Weekly SNL thread — Page 43

Madonna doesn't need to know her lines.

She's Ma-F'in-donna.

Duh.

Agree that the Speech Critic was hilarious. I've watched it a couple of times and find it funnier and funnier.

Not a Gaga fan, but she held her own. Overall, a good episode!
The opening was perfect.

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Well, if there's an opportunity for me to talk about penis, I come running!

J/k....





But not really....

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Finally saw the Old Gaga skit - and it actually seemed like a pretty deep few minutes on fame and those seeking the spotlight. There were jokes, but there was also a sadness to it.

I give Gaga props for putting herself out there like that.

It makes me sad that the mayor of my city is such a ridiculous embarrassment that he was the subject of the cold opening.

I love arguments that are essentially "there are no people of color as long as you overlook the person of color".

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OMG, John Goodman is hosting???? I. CAN. NOT. F'ING. WAIT!!!!!!

Not to open an old wound but does anyone else find it odd that SNL faced criticism about a lack of diversity and then booked all white male host and performers for December? Is Lorne that big of an ass?

I don't know how the producers pick the artists. There are only four Saturdays in December. While Lorne is the producer, is it unsafe to say that there's a team of them that book the music gigs? While there are plenty of bands/singers of color, would it be applicable that none of the big names (read: ratings) were available, didn't have new music, etc? Could it be that only white men were available for these weeks?

Lorne could just be letting his KKK flag fly, but I don't think its that easy. They could've asked Alicia Keys (just to throw out a name) but she's busy on tour or whatever.

It could be that every else has prior commitments. I don't think its fair to blame Lorne/SNL for not hiring men and women of color.

If I've skipped an article that says that Lorne chose white men over every one else, then I'll gladly retract this post.

(I just hope they're not that folksy bull****. "yeah" repeated six times is not a lyric.)

"It could be that every else has prior commitments. I don't think its fair to blame Lorne/SNL for not hiring men and women of color."

Well it has never really "hurt" the show before so I am sure he never really had his feet to the fire for not hiring minorities when it has always been about whether or not it has been funny or they have found young talent. Eddie Murphy's discovery was not really about his skin-color, although he got to do skits that I am sure even today's SNL could not do, but that he was the first real lightning in a bottle talent talent they found since the first cast cycle. Lorne on race on the show has not nearly been intensely scrutinized as the show's history of dealing with sexism in the workplace. The sexism seems like a relic of the past but that seems more to do with the fact female cast-members have spoken up about that part of the show for decades.

Let's also note a lot of the places where Lorne has always found these people for the show, Second City, UCB, Groundlings, etc., all have their diversity problems too. Maybe there is just something to the fact those places seem incredibly closed off to people who can capitalize their comedy in other avenues like the internet. Even just looking at the writing than the sketch players, the SNL writers room has always had the rep as, 'Writers from the Harvard Lampoon' (It varies from Conan O'Brien and Al Franken to Frank Rich's kid). It just feels like a different kind of comedy than Key & Peele, Eric Andre, Dave Chappelle, or even say a Tim & Eric.

I mean Lorne got that many years of Fred Armisen playing Obama, and frankly every other minority under the sun, with not that much scrutiny to the point I am sure he can get away with anything to do with race on the show. People will still watch and people will still find something or somebody funny on the show.

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 11:25 AM

After I saw that I gave up. That was beyond lame. If that made the show, I would hate to see what did not make it.

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Agreed, Clyde. Probably the worst episode of the season thus far.

I think people forget there are also lots of shifts in the writers room too. Mulaney was a big loss and usually there are one or two who leave the show to write for other television shows. Seth staying on and righting the ship in addition to writing and cast subtractions cannot be easy in addition to the hiring practices being scrutinized.

Look up Tina Fey on the Howard Stern show from years ago. She and Artie Lange actually tell Howard and Robin their whole try-out stories for SNL. Both of their experiences sound pretty maddening and stressful despite in one case, Tina got the job and made it big and Lange is certainly not slumming it at all despite getting rejected.