Photos
I. Prehistory: When I was in middle school, everyone watched Saturday Night Live. Or, everyone with a television did. There were certainly students in my school whose families couldn’t afford one. They were usually the kids who got teased the most. I didn’t get to watch it but that was because my parents wouldn’t let me stay up past ten, even on a weekend. We had plenty of televisions.
The kids who had watched Saturday Night Live would gather on the playground at recess or after school while waiting for the bus and talk about how funny it had been and quote catchphrases back and forth to one another, frothing with laughter. I would laugh too, but I never really got the jokes because I hadn’t seen the show. Something about a lady in church who thought things were special and chef who was very neat. I laughed so people would like me. Of course, that never works.
This playground group discussion was earliest example of what we now call the Saturday Night Live Open Thread. Kentucky preteens in Jams and Jellies acting out short bits of the show behind the swingset were proto-.gifs. The kid in the jean jacket with the sleeves cut off who would say, “That show sucks” was a troll and when he punched you, that was like a downvote.
II. Now: I never really developed a taste for the show and did not watch this past Saturday, despite the fact that I really like Zach Galifianakis. Instead, I sat in my bathroom, the only place where I get Internet, and watched people on the Videogum chat watch Saturday Night Live. Blankly I watched a screen of people blankly watching a screen.
The last time I watched Saturday Night Live happened to be the first time Zach Galifianakis hosted and I laughed a great deal because I think he is very funny. Of course, I didn’t watch the whole thing, just the monologue. Maybe I watched more. I don’t remember. There are other things in my mind that I am trying to remember more. There just isn’t room for everything.
Just as before, the monologue from this past Saturday’s episode (see above) was very funny and made me laugh loudly in a crowded McAlister’s Deli, spewing sweet tea on my faux-marble table. Zach Galifianakis has a good face for funny.
III. The End of Time: But let’s get to what I didn’t think was funny:
Not only could I not watch past this skit, I could not watch more than a few minutes of it before I turned it off and turned to my half-finished ice tea and stared sadly off into space for a while. Let’s put aside for a moment the problem of the fact that the skit was repetitive and unimaginative. That complaint applies to most Saturday Night Live skits. What put me off was that it was just a whole skit about rape in prison which doesn’t strike me as funny.
Thinking that perhaps I was being too dismissive, I asked my friend A Serious Monster (who’d actually watched the whole skit) what she thought:
Here are the thoughts I had while watching the Scared Straight sketch:
-Ugh, a prisoner rape joke.
-Ugh, another.
-I guess I should count how many prisoner rape jokes are in this sketch, for fun and for science.
-This conceit (every story someone tells is actually the plot of a movie) was done much better on The Office, four or five years ago.
-Zach Galifianakis pacing in a straitjacket is funny. THERE. ONE FUNNY THING.
-I hate Andy Samberg.
-Final score: 11 prison rape jokes. 12 if you count the one at the end that is repeated (“What happens in your ass stays in your ass”). I wonder if the word-for-word reiteration of that joke is some kind of self-aware commentary on ALL prison rape jokes. Does this sketch end with the admission that its every stupid pun, from “colon first” to “baby’s arm in your caboose,” is the same goddamn joke? Is it a subtle indictment of the lazy, shallow appeal of this kind of unimaginative humor? Nah. It is just a bad joke, told twice, signifying nothing.
Now, perhaps one person who doesn’t watch or like Saturday Night Live asking another person who doesn’t watch or like Saturday Night Live why they didn’t like Saturday Night Live is not the best way to critique the show. So let me ask: What say you?
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“I do not get American comedy. I ask for humor and they give me rape jokes. Oooooooh, funky boy!”
You know when you come home and your girlfriend is eating dookie? Beeeeeeeeeef Jelly. Kenan two for two this week.
Concert Addict, waiting on those gifs…
It’s not beef Jelly but it is Kenan
Well this was one of the least funny of these sketches. Any anything that keeps Wiig in the wings is a-okay by me.
I don’t watch The Office, but the thing where every story somebody tells is from a movie was done long before that, on an episode of Wings*, in which Joe and Brian met a friend of their father, who did exactly that.
*Not being a part of any TGIF lineup, Wings would not normally fall under my area of expertise. However, it was still an excellent program from the 90s, and also Amy Yasbeck was one of my earliest crushes, so it has been granted a full scholarship into the exclusive list of Stuff That Facetaco Can Remember From His Childhood.
“Wings” was on longer than “Gunsmoke”. SCIENCE FACT
An even more science fact- Bonanza and Law and Order are the same show.
The Bonanza Los Angeles remake made no sense
Gunsmoke was centered around the character Marshall Dillon, who was portrayed by James Arness. He played the character for twenty consecutive years, which is tied for longest-running portrayal of a character. He is tied with Kelsey Grammer, who played Frasier Crane in Cheers and Frasier, and who also had a cameo on Wings.
The circle of life.
Anyone else find it odd that 80% of the monologue was like 4 years old? I mean it was funny but…
Really? Only 4 years old? Then how does he grow such a magnificent beard?!
my beard it hoits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLD6m7u0qG0
I do not know how the SNL writing process works, but I figure that when someone with the esteemed comedy background of Mr. Galifianakis comes on the show, the staff lets the performer do their own stuff for the monologue. So, maybe Zach just has not written much material in the past four years because he has been doing movies and Bored to Death and whatnot.
Concert Addict, thank you. And ZG, THANK YOU.
I LOVED the Catchphrase Comedy Tour. Boston Powers — Seriously? That was one of the funniest sketches of the year.
Too soon.
Two words: Boston Powers.
This comment is brought to you by three hours of sleep and apparently being unable to read. I agree with what you said a lot! Now back to bed!
Seth Meyers in a sketch and not just Weekend Update?! *swoon*
Bobby was sooooo 3rd Bass in that sketch. The best!
I agree. Best sketch of the night. We had to pause the DVR to catch up on our laughter!
i really enjoyed the canadian sketch! anyone else?
I wasn’t thrilled the first time Zach hosted and I was wasn’t thrilled this time, either. In fact, I was super duper disappointed. The monologue was great and then everything turned into total garbage. I love Zach’s comedy, but it just falls so flat in the SNL framework.
That’s exactly how I felt about the first one and the reason I’m just going to avoid this one altogether.
Just when I thought Jams had completely left my sub conscience, BAM!
Jam, Bam, thank you Mans!
I tried to watch it but was falling asleep by the time it came on. I woke up periodically and witnessed the following:
1. The end of the monologue where Zach was pulling up his Annie dress and showing his underwear (funny, I guess?).
2. The Digital Short, which was TBS very funny.
3. The Scared Straight skit, which was not. How many times are they going to run these recurring skits into the ground that weren’t even funny the first time around?
Did anyone else think that JSuds saying “monsters” during the Scared Straight skit was a shoutout to us? Because I’d like to think that.
Everybody likes you.
Kids interview to the Zach Galifinakis’ assistant the darndest things, right?
I have not watched SNL in ages, and I likewise find rape jokes to be both unfunny and lazy. So keeping with pi day, here is my favorite pie crust recipe.
1 1/3 c flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold water
1 stick butter (room temp.)
have a 1 gallon plastic bag (for ease)
sift together flour, sugar, and salt
dice butter and cut into dry mixture
add water, handmix into dough
put dough into plastic bag and seal, place in fridge for 30 minutes (don’t ask why. It is the baking faries’ will)
take dough out of fridge, and while still in bag, roll into circle. The bag can be opened at the seams to remove. It is much less frustrating that doing it on the counter, in my experience.
Double if you need a bottom crust and a top crust, no doy.
Um. I found this on the internet, but cannot remember the source. Whomever shared this recipe, thanks! IT is rad!
Oh man, Cooks Illustrated has a brilliant pie crust recipe that uses vodka to add liquid but not too much gluten: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/login.asp?docid=11572. It is the best! Brilliantly flaky and buttery and tender.
Hold the phone. Vodka AND pie? Be still, my heart!
I love Cooks Illustrated. They’re generally like, “So what is a food that Superglue likes? Can we combine it with some other food she likes to make it into a Super Superglue Approved Food? Let’s find out!” Also they are so nerdy about it that it’s just charming.
#recipegum.
TWROAT?
I want this thing to happen.
TWROAT: Lutefisk
http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/lutfisk.htm
Read at your own risk. Warning – once you see, it cannot be unseen. Pray you are never asked (which means forced in Minnesotan) to partake in such a feast.
Wait wait, lbt, you’ve eaten lutefisk? How are you alive? Please don’t do that again, I don’t want to see you getting hurt by your meals.
I have, and I believe I survived unless this is really the island or something, and we are all in purgatory or something. I probably should have paid more attention to the finale of Lost.
Anyhoo, I do not recommend lutefisk unless you hate joy. If that is the case, though, have at it!
Like Armin Tamzarian before her, have we decided just to pretend Jessie J never happened, because I am fine with that.
Holy balls. I just checked out one of her videos. I think “unspeakable terrified” best describes how I feel right now.
Shut up, “Do It Like A Dude” is my lesbian jam.
But yeah, girl is terrifying.
I had no clue who Jesse J was before Saturday Night and I now have no desire to ever figure out who she is after watching her performances:
Scary as balls.
According to her wiki, her second single Price Tag “remained at number-one for two exclusive weeks.” I don’t know why I find that so funny.
What’s going to save the music industry? A slutty female Jason Mraz, that’s what!!!
I fell asleep before Weekend Update, making this about the 43rd consecutive time I’ve failed to make it through the entire show. The moral of the story is that if I’m at home watching SNL on a Saturday night, it’s probably because I was too sleepy to do anything else.
Good monologue, though. Based on that alone, I vote we make him permanent host.
I LOL’d that the writers had to write Holly Robinson Peete out of “The Talk” sketch because they needed Kenan Thompson for that lame Whoopi joke at the end. When most of your cast is white why even bother trying to look diverse? Also see: Kristin Wiig playing an Asian American television personality.
See also the white guy (or venezuelan, german and japanese guy? thanks wikipedia?) that plays the president.
Yeahhhhhhh. Also, Kenan might not be the best suited person to play Holly Robinson Peete. Why again does SNL not hire more (or, currently, any) women of color? Wouldn’t they like, at the very least, to avoid these sorts of awkward situations?
I agree about Kenan. Kenan in drag has become a joke in itself. When they made the comment about Peete being out of town I thought maybe Kenan had a family emergency or something making the Whoopi reveal all the more hilarious.
Seriously, I feel like they loved Maya Rudolf for that reason, cause being biracial she had a range of characters she could play. But having Keenan play the big black girl is getting pathetic. (Although I do kind of love him as Raven and Whoopi)
I enjoyed the Sarah Gilbert though
The last two sketches were by far, the best. The Titanic stowaways and the parents explaining how the family dog died.
I believe I just laugh whenever Zach Galifianakis yells at somebody.
IT’S NOT FUNNY! THE HOT TUB IS TOO HOT!
I love those Absolut Tim and Eric commercials more than any sketch ever on SNL.
I’m pretty sure Bill Hader could just read War and Peace to me and I would still find it the funniest thing in the world. Everything he does is great! I’m glad they contained Charlie Sheen jokes to just a part of the cold open (which I highly enjoyed? Anyone else?), but man. Hader/Myers 2012!
Tangentially related: I heard on NPR today that TLC is looking to make a documentary on Charlie Sheen. To which I say yikes, yikes, and yikes again.
The Wayans brothers built the pyramids.
Bill Hader will be doing a part of the audiobook in Sarah Vowell’s new book. He did a portion of it at the Live WTF the other night, so you’re one step closer to the war and peace thing happening.
I don’t really watch SNL either, but I watched it this week (as I did during Nightmare’s guest spot) so I could comment on the Mans vg recap. Here’s what I thought:
1. The Star was weak, but MR G, did some weird sing-a-long thing that was reminiscent of Andy Kaufman’s more accessible side. I did not find it particularly funny but I did enjoy Mr G’s willingness to play along with SNL. The Mr T thing, although silly, was another example of this.
2. The rape joke skit. I’ve never really liked that skit, not because it’s offensive, I just find it repetitive and overdone. I did however like MR G’s performance, not only because he did a good job, but also for the above mentioned reason.
3. The dog sketch was by far the best sketch I’ve seen in a long time. It was weird and quirky in a way that it would have perfectly fit in with some of the classic SNL skits from the 70s. This one alone was worth the price of admission.
4.The High Fructose Corn Syrup sketch, Zach talking to kids, The King of Catchphrases were all quality segments. Nothing revolutionary, but all really well made.
5. I don’t think Mr G is that great of a standup comedian, but he is most, undeniably probably the greatest comedic actor right now.
6. Ham… BURGER!!!
To be honest, I didn’t watch even though I love Galifanszkisz. That said, Prison Rape is one of those things you dont ask former inmates about, and they don’t discuss. But it’s there, it’s awful, it’s pervasive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEQkX8bdM1Y (It’s illegal, but sometimes the inmates do run the asylum) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9WClv4U5B8&feature=related
But I think mining it for humor, while as lazy as a rape joke or the racist type jokes Zach made in his monologue, is comedically ok. Words are powerful, you just need to have a grasp on intent. (?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ5HijcicZs
While I understand what you are saying, I don’t think intent really matters that much. For example, intent may be what we say separates Sarah Silverman from Jeff Dunham, but in the end, I just don’t think that there is that much difference between the two.
Humor is non-logical. When you hear a joke and laugh, your mind does not consider the joke, determine its meaning and intent and then make a choice to laugh or not. It is instinctual and closer to vomiting than it is rational thought.
So my fear is that when a comic tells a race joke (or something else I would say offends me) and I laugh, my saying “Oh, but it was ironic” or “It was just a joke to try and push buttons, the comic did not mean it” that I am still just laughing because the joke triggered something in my baser self and that the critical context, which can be completely invisible to the person to hears the joke, is just an afterthought.
This isn’t to say that there can’t be good humor based on race or sex or something else, but they are best when they are used to attack racism or sexism or violence or oppression and not when they are used to reinforce those things.
