SNL cast update
 

All according to the NY Post. Sorry, no link.

Tina Fey just had a baby last week and will be out most of the season on maternity leave. SNL will wait until the last minute to decide who will be lead anchor on Weekend Update. When she returns, she will juggle SNL with her new NBC sitcom which is a semi-autobiographical look at her time with SNL.

Maya Rudolph is also out on maternity leave.

Bill Hader of L.A.'s Second City troupe and Andy Sambler of the New York Lonely Island comedy group will be new featured players.

Great. Lose two women and replace them with two dudes. I guess Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch are going to be busy as hell this season. Or we may see a lot of guys wearing dresses, which stopped being funny when Milton Berle was doing it.

Finesse Mitchell and The Fat Albert Nitwit are now full cast members.

New season starts October 1st.

Gotta admit I won't miss either of them as well. Good riddance. Too bad it isn't permanent.

SNL is awesome. I stay in every Sat to watch.
Just kidding. SNL drains baloney out of small holes. Piece of shit programming for years.

You're on crack.


Good for him. :up: I don't understand your dislike of him but hey, Whatever....

Because his acting in skits is Boy Scout Jamboree level. He plays every sketch and every character with wide vacant eyes and an idiotic grin, the same nothing way he did in that Good Burger shit.

I've never noticed this but ok, if you say so. I still think he's very funny. and his characters are very funny.

The show in general has really dropped over the last few years, I think it is part writing, and I don't think they have hired quality comics. There hasn't been a breakout star in a while, or someone to carry the show.

Every generation cast had really talented comics:
70's: Belushi, Akroyd, Chase, Murray, Radner, and Steve Martin
Early 80's: Eddie Murphy, Piscopo, Martin Short, and Billy Crystal
Late 80's: Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller
Early 90's: Chris Farley, David Spade, and Adam Sandler
Late 90's: Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond
2000's: Tina Fey? Amy Poehler? Seth Meyers? They're all funny, but not hysterical

I think they rely too much on political humor. I always think it is really funny when they do something with politics, but when they are doing multiple skits on them in one show, it gets repetitive.

Good point. But then again there seems to be so much Nostalgia Bias in SNL fans,especially the ones over 40 ;), that new talent doesn't get a chance to shine and prove their thing.


Agreed.

I disagree. Political skits are the only thing the show seems to get right anymore. All of their non-political skits are so lame these days, it hurt. And I'd rather have more funny political skits than unfunny non-political skits anyday!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dhmac

I disagree. Political skits are the only thing the show seems to get right anymore. All of their non-political skits are so lame these days, it hurt. And I'd rather have more funny political skits than unfunny non-political skits anyday!

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Actually you are right, they are the only funny thing anymore. I guess I was trying to say that it is sad that the only thing funny they can come up with is political humor. There is no originality no more, no great characters that one of the cast members can do a couple of times a year, and you know off the bat it will be funny. For instance:

Eddie Murphy doing Gumby, Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood, Buckwheat.

Phil Hartman would do Phil Donahue

Chris Farley doing the guy who lived in a van down by the river

Martin Short doing Ed Grimley and going on Wheel of Fortune

John Belushi doing Samari Warrior working in a deli

Dana Carvey doing Carsenio (combo of Johnny Carson and Arsenio), and Phil Hartman would do a great Ed McMahon

Joe Piscopo would do a great Frank Sinatra

Where has there been a great character or someone doing a dead-on impersonation of an entertainer in the last 5 years?

Tina Fey being gone is going to hurt the show. She does WU with Amy Poehler very well and I have to believe she's one of the best writers on the show though that isn't saying much at this point. Hope Maya stays away though.

The Maya hate is tragic.

So Maya was pregnant! I remember last season once seeing her belly sticking out and it looked pregnant, but I never heard an announcement she was pregnant.

Is that Paul Thomas Anderson's baby? I thought they were dating.

I'm in the camp that thinks the writing and Lorne's controlling vision are what is hurting the show. If they got better writers, and didn't have to clear everything through Lorne, things would get better.

While the current cast isn't the strongest ever, I don't think they are the primary problem.

Edit: Wow, my 2000th post!

I remember Mayas boobs looking pretty big at the end of the season. :drool:

I think so, too. She has been one of the few bright spots over the last few years.

I'm not going to miss Fey. She can be funny every now and then, but as a head writer I haven't seen anything that suggests she should still have a job (or any of the other head writers).

Uughh. I was hoping everyone would be fired and they would start all over with a fresh cast, writers, etc...

Ditto. This show needs a slash and burn, big time.

