SNL 40th Anniversay Special

Runnin

Runnin

Well-known member
That really sucked. I know the show isn't as good as it once was but that was such a waste, 2 1/2 hours of clips too short to enjoy and self-congratulatory name dropping. They brought Eddie Murphy back for that?
 
I watched it and was entertained. I have never found SNL to be laugh out loud funny to begin with, though. If I learned one thing it's that comedians apparently age horribly. What the **** happened to Chevy Chase, namely?
 
For 30 years it's been hard to find anyone that thinks SNL is as funny today as it was 10 years ago.

Kinda like they are running against themselves.
40 years is quite a run
 
Strange thing is that "In Living Color" and "Mad TV" were a hell of a lot funnier than SNL and both together didn't last half as long as SNL has.
 
I never liked Mad TV and I was pissed when Comedy Central elected to hire reruns of it over SNL.

In Living Color was awesome, though.
 
IMO SNL had 2 great runs, at the very beginning when Belushi (my personal favorite) Ackroyd, Bill Murray (starting in year 2 I believe) and then back in the early 90's with Carvey, Miller, MacDonald, etc., Most of the other years were hit and miss at best, at least to me.
 
SNL released an App last week that has every sketch ever on it. You can search by year and the person. Best part is that it's free
 
Oklahomahawk said:
IMO SNL had 2 great runs, at the very beginning when Belushi (my personal favorite) Ackroyd, Bill Murray (starting in year 2 I believe) and then back in the early 90's with Carvey, Miller, MacDonald, etc., Most of the other years were hit and miss at best, at least to me.
Click to expand...

That's largely true. There were great moments and stars in other eras (Eddie Murphy in the 80s, Will Farrell in the late 90s/00s) but from a consistent stand point they dont' compare to the 90s or 70s. I mean basically anything Chris did was comic gold.
 
Krgrecw said:
SNL released an App last week that has every sketch ever on it. You can search by year and the person. Best part is that it's free
Click to expand...

I could watch John Belushi during just about anything (I guess my favorite skit if I were to pick one would be Samurai Night Fever) and Bill Murray, Ackroyd and Jane Curtain on Point/Counterpoint, Garret Morris as Chico Escuela, then later Carvey as the Church Lady, Miller and later MacDonald on Weekend Update, for hours on end and love every second of it. Like Zeet added, Chris Farley and Eddie Murphy were good as well, though Farley had more help when he was one the show, I don't remember Murphy being surrounded by as many good people as some of the other greats. I can still remember when Belushi ODed. I think hero or idol is too strong but between John Belushi and my favorite baseball player of my youth, Roberto Clemente both died though for WAY different reasons and in WAY different situations. It definitely left a lasting impact on my outlook on life, probably contributed to my level of cynicism.

Now, since then I've always been pretty much of the Pappy Boyington (the WW2 South Pacific leader of the Black Sheep) school of hero worship, he used to say something along the lines of "show me a hero and I'll prove to you he's a bum". Now while that might be a bit extreme I do pretty much still subscribe to that philosophy, especially after I lost my two favorites. It just never seemed worth the effort to have another one. It taught me a lesson about placing any mortal person on a pedestal.
 
zitothebrave said:
That's largely true. There were great moments and stars in other eras (Eddie Murphy in the 80s, Will Farrell in the late 90s/00s) but from a consistent stand point they dont' compare to the 90s or 70s. I mean basically anything Chris did was comic gold.
Click to expand...

Yeah Farley was really good but even he needed his straight man, Spade was good and he was good on the Hollywood Minute thing he did on Weekend Update. I'm surprised some of the celebrities he lampooned didn't kill him. I'm not that big of a Will Farrell fan, in small doses like in Zoolander, or as a co-staring thing like in Blades of Glory he's great, but too much of him can be a bad thing, at least to me.
 
I was disappointed that the show spent so much time needlessly hyping itself. There were a few funny moments but mostly a giant fail, imo. Not one old folks home skit??? And btw, Paul McCartney sounded horrible. He needs to consider just letting it be.
 
Watched the first hour. Some good bits. There's been some genius in it over the years, but when I see re-runs of skits from the early years, I realize now how stoned I must have been then. I always preferred SCTV to SNL, which shows the difference between live and taped television. SCTV was taped and wasn't on every week, so their stuff always had a little bit more thought involved (at least that's what I thought, but again, I was stoned).

I've been a fan of individual performers on the show. Loved Bill Murray and Gilda Radner from the first troupe. Enjoyed the season that featured Crystal, Short, and Shearer. Unlike Oklahoma Hawk, I think Will Ferrell is just about the funniest guy alive when performing, but some of his sketch work was iffy. Always loved Molly Shannon and Norm MacDonald (who Lorne Michaels supposedly hated). Chris Farley was consistently good and I thought Adam Sandler was really funny when he was funny and kind of meh when he just threw stuff out there. Carvey was brilliant and versatile. Of recent vintage, I guess I've always liked Tina Fey and Amy Poehler the most. I think there is some promise in recent casts, but the writing looks to be a lot more uneven lately.

Whoever mentioned "In Living Color," I agree that it has largely been forgotten and, as a result, doesn't receive the acclaim it deserves.
 
Oklahomahawk said:
Yeah Farley was really good but even he needed his straight man, Spade was good and he was good on the Hollywood Minute thing he did on Weekend Update. I'm surprised some of the celebrities he lampooned didn't kill him. I'm not that big of a Will Farrell fan, in small doses like in Zoolander, or as a co-staring thing like in Blades of Glory he's great, but too much of him can be a bad thing, at least to me.
Click to expand...

Farley needs a straight man as does every great over the top physical actor. Belushi needed Akroyd and so on so forth.

That being said, sometimes being fat and bold is amazing

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top