Thursday, June 3, 2010

Why I was disappointed when Fallon, Sanz, Rudolph, Parnell, Morgan, and Dratch were coming on SNL

I think at the time I was disappointed with Jimmy, Horatio, Maya, Chris, Rachel Dratch, and Tracy Morgan because I saw them replacing Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, Cheri, and Anya. The new crowd wasn't all that funny; not in the same way.



Ferrell's team had insane humor (Dog Show, Culps, his George W Bush, Spartans, Roxbury, Get Off the Shed), and the others had amazing humor as well (Mr. Peepers, Mango, Goth Talk, Simmer Down, Delicious Dish, Antonio Banderas Show). Each week was like a treat (similar to when Dana Carvy and Mike Meyers ruled or when the original cast was on).

Will Ferrell also had a few overlaps before he left, where he did a few amazing things with the new cast... