An official UK version of SNL, overseen by Lorne Michaels, debuted Saturday, with guest host Tina Fey. The show had some rough edges. The Weekend Update segment, normally a highlight of the American version, was a glaring weakness, but the Brits are better than anyone at making fun of the news, so I think they’ll probably figure out the proper rhythm for it.
The cold open was pretty good:
Here’s Tina’s monologue:
These YouTube creators did an outstanding job of researching the history of all the international versions:
By the way, their channel is terrific, one of the very best on YouTube. They have produced a summary show for each season of SNL from 1-25 and counting. (They have released an additional season every month or so, although there was a long gap between #24 and #25.) I discovered the channel a couple of years ago, and found it a wonderfully nostalgic experience to view the recaps year-by-year, not only for memories of the show, but also to see the changes in American pop culture over the years, a subject for which SNL is our time capsule.
I feel sorry for the people in the U.K.being subject to such a woke,unfunny show like SNL
If you’re a Trump-humper and they dare to make fun of the fat orange fuck, that doesn’t mean they’re woke. SNL has made fun of every single prez back to Nixon. I thought the Schweddy Balls bit was funny; partly because it sent up the NPR crowd perfectly.
Lately I’m more like, meh, if there are good bits they’ll be online the next morning. But if you want funny and you literally actually watch TV, the British version might be worth a look. Land of Monty Python, after all.
Michael Che is about as far from politically correct as any person could be on live network TV. This is the guy who ridiculed ScarJo for having a too-meaty vagina, and never passes an opportunity to make a PI joke about women, pedophile priests, ethnic groups, the disabled, venereal disease, or any other subject where his warped mind strays. His jokes about Joe Biden were merciless. He absolutely beams with pride when the audience hates a joke that went too far, making him the true successor to Norm McDonald on the anchor desk.
You want unfunny? Look no further than whatever those MAGA late night shows on FOX News are. Greg Gutfeld and crew are some of the most unfunny cultist shit ever created.
Imagine creating a standup routine where 99% of the jokes are about pronouns and people laughing like its a bad 80s sitcom laugh track on cue.
I find most of SNL’s skits to be lacking, excepting when Gosling is on, and then only because I get a kick out of the fact that Mr. Great Ac-TOR (as Louie DePalma would say) can’t stay in character,.
(Harry Styles, though, was amazingly good!)
That said, the filmed pieces and Weekend Update almost always make me laugh.
I don’t think most shows on a daily or weekly schedule are anything special. Just responding to the comment about the show being unfunny and woke versus the alternative.
Whatever “conservative comedy” is nowadays, its some of the most unfunny soulless shit I’ve ever seen clips of. A lot of bitching about pronouns or trans people, and wishing for the ‘good old days’ of comedy where you could just call someone a retard or make gay jokes or something, but with no context of anything funny and tryhard ‘woke’ bitching.
I’ve seen a bit of one of those Gutfeld shows. A mix of lazy and untalented, and he seems like such a gross little troll.
I don’t watch the full show but will watch some stuff on Youtube and I’ve been surprised at how funny I thought some of it is. There are some lame sketches to be sure, but also some surprise good ones. My guess is the ratio is about as good as it’s ever been. Seeing some of the originals were the pits, and the 90s were just terrible catchphrases. Got better with the WIll Ferrell/Farley/Sandler/Hartman crew, and then better with the more savvy people like Lonely Island. I like Sarah Sherman’s weird sketches and they had one the other week about a mom finally realizing Trump sucks and her kids were going nuts about it, that was funny.
“Ratio is as good as it’s ever been” is about right. Folks tend to compare their distilled best-of memories from years past– a single sketch or two from a whole season– to entire episodes or seasons now, and, yeah, that’s not going to hold up to scrutiny.
Heck, you go back and watch the early stuff, especially the very first episode, yeah, there’s some classic gems but a lot of it is ROUGH.
Oh look, a guy more boring than SNL, a whiner about woke, which the show isn’t anyway. Most be hard to have a one track mind. Or actually, it’s probably easy you never have to think or act like a person.
No person using woke a pejorative term can, or should, be taken seriously. Ignore them as the pederast apologists they are.
Not sure what all these comments are about. I just found Ania Magliano and Emma Sidi hot.