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First, a confession: I’ve never watched a single second of Glee. The reason for this is that I don’t want to. Nothing about that show interests me. Of course, one could argue that as the writer of a pop culture blog, the thing that should interest me about that show, if not the show itself, is the show’s overwhelming popularity and seeming capture of the zeitgeist. Shouldn’t someone who writes a pop culture blog be the least bit curious about a television program that is helping to define a generation (or something)? Shouldn’t someone who writes a pop culture blog be the least bit curious what the hilarious recaps posted on that pop culture blog are actually about? All of these are reasonable questions, and you would be well advised to fire me if I had not already quit. But actually, the real POINT that I am trying to make, is that while I’m glad that Glee, whatever that is, has brought Jane Lynch a much larger profile, Jane Lynch was great long before Glee came along. And so when she dedicated her monologue to the show, and helped create a Gilly-themed Glee parody that probably didn’t even appeal to fans of Glee (and there are no fans of Gilly), it felt off. Jane Lynch should have been invited to host because she’s an incredibly talented comedic actress with a long resume of incredible work. Jane Lynch should have been invited to host because of Party Down, and Role Models, and 40-Year-Old Virgin, and her work with Christopher Guest. Jane Lynch should have been invited to host JUST BECAUSE.
In any case, regardless of what got her there, Jane Lynch did host Saturday Night Live. So let’s talk about it:
It wasn’t that great! It does seem like this show always has a bit of stretching to do after the summer hiatus, and with all of the new performers this season, that stretching period might take a little longer. The extent of this need for everyone to start vibing together and get the show clicking was painfully apparent in at least two sketches that just crumbled in the last 10 seconds due to some unknown technical error? There was that bizarre Denzel Washington Working at Macy’s sketch, which had one of the better premises of the night because that is such a weird premise, and then kind of just was boring and weird and MadTV. I suppose it was educational insofar as I now know that I can only watch about one minute of a Denzel Washington impersonation before getting bored and antsy, and after five minutes of a Denzel Washington impersonation, I’m checking to see if Meet the Press is still on, because like lots of adults, I watch SNL on Sunday mornings. But the reason I brought that sketch up in the first place: did you notice at the end when Denzel Washington disappeared into the back, but then you saw him hovering in the hallway giving Jane Lynch’s character a scowl, and it seemed like there was another part of the sketch about to happen, but then nothing happened, and the closing “joke” of the sketch was Bobby Moynihan just saying “it all worked out fine”? That was weird!
The same thing happened at the end of the Tax Masters sketch, which was the otherwise great “Writer’s Sketch” at the end of the show, where SNL dumps all the genuinely interesting and weird comedy ideas for fear of alienating the people who watch their show, not realizing that the people who watch their show can HANDLE it, and might actually LIKE THE SHOW MORE if the show took risks. But anyway, watch how this one ends:
Just a little sloppy is all. Look, I don’t know how to create an hour and a half of live comedy television. I’m sure it’s incredibly difficult in ways that wouldn’t even make sense to me. But that’s also their job. And considering that comedy is subjective and some jokes work and some jokes don’t work, it’s hard enough to create an appealing and enjoyable show without straight up hearing the stage crew barking stressed demands into their walkie talkies in the background as the sketch’s joke is stepped on and we cut to commercial.
ANYWAY! At least Jane Lynch seemed to be having fun? She was good in Secret Word:
And also Mom’s New Boyfriend:
Is it me, or does Saturday Night Live have way more sketches about awkward pre-teens these days? Fair enough. They are good sketches. It’s just a TREND that has been DULY NOTED.
The Christine O’Donnell parody ad made a really funny point that made me laugh out loud and which I had not actually read or heard anywhere before:
As obvious as it might seem, I hadn’t actually heard anyone directly connect how funny it is to deny being a witch before launching into the whole “I’m you” thing, because of how we are all constantly having to deny being a witch. Haha. (You know what else is hilarious? Christine O’Donnell in general.)
Also, the Mom’s on Facebook thing would probably have been a slightly better zing a year or two ago when that was a genuinely new thing that people were dealing with (considering how The Social Network was the number one movie in the country for the second week in a row, people are now dealing with the fact that their moms don’t just know what Facebook is, they know THE STORY OF FACEBOOK, so), but it was still pretty well done:
And there you go. (I didn’t even watch the Bruno Mars performances. Let me guess: they were terrible?) The episode was uneven, and felt a little off at times, but it was a reminder that no matter what, Jane Lynch is the best.
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I STILL don’t know what a Bruno Mars is. Excuse my while I drink my prune juice, call my grandchildren and get to bed before the sun sets.
For being an unknown entity, he has an extensive wikipedia page.
I believe it was an old wooden ship used in the civil war era…. either that or the title character of the Eddie Murphy film “The Adventures of Bruno Mars”….
I think it’s German for “a whale’s vagina.”
I don’t know who that is either, but that is a really stupid band name. Incidentally, is it a band?
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dick in a box…just that
because like lots of adults, I watch SNL on Sunday mornings.
