Why is Dane Cook famous?

Dane Cook, when he 1st came onto the scene, was hilarious... he truly was... unfortunately, the more famous he became, the less funny he became.

If you like truly funny observational humor, check out Demetri Martin.

http://www.demetrimartin.com/

A terrible episode from start to finish. Many of the sketches felt disjointed and some were overly long... they must have had a horrible dress rehearsal, cut a shitload of sketches and just decided to wing it... evidence of this theory can be seen in the extremely LONG monologue, the extremely LONG poland springs sketch with super tacked on ending and the inexplicable time filling Farah Fawcett bit.

The best/worst part was all the horrendously unfunny political sketches, especially after last weeks Studio 60 Writer's Room scene... Aaron Sorkin must have sat in observing at SNL over the summer...

The only laugh in WU was the Bert line and like someone mentioned earlier, Update should be ashamed that both The Daily Show and Colbert Report can find material to make 2 hours a week worth of funny, cutting edge political satire within a similar fake news/infotainment format when SNL can't even sustain 10 minutes of fake news without resorting to old, tired standby's. Are the writers over at NBC just lazy or truly uninspired??? Brutal.

MATT

Last year, EW named Dane Cook's SNL as one of the top five worst things on Tv. I thought that it was pretty good, so I was looking forward to this episode.

I know that the term worst episode ever is thrown around a lot, but I honestly cannot remember an episode that I enjoyed less than this one (and I actually like Cook). This was an embarrassment from start to finish, and if this is the best than they can muster for a season opener, this show should be put out of its misery.

Isn't it a bit sad that in all these years, SNL still hasn't elevated its status enough to be BIGGER than stand-up comedians? Stand-ups should be begging to be CAST MEMBERS of this show, not showcased as hosts. I understand in the classic days it was necessary to have stand-ups like Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Billy Crystal on as hosts... but it's been 31 years now. It says a lot that SNL is still not the most elite place for comedy.

The show is five cast members short this year, as budget cuts and sitcom deals have seen Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Horatio Sanz, Finesse Mitchell and Chris Parnell exit the building. Hopefully a smaller cast can produce bigger laughs.

Anyway, let's get to the recappin'...

Cold Open: Aww hell, I was hoping they'd be smarter than to open with Will Forte's weak President Bush impression. The writing for these skits is lazy and unmemorable. However, I will give them credit for the line "The Saints are 3-0. So it's official, New Orleans has recovered."

Credits: Wow Tiny E, those credits are huge. Seriously, I wonder if there was a production meeting where someone said "Hell, if we can't make the show funnier I want those credits to be freakin' gigantic!"

Monologue: I like when stand-ups just go right into their comedy routines in the monologue and won't play the writers' little reindeer games.

Okay, the YouTube bit is both funny and timely. However, in five years when this repeats on E!, it'll be so dated.

Commerical Parody: There isn't one. The hell? Commerical parody after the monologue. Now I'm all discombobulated. I don't know if I can go on.

Stupid Airport Security: I laughed a bit during this one. But I've also been drinking. So I'm not sure if it was really funny or not. I'm glad Kenan got to stay on the show though. I love Kenan. I also seem to love booze.

Next Week: Jaime Pressly and Corinne Bailey Rae. I don't know who the hell the latter is, and I hope the former is in as many skimpy outfits as possible.

Hugo Chavez Political Roundup: Chavez talks with his hands a lot. That seems to be the jist of this one.

Digital Short "Cubicle Fight": The premise doesn't even make sense.

Al Pacino Checks His Bank Balance: So they let Bill Hader do his Pacino impression once a year and it KILLS. Perhaps they should let him do it a couple more times.

The Killers "When We Were Young": Now I love The Killers and I'm really looking forward to their new album. But this song just never seems to take off. It mulls around in this middle area and just never builds or rocks. Add to it that their performance of it here was not done very well at all, and, well... I just miss those well dressed lads from a few seasons back. I don't dig this new look.

Weekend Update: Brian Williams makes a cameo and the crowd goes APESHIT. It's Brian Williams people. Wait, what the hell? That was a teaser skit for Weekend Update?

The Real Weekend Update: Seth Meyers replaces Tina Fey. I'm sad that this essentially means we'll never see the skit Spyglass again. The whole WU felt forced.

Boning the Lady: Someone was high when this was written...

The Killers "Some Other Song From Their New Album": I'm very disappointed in these fellows. Why has the lead singer added a Tiny Tim voice inflection to his singing?

Farrah Fawcett: That had potential, but then there was a weird link into...

Closing Time: In this sketch, people are told to leave a bar because it is closing. Amy Poehler continues her Farrah Fawcett character in the sketch's only brief moment of humor.

Geico Commercial Parody: That would have been better on tape.

The end. No closing credits? No taped commercial parody? Wow, how daring! You just can't predict that Saturday Night Live... they may or may not air the one consistantly entertaining portion of the entire show! It's crazy and unpredictable!

I'm just like the earlier poster. I wanted to catch the premiere and missed it, so I was going to download it but after this thread I don't think I will.

I'm not a comedy writer. I'm not even a performer. But I can't see how after a week of prep they can't come up with 10 skits. It has to be hard, I know. But thats what they DO. I work in I.T., that's what I do. If I was bad at my job the way they are at theirs I would be gone by now.

Of course my job is not subject to opinion. I either get it done or not, on paper. The Saturday Night Live cast and crew have to prove themselves by opinion, then that translates to ratings on paper.

I can't see this season being better than last season. But I will watch next week to see what happens.

When I saw the commericial saying that this was the "real deal", I got worried. Both of the SNL based shows are probably better than the 'real deal'.

How long will NBC allow SNL to go on? Lorne made it past the budget cut, what's next?

I find Kristen Wiig to be the cast's new #1 hottie. I'm Biig on Wiig.

Hell, why not ...

<b>Introduction</b>

In 1975, the television landscape was forever changed by visionary writer/producer Lorne Michaels and a cast of nine ... wait, wrong review.

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<u>Cold Open: South Carolina Comptroller</u>: George Bush (Forte) is at a campaign rally for the South Carolina Comptroller, because he's so unpopular that no one wants his support. He continually annoys the principal (Wiig) and a young Republican (Samberg) by talking during the campaign presentation. See, Bush is stupid and annoying. Get it? Get it? Great work, Ricky and Ron. :down::down::down:

<u>Monologue</u>: Dane Cook does almost 10 minutes from his stand-up routine. It's far from A material, and while it gets a few laughs, it's pretty uninspired. I like Dane Cook, although he was funnier 5+ years ago when it was more about his material than his personality, but this wasn't good stuff. :down:

<u>TSA Airport Security</u>: Cook and Sudeikis give a Homeland Security presentation to a group of idiots who work for airline security. Laughs come from an argument over whether a turkey sandwich is a liquid or not. One of the few times I laughed in the episode. :up:

<u>Hugo Chavez Political Roundup</u>: Armisen is Chavez, host of a political round-table show. His impression consists of waving his hands about, unable to decide beween sitting and standing. That's it. His panel is President of Iran Mahmous Ahmadinejad (Hader), President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf (Hammond), and lunatic dicatator Kim Jong-Il (Poehler). This is an excuse to get a laugh from having a girl play Jong-Il. The punchline is that when asked which country they'd all live in if not their own, they all say "America". Not funny. :down::down:

<u><i>SNL</i> Digital Short</u>: Hader and Cook are assigned the same cubicle and have a catfight using various office supplies. Sudeikis is the oblivious boss, showing up periodically to make inane comments and requests. The punchline is that the fight is silly until Cook gets the upperhand by clocking Hader with a magic 8-ball and then brutally stabbing him with a letter-opener. Not bad. The kind of absurdist humor we want from these things. :up:

<u>Wells Fargo Presents "Al Pacino Checks His Bank Balance"</u>: WTF? I love it. Hader does his near-perfect Pacino as he calls a CSR (Wiig) at his bank and tries to transfer money from savings to checking so he can buy one of those "astronaut beds". Wiig sells it as the well-meaning CSR. You can't go wrong with a good Pacino impression. :up:

<u>The Killers: When You Were Young</u>: Eh. Most <i>SNL</i> bands in recent years have been complete shit. These guys were nothing special, but at least it didn't make me angry.

