Finally, A Wrap Party They Deserve

I don't know what the fundits and comedy wonks are saying, as I haven't read the Monday morning polls, but... this past weekend's Saturday Night Live was absolutely the funniest episode in years. Like, 10+ years.

Obviously, the sketches were funny; but most importantly, they were tight. They got in, got funny, and got out before turning unfunny. A pretty novel approach for the show of late. Credit can be given to Alec Baldwin, who's just funny, inexplicably funny, but still. The writing hit a bullseye nearly every time and the cast was on fire. I know Kristen Wiig will be a star, I just hope it doesn't happen right away because starmaking does not serve SNL well. I've been her fan since she was "Dr. Pat" on the first Joe Schmo season. On SNL, she's either a writers' favorite or she's doing some crisp writing herself. Her "women drinking tea" sketch with Jaime Pressly a few weeks ago was similar in structure and approach to this weekend's "car pool" sketch with Baldwin ("Bobby McFerrin raped my grandmother"). Both were hilarious.

I really appreciated the fact that, while there were plenty of celeb cameos (even Tina Fey, if you want to consider her a "celeb"), the show had enough confidence to let them really be cameos -- not crutches. In recent years, you can bet we'd have seen Martin Short doing a pathetically dated, unnecessary Grimley, instead of what he did Saturday -- deliver a pair of solid lines in a funny new sketch.

The show was nicely paced, too. It came out of the box strong with Wiig doing a nice Nancy Pelosi bit that might have been 15 or 20 seconds too long, a forgivable offense for the cold open. After the monologue, the EZDate commercial parody was great (Wiig making the most of her split second on screen), and the Kevin Federline divorce proceedings sketch was sharp (Britney really does talk that way),

and it ended right on a dime -- without so much as a superfluous syllable. The Valtrex commercial parody (and why shouldn't they do two? If they're funny, do five; it's just a comedy show) was hilaaaarious because Baldwin made it so. ("But then I explained it, and that was the end of it. And there was no need to talk about it.")

The Platinum Lounge sketch touched on a theme I could swear they'd done before (there's a special place at NBC where only stars who've hosted SNL many times are allowed to hang) , but it worked here, with Steve Martin pitch-perfect as usual, and understated cameos by Short and Paul McCartney. (The latter, I believe, was a surprise even to Martin and Baldwin, making Martin's "it is Paul Simon" line a nice piece of textbook improv.)

I dug the sleazy guy ("Roger Corman"?) in Brazil sketch, because it seemed so Bill Murray/late 70s SNL that it gave me a warm feeling inside. It, too, lasted only as long as was necessary, and it contained the following line:

"You know what my favorite part of a woman's body is, really? The vagina."

Two pieces could have been jettisoned from the show. The first was the Tony Bennett talk show, which I suppose happened only because T.B. cameo'd. (That there, is the wrong way to use a cameo.) The other is that Andy Samberg time-killer, "Moment With an Out-Of-Breath Jogger From 1992." Samberg can be funnier than this. There's no "there" there in these atrocious jogger sketches, which he's done twice now; just lazy writing and a performance that would only get a laugh for Gus from Accounts Payable at your office. Samberg -- please stop.

Anyway, funny fucking show, the best I can remember in years, maybe a decade or more. I hope the cast and writing staff are finding their voice and keep rolling them out like this one.

[posted with ecto]

On iTunes right now: Start To Move from the album Pink Flag by Wire

Comments

[the mrs.]

i would say kristen wiig is your new non-sexual crush except that in this case it's sexual.

[Joel]

I actually turned to my lady friend sunday morning after watching it and said, "that actually wasnt so bad...wow"

although ive seen that e-z date commercial before on youtube, the show actually made me laugh for the first time in my 20's.