Monsters: What shows do you watch “live,” i.e., immediately when they’re first broadcast? Mad Men is the only show I do so.
30 Rock! And this thursday my universe is going to implode; 30 Rock live LIVE!
ditto squared
Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Everything else, which isn’t that much, is DVR.
The closest I come to watching a non-HBO show live is waiting until my DVR has recorded 1/4 of the show so I can fastforward the commercials.
Exactly what I do. STAY AWAY FROM THE COMMERCIALS, SHEEPLE!
SprotzBalls
#Sprotz
i watch all my tv on hulu, and the best part is i have NO CLUE when modern family is actually on (don’t tell me!), so i kind of forget about until like, sunday night when i’m all sad that the weekend is over and i have to go back to work. then BOOM! i remember i still haven’t watched modern family.
it’s like finding $5 in your coat pocket ONCE A WEEK!
I am of course FAR too busy to watch television live.
Now! Off to submit my Internet comment!
oh man, i watch WAY more tv than lots of people i know. i just don’t watch it live. don’t me mean!
As a busy grad student, as well as now living in Canada with no cable, I now watch no shows live. I just sit in my little lab, with no lights on, trying to stay warm by the glow of my laptop monitor, reading papers and eating undergrads for dinner…
However, I’d like to take this time to give thanks (Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!). I have the day off, so I can sit around and watch all the TV I missed last week on various Canadian networks online. THANKS, CANADA, I AM THANKFUL FOR YOUR DEDICATION TO KEEPING ME ENTERTAINED.
If you get bored, you could always go to the mall…TODAY!
The Daily Show, cause I wanna be there when that bigot Stewart finally lets it slip that he’s in control of the media
If it’s a Thursday night and I’m home from work in time, I will park my butt on the couch for “Community”, “30 Rock”, “The Office”, and probably “It’s Always Sunny” and “The League” (which KILLED this week, by the way. Bring back Raffi ASAP). I’ll DVR “Project Runway” and “Jersey Shore” for the weekend. Thursdays are HARD, y’all.
None. I can’t handle it anymore! I watch everything the next day.
Jane Lynch is the best, so I enjoyed this episode. Yes, it was uneven, yes, Gilly makes me want to stab myself in the temple to make it stop, but still, I had more Jane Lynch in my life than I would have without it, so I cannot disapprove.
This whole thing with SNL for me seems similar to your feelings on Glee, G-funk.
In general, I don’t like Saturday Night Live all that much anymore, nor do I have time for it on first airing. And as I watch the clips with you guys, like a family, I laugh sparingly.
I feel as though this show has long since passed being able to say anything timely or relevant. They’re stuck scanning (and scamming off of) ideas from the internet.
Within their now obsolete of-the-moment timeliness, they are still doing the same shit. Only SO MANY Women at one time, and ONLY SO MANY Minorities, please. Sorry, duders, white folks are becoming another face in the crowd, but you’re telling me that there aren’t talented comedians out there of other races?
In the words of the sole skit I like on this shit show (now Devoid of any J Slate, which is total BS),
“OOOOH WEEEE
WHAT UP WITH THAT
WHAT UP WITH THAT” *
*And how fucked up is it that my Sole Fave Sketch from this group is the Partially Racist Parody of a Preacherman Skittin and Skattin?
I know people like that Jenny Slate chick alot around here so this probably won’t gain me any friends saying this but here goes…
Jenny Slate didn’t have one funny moment on her entire season of SNL.
I submit to you sir, Tina Tina Chaneuse. The defense rests, your Honor.
this face:
Tina Tina and her doorbells/alarm clocks/weed-whackers was funny ONCE.
It was like the Jane Lynch/Andy Samberg power hour (and a half)! I have not watched Glee either, so wasn’t sure if that sketch was funny only to Glee fans. What say ye, Soft Gabe? Also, it seems like they write sketches featuring the new guy’s impersonations for the sole purpose of putting the new guy in a sketch, rather than because they are relevant or funny. And lastly, Nasim Pedrad performed one of the funnier cold opens in a long time completely solo and yet she hasn’t been promoted to full cast member. Get your heads out of your asses, SNL!
I remember last season, not really liking Nasim that much…but I also didn’t dislike her, she was just there. This season, I just want to marry her. I mean, I’m sure she’s been this great all along and my eyes were closed before, but I feel like she’s been extra killing it, when they actually allow her to be on the show.
Agreed! How did she not get an upgrade?!
For the record, the hulu link posted above for the Tax Masters sketch doesn’t contain the BIG GOOF. If you want to see it, it’s in the last ten seconds of the one posted here:
http://tv.gawker.com/5660102/snl-spoofs-the-tax-masters-commercial
Regardless of the weird ending where he didn’t know where to stand in the background, I thought the Denzel Washington skit was fantabulous. Sure, it might have been 60 seconds too long, but it was rock solid. I can see that coming back as a recurring sketch. You can put Denzel in any situation and just say he’s doing research for a role.
This Jay Pharoahe (sp?) guy gets on my last nerve. It looks like he will be in one sketch per week just to do an ok impression that goes on for too long. But that’s just me!
I’m totally with you on this one. He kind of sounds like the guy he’s impersonating and he has some of the same mannerisms but they don’t even bother with hair and makeup to make him look like the person. It’s almost like they are saying “All black people look alike.” It really bothers me and his sketches go on way too long.
I actually said the same thing regarding Jane Lynch to a friend too. It bothers me, even as a Glee watcher!, that that is what she is getting so famous for. My friend argued that she has been famous all along and I replied with “Well, she never hosted SNL before, and also, fuck you, agree with me.” So I won that argument. However, I did enjoy the episode and especially her monologue, because she is just very good at her job.
i liked the facebook skit, mom’s boyfriend, and digital short… the funniest part of the digital short was when she first appeared next to him.
i don’t ever watch SNL, so i don’t know what she is like all the time, but i really don’t find kristen wiig very funny.
i have always considered jane lynch to be the funniest actress. she steals every scene she is in. i loved the pilot of glee, but even my love for jane lynch could not keep me tuned in – the lip synching was too much.
I’m amazed by SNL’s consistency when it comes to just dragging everything out for 12 hours. Gilly didn’t even enter the Glee parody until about 2 minutes of Glee references I didn’t understand because why should I. Did anyone else notice how they cut to the “wave goodbye” about midway through Jane Lynch’s goodbye wavings, then didn’t even play the credits? Maybe they wouldn’t have been so crunched for time there at the end if Gilly had just suffered brain death instead of coming into a sketch that was already over.
I’ll never understand how that character keeps getting brought back, it’s just 5 minutes of the worst attempts at humor possible.
Her character that’s supposed to be super sexy but always does gross shit is maybe worse though.
Now, bear with me, I didn’t watch it live. So if I’m off base here and Will Forte made a surprise appearance, apologies in advance. But – *places two cents on the table* – a majority of the funny of Gilly was Will Forte. No one can say Gilly like Forte. The magic was the interplay between Forte and the rest of the people, in particular Gilly. So take away Forte and, well, you get what I presume happened.
this is true– also– the only gilly skit i ever found funny was the one with drew barrymore as the italian gilly– but any episode hosted by certain people like her, hamm, or baldwin will be good because either the writers love them or they’re just that good.
“All of these are reasonable questions, and you would be well advised to fire me if I had not already quit. ”
I’m not a Gleek or whatever, but I have seen a few episodes and my second thought in the Gilly sketch (after “go away Gilly sketch”) was that SNL really needs an Asian cast member.
Jane Lynch was great on SNL, highlighted further by the fact that the show seemed so disorganized. There were the aforementioned Denzel skit (which I still enjoyed because I thought the impression was spot-on) and Tax Masters skit, but even the Gilly skit didn’t coalesce. I know most people probably didn’t care because OMG GILLY KILL IT WITH FIRE, but it looked like people were missing cues and such, and it just stumbled onto its ending when the cast finally woke up and remembered they had to sing “Don’t Stop Believing” to end the thing.
Despite all that, Jane Lynch did very well with her performances.
Also, Bruno Mars? I appreciate the effort, but no. Please, no.
I really liked how in the “Glee” sketch the writers tried to incorporate some Sue Sylvesterisms and none of them even came close to how good they are on the show. But overall I thought it was an okay episode and she seemed game for it, which I think makes a huge difference.
“I’ve got a $5 coupon from Kohl’s…” LOL. Moms DO love Kohl’s, it’s so true.
Who is Paul Brittain, and why is he in the credits? Did they give a PA a title credit? It’s weird cause I haven’t seen him at all. Huh. You know, I’ll give NBC a call about this little oversight…
Last week’s Johnny Depp.
where is the chris collinsworth love?
I’ve met Gilda Radner and you, Kristen Wiig, are no Gilda Radner.
Lovespring International, anyone? I was so angry when that was cancelled. Jane Lynch at her Jane Lynchest.
Jon Stewart mentioned the “Well, Christine O’Donnell, you’re not really me, because I’ve never had to deny being a witch” thing on The Daily Show the day that commercial aired. Still, SNL took it a few steps further. “I lack a sufficient number of newts”.
New Boyfriend Talk Show was terrific. Just Samberg, Lynch, and Sudekis doing what they do best, a solid ramp up, and an envelope pushing Magic Johnson joke that totally caught me off guard.
If Armisen’s Gene Simmons had tried to sell her a Toyota in a wink to Scharpling and Wurster, it would have been catapulted into legend status.
Regarding the Facebook sketch: I’d like to point out that most of those jokes can be found on College Humor. Here’s one example: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1790562 (That’s right, I go to College… Humor. Contain your jealousy, please.)
I hate Glee but I love Jane Lynch and you’re absolutely right about the fact that she should have been offered a hosting gig a long time ago. She made the best out the half-assed sketches they stuck her with.
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