Molly Shannon - a Female John Belushi?
05-24-03, 01:44 PM
#1
Molly Shannon - a Female John Belushi?
Just watching an old episode of SNL and caught a sketch of Molly Shannon playing Courtney Love. She was stumbling around, lip-slamming Norm McDonald, slurring her lines and absolutely going balls to the wall.
Now, I'm not saying that Molly Shannon has the comedic talent overall that John Belushi had. It's just rare when a female comedienne is willing to totally throw themselves into physical comedy the way that John Belushi or Chris Farrel did, with no holds barred.
Can anyone else think of a female comic on par with Belushi?
Now, I'm not saying that Molly Shannon has the comedic talent overall that John Belushi had. It's just rare when a female comedienne is willing to totally throw themselves into physical comedy the way that John Belushi or Chris Farrel did, with no holds barred.
Can anyone else think of a female comic on par with Belushi?
05-24-03, 03:49 PM
#3
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God no. that unfunny piece of junk is no female john belushi. I find none of her character even remotely funny.
05-24-03, 04:57 PM
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I don't think Shannon comes close to Belushi when he was doing his best work. Or at least the best work we have video evidence of. If you believe his friends and castmates, some of Belushi's best work happened in Chicago on the stage at Second City before he was well known.
05-25-03, 08:07 PM
#8
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Originally posted by brizz
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
05-26-03, 12:12 AM
#9
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Originally posted by brizz
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
Originally posted by He Who Lurks No More
I thought the same thing...
I thought the same thing...
Originally posted by bboisvert
Funny, that's exactly what I thought too...
Funny, that's exactly what I thought too...
Honk!
05-26-03, 01:35 AM
#10
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally posted by brizz
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
man....i thought this thread was going to say that she was found dead of an overdose.....
05-27-03, 11:38 AM
#14
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Molly Shannon - a Female John Belushi?
Originally posted by ncmojo
Can anyone else think of a female comic on par with Belushi?
Can anyone else think of a female comic on par with Belushi?
Don't get me wrong...I liked Jane Curtain , but Curtain always seemed more like sitcom material (as proved by "Kate and Ally" and "Third Rock"). Not sure what the Newman appeal was, though I still can see her saying the classic line, "That's great bass!"
And no one since has even come close to the originals.
05-27-03, 11:40 AM
#15
Originally posted by madcougar
Hmm, I have David Spade in the SNL Death Pool.
Hmm, I have David Spade in the SNL Death Pool.
How much would we need to raise for God to call David Spade home? Actually, I'd give that much just to do away with Jeff Richards...
05-27-03, 03:36 PM
#18
OK, the point is not that Molly Shannon has the comedic gifts that John Belushi had -- the kind of cutting edge way of looking at the world, the ability to caricature almost any human being on earth, his amazing gift for characterization... etc., etc.
The point is that Molly Shannon has the same "balls to the wall" approach to comedy that Belushi had in his heydey. Same as Chris Farley had -- and no, I don't think we should compare Chris Farley to John Belushi, either. No one will ever be the next John Belushi, just like no one will ever be the next Michael Jordan.
There are several other male performers who'd go all-out to get a laugh, like Andy Kaufman, Dana Carvey, John Cleese, etc. None of these comics, mind you, could possibly be compared stylistically to each other, and yet they all had the same "anything for a laugh" gusto and demeanor that seperated them from more technically able competitors: Dan Akroyd, Phil Hartman, etc. To me, I like some of the female comics out there, but there is something different about Molly Shannon.
Stack her up to Debra Wilson or Ana Gasteyer, or Jane Curtin or even Gilda Radner... all of these women have amazing comedic gifts, but Molly Shannon (IMO) is the only one in this group who really goes 110% to sell a scene.
(OK, I think I might be wrong about Gilda Radner. She had some pretty incredible range, and a lot of her characters really pushed her comedy to the limits. Hmm.)
(OK, I change my mind about Gilda. She was A-OK.
)
The point is that Molly Shannon has the same "balls to the wall" approach to comedy that Belushi had in his heydey. Same as Chris Farley had -- and no, I don't think we should compare Chris Farley to John Belushi, either. No one will ever be the next John Belushi, just like no one will ever be the next Michael Jordan.
There are several other male performers who'd go all-out to get a laugh, like Andy Kaufman, Dana Carvey, John Cleese, etc. None of these comics, mind you, could possibly be compared stylistically to each other, and yet they all had the same "anything for a laugh" gusto and demeanor that seperated them from more technically able competitors: Dan Akroyd, Phil Hartman, etc. To me, I like some of the female comics out there, but there is something different about Molly Shannon.
Stack her up to Debra Wilson or Ana Gasteyer, or Jane Curtin or even Gilda Radner... all of these women have amazing comedic gifts, but Molly Shannon (IMO) is the only one in this group who really goes 110% to sell a scene.
(OK, I think I might be wrong about Gilda Radner. She had some pretty incredible range, and a lot of her characters really pushed her comedy to the limits. Hmm.)
(OK, I change my mind about Gilda. She was A-OK.
)
05-27-03, 03:50 PM
#19
DVD Talk Hero
I believe you're also wrong about Debra Wilson. While she didn't repeatedly dive into break-away tables in an obvious display of physical comedy, she goes all out like no female performer I can think of since Radner. On the "balls to the wall" scale, I'd compare some of her Oprah-rage sketches to anything Molly's ever done. The difference between these performers and Shannon IMO is that this style of comedy was just a piece in a much larger repertoire. They could let everything hang out, or they could give a multi-layered impression. Shannon, while giving us a couple of decent characters, really had nothing else other than diving around the stage and falling over. In that respect, she's really not that much better than Kattan. Yes, at times it was funny, but I think it's far from what we got from Belushi, and only makes her stand out more as a one-trick-Molly.
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