<u>Weekend Update: Brian Williams</u>: Brian Williams is preparing to host the show with Amy Poehler, creating an awkward situation where they have to tell him he's been replaced by Seth Meyers. Hilarious. :lol:

<u>Weekend Update</u>: Should have stopped with the Brian Williams bit. Poeher gets no laughs, Meyers gets one with "Give-me-a-reason Bert". Hammond and Rudolph do an idiotic bit as Clinton and Condi Rice, acting like they have a prior romantic relationship. Just an excuse to let Hammond do Clinton, since Forte's Bush is shit. Sudeikis is on as Senator George Allen, which isn't really relevant anymore and wasn't funny. Samberg is Dustin Diamond. *yawn* :down::down::down:

<u>Poland Spring Water Distribution</u>: Forte and Cook are delivery guys for some corporate water company, and they've been hording giant water jugs in their appartment so they can keep the water to themselves. Wiig shows up to find out what's going on, and they try to hide it. Big laughs come from Forte opening the door to the closet while water jugs spill out for minutes. It's good absurdist comedy, but the conclusion kills it as they talk about turning the event into a sketch for <i>SNL</i> and take a really weak shot at <i>Studio 60</i> and <i>30 Rock</i>. :up::down:

<u>The Killers: Bones</u>: See above. Typically, the second song is even more awful than the first, but this was fine.

<u>Farrah Fawcett for Ocean Save</u>: Poehler has a Fawcett impression. The writers don't have a sketch for her. So, she does a brief promo to save the oceans and then wanders through the studio and into the next sketch. Really weird.

<u>Closing Time</u>: Sudeikis and Cook are asshole managers at some Kansas City bar, rudely kicking people out at closing time. It's the "Buh-bye" sketch, but not funny and not original. :down:

<u>Geico Commercial</u>: Parody of the Geico commericals with a "real person" and a celebrity interpreting his comments. Samberg is the real person, and Whitney Houston (Rudolph) is the celebrity. Boring. Whitney Houston's crazy. We get it. She's in 15 sketches a year, and it's rarely funny. :down:

I really liked Dane Cook last season, because he brought a lot of energy and livened up the terrible writing. He was OK this time, but the writing was so terrible that it didn't even give him a chance to freestyle and have fun with it. This was a terrible way to open the season, justifying every bit of criticism the show has been receiving lately.

I give it a rating of Macaca, which on the <b>Goldberg</b> scale, translates to a <b>D</b>.

das

I found the TSA skit to be very funny and raised a great point about the idiocy of the 3 ounce rule. How they cut Parnell and kept Hammond is beyond me. You can hear the collective groan when the screen cuts to Forte doing his Bush "impression".

Good thing I went to bed after the Water Bottle sketch

I liked the first 70% of the Water Bottle sketch, truly bizarre, but then the ending just killed it. Also laughed at Farrah's boob sliding down her dress. While certainly not a good episode, I found my self less disgusted with this one than with most episodes from last season.

I thought Lorne was going to come out (a la Studio 60) as soon as I saw them opening with an unfunny Bush sketch (It was really supposed to be funny? :hscratch: ). I gave the writers way too much credit.

I like how after only two episodes of Studio 60, "Ricky & Ron" has become the standard reason why sketches suck. How long until "Ricky & Ron" gets its own Wikipedia entry?

I remember being in high school and this show was freakin hilarious with the genius cast that never can be replaced. But I wonder...did the 30, 40, something crowd think it was funny then? My son watches SNL and laughs from time to time, but it is way to political for him. His generation is much more MAD TV than SNL, so I think SNL is just floundering, not knowing what audience they are playing to.

Most of the old SNL segments from the past 10-30 years are still funny today, more or less standing the test of time for its legacy. But the past 10 years have been mediocre in comparison to their first 20 years.

I actually somewhat enjoyed the Farrah Fawcett impression. It was just so random, expecially with the boob falling down and her saying "I'm Farrah Fawcett" in the next skit.

I found five minutes of Farrah way more entertaining that any of the many Donatella Vercace impressions.

Other than that I enjoyed this episode pretty much the same as I enjoy most episodes, which isn't much. Why the hell do I keep watching this show?!?!

Weekend insomnia?