Exactly. They need SOMETHING to get some hype going on the show again. The most attention SNL has got in the last decade has probably been the Ashley Simpson ordeal, and that is just sad.

They should just pull the cast and writers from MadTV. ;)

Fey being gone hurts WU, but i think is good for the show in general. Everyone says the writing has been horrible, and yes, she's the head writer.

i never thought anyone hated maya. i think she's great.

as for finesse mitchell... oh please god, no. does this mean more starkeisha skits? those skits are painfully unfunny.

keenan is above average. not great, but certainly not a "fat-albert nitiwt"

Ok, I can see your point. However, SNL may or may not do good Political bits but often it's the same jokes over and over. If you're a person like me who doesn't always agree with the politics of Hollywood it gets tired to see the same ole jabs at the same folks all the time.

Agreed. She can do it all...crazy accents, singing, dancing, funny characters...but for many it's just not enough. -ohbfrank-

Curious, what makes him "not great"? Everytime he shows up as Al Sharpton or that Football player's mom I can't stop laughing.

Is everyone else staying?

He cracks me up too. I especially like it when he's playing the 'regular guy' in skits. His reactions are funnier than the jokes.

SNL, under Fey, has made a conscious effort to stay away from too many pop culture skits over the last few years. They've left that material for that trainwreck of a show, MAD TV.

But Mitchell as a cast member? Ouch. I was hoping he would be fired.

For the person who said the political humor is the best they're doing... I totally disagree. They've been suckin' hardcore --

A few years ago, if they did a political sketch they put the players in interesting (and made up, often times) scenarios -- such as the 3-way call with Clinton, Monica, and Saddam. That was creative and funny.

Now? They just "do" the characters from the event we've already seen, with some exagerations. Nothing really added...

Clinton explaining economics (I think) at McDonalds... Funny and creative.
Imitating Zell Miller screaming, not so funny.

I actually differ from a lot of SNL viewers, who have proclaimed that the show has sucked since 1979. I'm not much of a fan of a lot of the early stuff, to be honest -- probably because much of it is dated now (and I was born in 76). My favorite era was around the time of Carvey, Meyers, Farley, and Sandler... and then later Spade, Rock, etc.

However, I really enjoyed the Morgan, Ferrell, etc. years... There were definately some good episodes.

Now though? Good episodes are few and far between -- heck, even good skits are hard to find.

Yet, I still watch every Sat. With Tivo though, I can skip through a bad sketch. :)

i'm not saying he's bad. i think he's above average to good.

i like the guy, and hope he has a bigger role this season.

On a semi related note, I remember hearing early in the summer that it was rumored that Ashley "lip sync-er" Simpson was going to come back for an episode to [ahem] redeem herself.

Isn't it possible that many people simply do not find all of those things she does entertaining? If she did mime on the show that would be one more thing I would not miss her doing.

I have to admit I did like that commercial spoof with the little vacuum robot that kept women "fresh". Thats about the only funny thing I can remember from recent shows I've watched. Maybe Merv the Perv...but that got old about as fast as that Stewart guy on MAdTv.

"It cleans my business...my lady business"

I haven't watched SNL in a while but have always liked Fay & Rudolph. I won't be watching this season, but would sure like to see some pics of both ladies with big bellies.

I have been watching since its debut. Although I thought the early stuff was funny then, It is very dated now. "Land Shark" is simply no longer funny.

Something kicked in during the Will Ferrell years, I still think those are SNL's best years. After he left, the show could not recover.

SNL is nearly unwatchable.

I liked the "Woomba" too...the first 3 times they showed it. ;)

Keenan won my respect when he was McNabb's mom. Especially the line, "I like my son, but I loves my money" Great delivery.

Heh

It used to be that SNL cast members looked down on anyone who would crack up on camera except for times when something would goof like Brendan Frasiers wig falling off with Molly Shannon in the Xena skit. Now, it seems to happen every other sketch. Disgusting...
It has to do with writing and talent - you gotta have both. A few years ago there was talent but no writing. Now their's neither.

I'll miss Maya this season but I won't miss her Donatella Versace. That bit was tired a couple years ago, beetch. I did like her Beyonce on the Prince show. Seth Myers or Fred Armison seem like good choices to fill in for Tina. Anyone but Horatio Sanz.

I don't get the dislike for Keenan either. He does better impressions (Cosby, Sharpton, McNabb's mom, etc.) and a wider variety of characters than Finesse and I loved his Sammy Sosa at the steroid hearings. "I hit de ball." :lol:

I hope this season they have enough good skits for an entire show, instead of just putting on another "hilarious" episode of Bear City to pad out the final few minutes.

Does anyone know who the host and musical guest are for the season opener?