We're probably the same age.  I agree with most of this.  How about Horatio Sanz as underrated?

 

I was going to post another Will skit, but this was awesome.

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Favorite cast member: Probably Norm, followed by Spade, Farley, Sandler, Will Ferrell.

Least favorite cast member: Anyone that appeared when I wasn't about 11-17.

Underrated cast member: 

Overrated cast member: Jimmy Fallon, Andy Samberg

 

Best cast:

Worst cast:

Best host: Manning for giving it his all as a non-actor.

Worst host:

Best skit: Lay off me I'm starving, Schlitt's Gay, Buh Bye, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

Peak time period:

Rock bottom:

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There's too many skits that qualify as best for me but two of my favorites are the men's synchronized swimmers and the Zagat's restaurant guide. Martin Short sitting on the couch in a tracksuit slowly nodding just about makes me piss myself. And Farley was from another planet. I don't know if there will ever be another physical comedian on SNL that can match that dude's intensity. 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 9/14/2021 at 11:48 PM, longhornmatt said:

Favorite cast member:  Norm MacDonald

Least favorite cast member: Leslie Jones

Underrated cast member: Tim Meadows 

Overrated cast member: Jimmy Fallon

 

Best cast: very early 90s, when the Hartman/Carvey/Myers crew combined with the Farley/Spade/Sandler crew

Worst cast: probably that year in the mid 80s after Eddie Murphy left when they almost got cancelled and then had to completely reboot the next year

Best host: Alec Baldwin 

Worst host:  January Jones (a bunch of non-actors have probably technically been worse, but she was shockingly bad for a pro)

Best skit:  Will Ferrell as Mr. Tarkanian the evil boss circa 1999 / 2000

Peak time period: same as best cast

Rock bottom: same as worst cast, although right before Trump came along to basically gift them material was also pretty bleak, and so is now post-Trump 

1984-1985. Famous for being the lone Martin Short year. Lorne begging Marty Short to bail him out must have been an entertaining conversation. 

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6 hours ago, smuggs said:

There's too many skits that qualify as best for me but two of my favorites are the men's synchronized swimmers and the Zagat's restaurant guide. Martin Short sitting on the couch in a tracksuit slowly nodding just about makes me piss myself. And Farley was from another planet. I don't know if there will ever be another physical comedian on SNL that can match that dude's intensity. 

 

 

Those couple of years with Short, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, etc. we're sneaky good. That cast kinda gets lost in the discussions. 

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19 hours ago, smuggs said:

There's too many skits that qualify as best for me but two of my favorites are the men's synchronized swimmers and the Zagat's restaurant guide. Martin Short sitting on the couch in a tracksuit slowly nodding just about makes me piss myself. And Farley was from another planet. I don't know if there will ever be another physical comedian on SNL that can match that dude's intensity. 

 

 

 

 

 

Damn Farley's facial expressions are priceless.

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17 hours ago, Red Five said:

Whatever year that was, I think they fired everyone except Lovitz and maybe Dennis Miller. Then brought on Carvey, Hartman, Nealon, etc. Good call.

This is when I started watching, maybe in 11th or 12th grade. That group with Farley, Meyers, Sandler, Spade killed it for a couple years.

Farely’s always been my favorite. I just loved that guy.

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14 hours ago, Deej said:

Those couple of years with Short, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, etc. we're sneaky good. That cast kinda gets lost in the discussions. 

Christopher Guest was horribly underutilized. His subtle brand of comedy didn't play well on SNL.  Short/Crystal: The writers found winners with Ed Grimly and Fernando Lamas and promptly beat them into the ground.

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I agree with Norm as the best at Weekend Update.  It was perfect for his deadpan style.  That's what makes that role work -- delivering hilarious satire with a serious tone like a news anchor would.  That's why I hated people like Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler at the desk.  They didn't understand delivery for that bit, and came off as bush league.  

But other than Burt Reynolds, I don't recall a lot of Norm's character acting that was really good.  And I think that goes to his overall style and personality.

That's just a narrow SNL critique of Norm's career.  To reference the Norm MacDonald RIP thread, I loved that guy, and have been spending the past week watching his old clips, hurting my sides from laughing so hard.

Death of a celebrity (actor, musician, etc.) that you loved is always hard, but especially harder when it was someone who brought you the joy of laughter for a good chunk of your life.

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I agree with Norm as the best at Weekend Update.  It was perfect for his deadpan style.  That's what makes that role work -- delivering hilarious satire with a serious tone like a news anchor would.  That's why I hated people like Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler at the desk.  They didn't understand delivery for that bit, and came off as bush league.  

But other than Burt Reynolds, I don't recall a lot of Norm's character acting that was really good.  And I think that goes to his overall style and personality.