There are 3 pages of discussion on this show. Unbelievable.

I loved the Pacino sketch and liked the Clinton/Condi bit, but the rest made me sure that I will not watch another episode of SNL this season.

"I want one of those astronaut mattresses with the glass of wine on top of it. How much do they go for?"
"They're pretty expensive."
"Like how much? $20,000?"
"More like $600."

:lol:

Only decent sketch of the night.

For the most part it was pretty awful. made us actually miss Tina Fey and GASP! Horatio!!!!

I finally got a chance to watch this. I had already read the thread and was expecting the worst, so I was surprised that I got some laughs here. I have definitely seen worse episodes of SNL.

Cold Open: I must be the only person who enoyed this sketch. It was a refreshing change from the usual presidential opening. I thought Forte was hilarious here as he is so clearly bored and uninterested and no one cares that he is there. The highlight was when he rolled his eyes when Samberg said he like politics. :lol: Also loved the New Orleans line. :up: :up:

Monologue: I hate Dane Cook, do not find him funny and I think his episode hosting last year was the worst SNL I have ever seen. That said, I did laugh at the You Tube stuff. I hate that he just comes out with his mike and does his stand-up rather than doing an actual opening monolgue. Seems really lazy to me. At least reference something current. :down:

TSA skit: Pretty funny bit, I liked how the idiot TSA workers turned the tables on them and started asking really pointed questions about the security rules. Even better than Forte's gel line, was Keenan's reaction shot. :up:

Hugo Chavez Political Roundup: Not bad, but no Sinatra Group. I liked how they made fun Musharef for pimping his book. Poehler's Kim Jong-Il was so bad it, it was good. A few laughs.

SNL Digital Short: Not destined to be a classic, but made me laugh. :up:

Al Pacino Checks his Bank Balance: Absolutely hilarious. My son had falen asleep in my arms and I was trying hard not to laugh too loud which was hard, so I was shaking from laughter right from the beginning. My only complaint is that it went on a bit too long. :up: :up: :up:

Brian Williams: nice cameo, but couldn't believe they came back from commercial, did that short bit, then went to commercial again. Thank goodness for Tivo.

Weekend Update: Pretty bad, even for recent WU standards. Too many jokes were not funny, and while the Clinton/Condi thing had promise, it went on far too long to hold my interest. I did giggle at the Dustin Diamond impression, and I liked the Miss Cleo & Elmo jokes. But, too little, too late. :down:

Water Bottle Guys: On paper, this would have sounded like a horrible sketch, but somehow it worked. It was just off the wall enough to give me that WTF laughter. I especially enjoyed the long bit with the dropping of water bottles and the reactions of all the players. It reminded me of "The Trouble with Tribbles". :lol: Even better was when Forte acknowledged that the skit was too long. :up:

Farrah Fawcett: Great impression and I loved the travelling boob. The skit was just short enough to enough and I loved the transition to the next skit, something SNL never really has done before, but reminded me of Monty Python. :up:

Closing Time: Not bad, I had two laughs, one with Poehler piping up as Farrah Fawcett and I also laughed when they slid the nachos into a doggy bag. I bet people who work in bars would love to clear the place out like that.

Geico Ad: I have not seen the ads this was parodying, but I did laugh at Maya Rudolph's Whitney Houston. :up:

Looking back, I realized that I enjoyed most of the skits. They definitely have a lot of work to do and many of the skits have a rough draft feel that could have been improved by more tweaking. Based on skits alone, I would probably give it a B-, but I am lowering my overall grade though based on the host and skimpy content this show had.

Overall grade: C+

I heard someone tell the same joke almost word for word on Opie and Anthony (down to the random characters on someone's t-shirt) a month or so ago. Wonder if they stole it from Cook or, given his reputation, he stole it from someone else.

for the record: it's scientific proof that the Tom Green episdoe was the worst SNL ever.

I actually LIKE the 4th wall break down, at least its something different...and the joke about the water bottle skit going on way too long was a nice cut at themselves

And for the Killers, they had HUGE radio hits on thier last album, but have gone in a new direction with thier new one. They did however play thier most radio friendly songs for SNL. I like them and thier new album.

All in all, the show SUCKED