I completely agree: Words Do Matter. Words can make people feel good. Words can make people feel bad. I remember in the 1990s when there was a lot of attention on music and its negative impact on the youth. The defense of music I heard was “Hey, music can’t make you kill yourself or hurt someone else.” I never liked that idea. If music can’t make me feel bad and unhappy and hateful then music can’t make me feel happy and loved and loving and kind. I very strongly believe that words–as literature, as comedy, as lyric–matter and have meaning and can ennoble the human spirit and can degrade it just as well.
My point being, there are probably funny ways to attack social ills, such as prison rape, but this wasn’t one. The intent here was to just have a string of lazy puns about committing violence against other humans.
I was sort of stood up on Saturday night (yep, that’s right. old school style.) and my sole comfort was knowing that, despite the hour drive, I would make it home in time for SNL (have you put this all together yet? let me help. I drove one (1) hour to be stood up, and then had to drive one (1) hour home again) which was good because ZG would surely be very funny. And so I get home (and by home I mean to my parents’ house, since my roommate’s girlfriend was over and I didn’t want to interrupt. seriously, it was a great weekend) and I make myself a vodka and cran (DIET cran, gross) and sit down to watch, and it was not funny and I did not laugh. Not one time.
At least you can be very proud of your daughter?
I have a giant crush on Zach Galifianakis. My friends think it’s weird, but what lady can resist a beard like that?
yeah. I’d hit it.
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I will give anyone here five dollars if they sign up and actually meet a hot celeb.
I’m always impressed by ZG’s willingness to do anything for a laugh. I loved the Mr. T sketch joke at the end.
Am I the only one who thinks he looks kind of hot like this? Ladies, am I right?
I want to go there.
Insert joke here.
Insert reply.
@Mans, doesn’t the type of joke determine how rationally we approach its understanding? Your overview leaves no room for subtle, ironic, understated or other less obtuse forms of humor that don’t only trigger on one, base level. Surely you don’t ascribe to a Freudian construct of humor, wherein all jokes we find humorous achieve their status by virtue of their resonance with our subconscious? Because Freud was an asshat.
Racist jokes for example, can be funny to me in certain circumstances. Actual racist beliefs are outdated, small minded, and repugnant, but if a comedian tells an exaggeratedly racist joke, it often leaves the impression that the racist, not the race, is actually being mocked. Take Chapelle’s sketch ‘The Black White Supremacist’, as just one example of this.
According to your analysis, any one who laughs at Clayton Biggsbys’ racial screeds is subconsciously identifying with his views. Irrespective of context, jokes tend to lose all of their humor, and in the case of the Chappelle skit, all meaning completely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wITchV88Gjk&feature=related
I am familiar with the idea of ‘enlightened sexism/racism’, which I am sure proponents of said idea could accuse me of. They would probably frown at my, for another example, laughing at overtly sexist comments made by characters on Mad Men. But that would be ludicrous, because it ignores all context, and insists that there is only one way to take a joke. There’s undeniable humor in the misogynists of Mad Men, because they are so sure of such obviously wrong and stupidly held beliefs. The satire has existed for centuries. How on earth could you appreciate satirical humor without context?
There’s no way all responses to jokes occur on a subliminal level, because in many situations the full structure of a joke is two or three layers: context is so crucial to our understanding of humor that separating it from the reactions it produces seems impossible.
As for SNL, it had several high points, with less lows than the usual episode this season. I agree that the prison rape sketch was a one-trick pony, and a not too funny one, at that. However, I feel as though the OP and most of the more serious comments here completely focused on the punch lines without acknowledging the context.
These things are of course subjective, but to me the joke was in how hokey and self-important Keenan’s character was, not really what he said. To call it offensive is about the thinnest-skinned response imaginable, and it ignores all but one facet of the skit (not that it was that deep of a sketch or anything, my argument here applies more generally)
the fact is people crack non-PC jokes all the time in ‘real life’, risque/ ‘edgy’ humor can be just as valid as high brow gags, sometimes even funnier, and that all reductionist, essentialist narrowing down does is kill all humor in a joke, it makes pretend people don’t have the conversations and harmless jokes that they actually do, and pressures people at large into the dominant discourse where nobody gets their feelings hurt but nobody is allowed to laugh, either.
http://video.adultswim.com/aqua-teen-hunger-force/standards-and-practices.html
TL;DR – this guys thinks rape is hilarious
yes, that is exactly what I am saying.
I read all (most) of all (some) of your posts because someone has to.(?) Why are you all dissing (sleeping) on SNL? It’s just trying to entertain you (middle schoolers).
I don’t think the sketch is making fun of prison rape; it’s making fun of scared straight programs that exploit the threat of prison rape in order to make kids behave. When I was in high school, there was an assembly every year where they basically did make prison rape jokes for an hour, all to keep us from smoking drugs. Smart comedians should be critiquing that sort of thing.
Having said that, it’s still not a very good sketch.