That's just a narrow SNL critique of Norm's career.  To reference the Norm MacDonald RIP thread, I loved that guy, and have been spending the past week watching his old clips, hurting my sides from laughing so hard.

Death of a celebrity (actor, musician, etc.) that you loved is always hard, but especially harder when it was someone who brought you the joy of laughter for a good chunk of your life.

Dennis Miller as second best weekend update?

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I loved Dennis Miller but he always seemed like a stand up comedian first, riffing on current events second. Nealon was all in: Ron Burgundy style, will read anything on the teleprompter. Norm was a nice area between the two, delivering the news with his own personal riff but still maintained the phony newsman vibe. All three of them are awesome.

 

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David Koechner has quietly had a pretty solid career

Maybe the hardest single moment I've laughed at in SNL is when Ferrell whispers "you're a fucking dog" in the training your dog with insults sketch

On page and I don't know if it's been mentioned, and I suspect that this crowd is maybe still too old, but Samberg and the Lonely Island guys deserve some credit. A lot of the digital shorts from that era were gold, and Lazy Sunday is as culturally significant and interesting as anything else SNL has ever done. Parnell also probably could be in the running as an under appreciated cast member. 

 

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1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

David Koechner has quietly had a pretty solid career

Maybe the hardest single moment I've laughed at in SNL is when Ferrell whispers "you're a fucking dog" in the training your dog with insults sketch

On page and I don't know if it's been mentioned, and I suspect that this crowd is maybe still too old, but Samberg and the Lonely Island guys deserve some credit. A lot of the digital shorts from that era were gold, and Lazy Sunday is as culturally significant and interesting as anything else SNL has ever done. Parnell also probably could be in the running as an under appreciated cast member. 

 

Vintage Will right there.

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Best Sketch: too many to pick just one. Van Down by the River. Synchronized Swimming. Who Orders Lobster in a Diner? Cheeseburger. If It's not Scottish it's CRAP. Waynes World with Aerosmith. 

Best cast member: Belushi. Farley. Ferrell. Sandler on SNL was great, regardless of what you think of him now. I'm a fan of the female takeover in the last 10-15 years, starting with Tina and Amy, into Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong.

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On 9/17/2021 at 2:55 PM, South Austin said:

It’s up there. David Spade and Christina Applegate couldn’t keep from laughing.

 

That was a time breaking character was completely warranted and added to the overall sketch.  Farley was soo fucking hillarious that they couldn't help themselves.  Unlike Fallon who never could hold a straight face at anything.  

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29 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

That was a time breaking character was completely warranted and added to the overall sketch.  Farley was soo fucking hillarious that they couldn't help themselves.  Unlike Fallon who never could hold a straight face at anything.  

Yeah, it's almost like the show started encouraging the actors to start laughing in the middle of the skits.

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Lauren Holt was basically Aidy Bryant's stand in, won't notice her absence. Beck Bennett was heavily utilized though, curious who will play the dad/straight man/what have you. If you don't recognize the name, he's dude on the date in this seasonally appropriate sketch (which... I originally didn't think was particularly funny at all but it does now make me laugh) 

 

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Cast is still way too big.  They end up trying to write sketches to include everybody at some point in the show when they should be focusing on laughs.  It's a talented ensemble, but there still seems to be some disconnect between that large group and the writing team.  I dunno.  

Cool Texas ties first episode with Owen Wilson and Kacey Musgraves.  

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20 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

oh forgot about that - Kacey Musgraves is great. I enjoyed her Christmas special, maybe she'll pop in on some skits

She should pop in some skits.  She pops in my brain all the time.  Usually when I'm....Nevermind.  

Bowen Yang?  He's a conundrum wrapped in a riddle. He's actually quite talented.  And has been hilarious in some skits.  But absolutely ruins other ones beyond repair.

I don't know if I'm in the minority here but I still love Kennan.  And at this point he manages to avoid the unfunny skits.  If I see him at the start of a sketch, I'm relieved because it's very likely going to be funny even if he's only a minor player in it.

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6 minutes ago, Lobo said:

She should pop in some skits.  She pops in my brain all the time.  Usually when I'm....Nevermind.  

Bowen Yang?  He's a conundrum wrapped in a riddle. He's actually quite talented.  And has been hilarious in some skits.  But absolutely ruins other ones beyond repair.

I don't know if I'm in the minority here but I still love Kennan.  And at this point he manages to avoid the unfunny skits.  If I see him at the start of a sketch, I'm relieved because it's very likely going to be funny even if he's only a minor player in it.

I always talk about Fey replacing Lorne as the show-runner, but maybe Lorne is grooming Kenan?  Who knows.  Lorne will probably outlive us all.

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