Nov 23, 2008 08:30 AM
7,375
Enter your username and password.
New York, 4:17 AM
Thu Dec 17
0 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@gawker.com
Tipline: 646-214-8138
Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder | Email
West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield | Email
Contributing Editors:
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email
Media:
Hamilton Nolan | Email
Politics:
Alex Pareene | Email
Investigations:
John Cook | Email
Entertainment:
Brian Moylan | Email
Nights:
Adrian Chen | Email
Azaria Jagger | Email
Ravi Somaiya | Email
Weekends:
Foster Kamer | Email
Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley | Email
Politics took a backseat on last night's Saturday Night Live. After opening with a less than hilarious satire of the congressional hearing with Detroit automakers, the show tried to squeeze jokes out of country singer and host Tim McGraw saying slightly unexpected things for an hour. Even the most promising concept of the week — Andy Samberg as White House chief of staff-to-be Rahm Emanuel — was left on the cutting room floor, although NBC did offer it up as a web-only clip. Is it a laugh riot? Well, it wasn't on the show for a reason, but at least SNL writers have found one Obama administration joke that might be worth returning to. Click for the best bits in a long night.
There are those for whom John Belushi and Gilda Radner was the last SNL worth watching. The next generation insisted that the show could never recover from the losses of Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Adam Sandler. Then Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan represented yet another peak that couldn't be reached. Really, it's just sketch comedy, and it's hit or miss no matter who the members of the cast are. And when you're opening your show with a satire of a congressional hearing with Detroit automakers, you know it's going to be a long night.
That makes it even more inexplicable that they're not doing more with Andy Samberg's sadistic Rahm Emanuel character. If you can't get a laugh out of a little Jewish man going crazy on a congressman, you have problems.
When even Kristen Wiig is having an off-night, you know the cast just needs sleep. Here's her clear retainer sketch featured after the monologue.
A Bond parody is always death, although this one wasn't too terrible. Still, you kinda felt like you were watching Jeff Foxworthy.
Do we really need another sketch where a white guy gets jokes for acting like a rapper? At least T-Pain half-saves this one. Although frankly, the weird human sculptures in his second song were more entertaining.
Bill Hader's Dateline parody wasn't terrible, but come on. We know they're considering hiring a new Obama, but the show's writers can't think of anything fun to do with Fred Armisen in the meantime?
Contact information for this author is not available.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.