SNL: One More Really!?! With Seth & Amy

Seth Meyers is leaving Saturday Night Live to take over Late Night (whose star, Jimmy Fallon, is taking over The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), and this weekend's show was his last. I would argue that this is a good thing, since he was head writer of Saturday Night Live. The show has frankly gotten a bit stale, and pretty much everybody thinks the writing is the biggest part of the problem. That's not to say that Meyers' tenure as host and writer of Weekend Update hasn't been great. It's usually the best part of the show.

Though Weekend Update has been the linchpin of SNL for most of its run, it has been since 2000 that it's had its most successful (and longest) stretch. It began with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon replacing the brusque Colin Quinn (who replaced the way too deadpan Norm Macdonald), totally rejuvenating the bit. When Fallon left, he handed off to Amy Poehler, who was arguably even more popular. When Fey left, Seth Meyers seamlessly filled in,  and then finally flew solo. Meyers could sometimes seem adrift solo, but it was still a 13-year stretch with a lot of continuity.

Poehler came back for Meyers' swan song, for a reprise of their popular bit, Really!?! With Seth & Amy.


And Meyers put a button on a long-running bit with the Bill Hader (who is also leaving SNL) "Stefan" character. It was one of a series of gay-related skits in the Ben Affleck-hosted finale, a subject Meyers is often criticized for using gratuitously. These were mostly benign and funny though, I have to admit.

SNL Ann Romney Expands on her "Stop It!" Comment

Very funny stuff from this weekend's Saturday Night Live.

SNL Weekend Update Thursday: Convention Cutaways Ad

SNL Weekend Update Thursday is always fun, and the condensed format allows for a lot better laughs-to-jokes ratio. The choice of "Drunk Uncle" toward the end was an odd one. Funny, but kind of out of place in the political stuff, but whatever. I've posted the very funny FOX and Friends skit below, and here is the fake commercial, for "Convention Cutaways," an allegedly for sale video collection of cutaway shots of the audiences of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. If you were looking for a hit on the Democrats, look toward the end of this clip. (For some reason, the freeze frame is from the FOX and Friends bit).

SNL: "Really!?! With Seth & Amy" on Birth Control

Amy Poehler came back along with her friend and host, Maya Rudolph. So, viewers were lucky to have a reunion of the old Weekend Update team, Seth Meyers and Poehler. Their  Really?!? segment was one of their best, and this new one is no exception. Hilarious.

Donald Trump Can't Take a Joke

Donald Trump: Ugliest man to run for president since Rudy Giuliani.
Image from source, Politico

The White House Correspondents Dinner (I still want to throw an apostrophe in there, even if no one else does) is often entertaining, and as you'll see if you scroll down a couple of posts, this year's was too. Largely due to the endlessly mockable "candidate" for President, Donald Trump. For some reason, somebody at the Washington Post invited The Donald to come along, and like the big doof that he is, he went.

So, Capt. Ego had to sit there while Saturday Night Live head writer Seth Meyers and President Obama himself comedically ripped him a new one. Trump didn't like it much. In fact, he didn't even attempt to fake a smile to show that he's a good sport. That fact--his seeming inability to laugh at himself--is going to be his undoing, assuming that his candidacy is legitimate at all. . .something that is decidedly dubious. Because if Trump thinks that these relatively tame jokes were insufferable, imagine how he's going to take serious challenges.

And it has to be said that besides being a clownish bully, The Donald's appearance--never being his strong suit--is a gigantic liabilty. As a long-time unphotogenic person who is unhappy with what age is doing to me, I feel suited to the task of calling him out on this. Trump can't do much about his ogre-ish face, save plastic surgery, which would only bring him more ridicule. But that hair and those eyebrows. . . This man has been parodied since the 1980s (most notably by Berkeley Breathed in Bloom County) for his ridiculous coiffure. And yet he keeps growing it out, and piling it up with pounds of product into that unappetizing confection. Remember when the "in" thing was to try to hit pundits and politicos with a pie to the face? I have a suggestion for somebody:  throw a bucket of water on Trump's 'do. You'll be famous!!!

[Excerpt]

Donald Trump pushes back at prez jokes



Donald Trump pushed back Sunday at President Barack Obama for making him the "focus of the evening" in his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech, and laced into Saturday Night Live comedian Seth Meyers as a "stutterer" whose delivery was lacking. . .


Read more at: Politico

Seth Meyers' Speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Seth Meyers is one of the best on-air parts of Saturday Night Live, with his Weekend Update segments. The writing on the rest of the show is more spotty, but he's a funny guy. And he still has a long way to go to catch up to Stephen Colbert's legendary blitz of George W. Bush several years ago at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Still, Meyers' bit was highly entertaining, and went over fairly well. . .except with Donald Trump. Trump had better get used to it if his ego he is actually running for President.

