snl shakeup

August 24th, 2006


Due to “budget cuts”:

IN: Jason Sudeikis as the anchor of Weekend Update, taking over for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I… guess? I miss Tina Fey already.

OUT: Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch are leaving for their own sitcom — “30 Rock”, about a thinly fictionalized Saturday Night Live type show — and Lorne seems to be giving the boot to Darrell Hammond, Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Kenan Thompson… no big deal here. I always found Hammond’s impersonations to be technically correct but essentially soulless, Horatio Sanz is still cracking himself up in the middle of everything he does, and Kenan Thompson never got very funny but nobody does deadpan like Chris Parnell.

(Thanks to ‘Topher for the clip!)

~jeff



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  • Jim

    Right on the money about Darrell Hammond! There was always something missing for me in his impressions. Like you said, they were technically accurate. But they never made me laugh.

    Horatio Sanz… oy… why does Lorne Michaels give continued employment to cast members who are consistently unfunny? (See “Meadows, Tim.”)

    I loooove Tina Fey. Do you know what I mean? I don’t think you do.

  • Carrie

    Um, who crossed out Finesse Mitchell instead of Kenan Thompson?

    Thank goodness Horatio Sanz is out.

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    Oops, my bad. FIXED.

    I dunno, I will kind of miss Horatio’s “Carol” character.

    And Tim Meadow was hilarious in “Mean Girls” and even more so in the Bobcat sketch.

  • http://incomplete.net Jon Land

    Carrie, thanks for pointing out how Jeff thinks all black guys look alike. He appreciates that. Incidentally, Jeff should be excited about the new Racial Survivor. Personally, I think the white and black teams are at a serious disadvantage since the “staple foods” they give out are usually rice and beans. This would be like Bluto giving Popeye a spinach farm to the Asian and Hispanic teams respectively.

    Oh yeah, and haven’t you guys noticed that SNL has been 95% unfunny for ages? Mad TV on the other hand is 75% hysterical.

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    Aside from that Kenny Rogers’ “Jackass” sketch that was all the rage a few years back (“I was raised on the dairy!”) I can’t find anything at all to like about MadTV. The characters, the actors, they all do nothing for me.

  • Jim

    MadTV is hit or miss. I thought this skit was hilarious:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8KvHxh1VI

  • http://homepage.mac.com/aaronlewis Aaron Lewis

    I agree with Jim – hit or miss.

    MadTV panders to the lowest common denominator more – but that is funny sometimes. Especially when my brain is in the LCD.

    Saturday Night Live has just been 95% unfunny for so long I can’t even pinpoint it. What a loyal following it has though – at some point I just gave up because it has TONS of commercials, and they always did that the-joke-keeps-going-after-the-punchline-came thing way too much. I WANT SNL to be funny again – but every time I check back in to see, I am disappointed.

  • http://incomplete.net Jon Land

    I can understand not liking Mad TV, but there is no way that it goes for the lowest common denominator more than SNL. Not only does it take a single laugh to make someone a recurring character, but SNL makes it painfully apparent that it tries to tap into whatever the most popular things are for a 13-18-year-old any given week. I think the reason you might find Mad TV more hit-or-miss is because it’s more adventurous with its humor.

  • Jim

    At one point, I refused to recognize SNL as a comedy program. Sometimes I think the problem is Lorne Michaels. I don’t know if he’s too dictatorial or what, but I always get the feeling they’re not letting performers take chances. Back when he started the show, he’d let the cast take chances all the time. I don’t know what happened.

    Jeff, I totally see you doing stand-up.

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    College was a long time ago, my friend. I am no longer funny.

  • Jim

    HA HA HA! Good one, Jeff!

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    Well, I’m no Charles Rocket, that’s for sure. Also sometimes I can’t tell the difference between black people in JPEGs.

  • http://incomplete.net Jon Land

    “Black People in JPEGs” is the name of my new band.

  • Lau

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    First of all, im really sorry for my english, ’cause is not very good, or isn’t good at all, but i hope you’ll understand me.. Im from Argentina, and im trying to download this program or a program that can do that..
    Well, i was reading your blog, very nice place.
    I hope you can answer this by mail.
    Greats from another part of the world.

  • http://incomplete.net Jon Land

    Did anyone from your team win Survivor? I need to know where to place my bets.

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    What Evan says is a saying of great respect in our culture. It is mathematically equal to “May you and yours live for 19,814 years”.

  • Lau

    Evan and Jeff.. that´s the exactly answer that every person on world expects from a person from usa. OK. Have a good life, you both, polite people.

  • http://incomplete.net Jon Land

    Evan and Jeff are both from Tibet, you presumptuous ignoramus.

    Namaste, Bitches!

  • http://ldopa.net Jeff

    I dunno, I thought that wishing somebody a life of 19,814 years was pretty nice.

  • Jim

    Wouldn’t that be something, living for another 19,814 years? I might get to see the Red Sox win another World Series!

  • Jimmy

    Perhaps an afterthought, but with that photo floating around at the top of this post, you better hope that those cast members don’t start dying in that order…
    I mean, if I’m forced to tell the truth under oath, well, uh, I can only assume from your conversations with other L-Dopan’s that you have already killed a hobo or two… and we all know hobo’s are at least four or five rungs up from SNL cast members. So you gotta figure that snuffing SNL cast members in relation to Hobos would be somewhat parallel to stepping on an ant and chewing the throat out of the family’s lovable mutt. So your will and resolve would never be in question.

  • Lokman

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    Lokman Dogmus

  • Andie

    I freakin love chris parnel he can’t leave!

  • Kristene

    If Horatio Sanz is gone, what’s the point? I definitely won’t watch as much.