Jerry Seinfeld on Saturday Night Live

I'm posting one more Saturday Night Live, since I'd forgotten that there was actually one more clip that was funny. It's probably the swan song for the Eric Massa story. . .actually, I hope it is. Seth Meyers welcomed Jerry Seinfeld to the Weekend Update desk for an installment of Really!?! with Seth and Amy Jerry. Enjoy.

Al Gore on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update

Out-crazy the crazy! I love it!

SNL: "Really?!? With Seth & Amy" on Wall Street

Amy Poehler made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, joining Seth Meyers for Really?!? With Seth & Amy. The subject was Wall Street getting H1N1 swine flu shots before others. Great stuff.

Top 10 Reasons Palin's Letterman Outrage is Ridiculous

Image from source, Alaska Report

This needs to be widely dispersed to anyone who is genuinely or faux outraged by the David Letterman/Sarah Palin kerfuffle. It's stupid, I know. Letterman--a comedian--should need no defense. His relatively mild jokes were blown into something rather ridiculous that I barely believe that anyone actually inferred. Still, there are those who are probably going to rage about Letterman being some kind of pervert for the rest of his career. It's worth keeping in mind that Letterman is far from alone in this type of joke.

Take a look at the excerpt below if you don't believe me. If you're going disparage Dave, you better be ready to put the rest of these folks on the same list. And by the way, isn't implying that Letterman is some sort of lecherous pedophile rather worse than anything he said in his act?

[Excerpt]

Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin's Outrage is A Little Late...

10) Last September, a skit on Saturday Night Live suggested incest in the Palin family. "What about the husband?" asked a mock Times reporter. "You know he's doing those daughters. I mean, come on. It's Alaska!" No outrage. Sarah Palin appeared on the show one month later in late October. . .

Read much more at: Alaska Report

SNL's Weekend Update Gets Its Own Show

Image from Weblo

This is good news. For many, many years, the gauge of a good Saturday Night Live episode depended upon three things: a good "cold open," a good monologue, and a good Weekend Update segment. If they miss on one or more of those, the episode stinks, by and large.

So, expanding Weekend Update into prime time could be a real shot in the arm to the 34-year old show. Or, it could stretch the writers too far, and ensure a bad show on Saturday night. Who knows? Unfortunately, this announcement comes at a time when Amy Poehler has her own sitcom, as does Tina Fey. Seth Meyers is good as the anchor, but the format works much better as a team: Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon, Fey and Poehler, Poehler and Meyers. It always feels like Meyers is waiting for the hand off for his jokes.

Anyway, as a fan, I'll look forward to the new Weekend Update episodes. And then, as usual, I'll probably offer my savage review (and watch anyway).

[Excerpt]

NBC’s ‘Weekend Update’ to Expand

“Weekend Update,” the satirical television news segment, worked during the presidential election year, and now NBC will again try to capitalize on interest in the news by producing it as half-hour specials during its next prime-time season, as well as the usual segments in “Saturday Night Live. . .”

Read more at: New York Times

Saturday Night Live Spoofs Ann Coulter

Saturday Night Live's impressions are hit-or-miss (see last week's Rachel Maddow parody, for example). But this weekend's Ann Coulter Parody was on the money. The only thing that could be improved would be having Seth argue more forcefully, and then have "Ann" become more agitated, defensive and shrill. Otherwise, good job!

SNL "Really?!?" With Seth & Amy (Blagojevich)

I had an extremely lazy weekend, and blogged almost nothing after Friday evening. It was a nice break, but leaves the blog a little empty. So, since I won't be able to write anything until this evening, here are a couple of quickies. The first is from Saturday Night Live from this weekend, which featured the last appearance of Amy Poehler.  There were more good bits, and solid skits this episode, which featured host Hugh Laurie.  You can check out the entire episode at SaturdayNightLive.com.

SNL: "Really?" With Seth & Amy (Larry Craig)

Saturday Night Live's second episode was rather flat again this week. I'm not sure what's going on. They have the same cast as last year, and the same head writer (Seth Meyers). You can usually count on Weekend Update to deliver, if nothing else does, and this week's WU was an improvement. They even brought back Chevy Chase (in his old Weekend Update set), and he did better than I ever thought he would.

I'm hoping for better next week, but one segment was worth a look. This is a riff on Senator Larry Craig (yes, him again), in a recurring bit called "Really? With Seth & Amy." I wish the rest of the show was this funny.

11/05/07 UPDATE: I noticed that this clip was getting some traffic, so I was checking in to see if the clip still works. It doesn't. YouTube or NBC/Universal has apparently pulled the clip, and there is no replacement (at least not today). If you'd still like to see it, try NBC.com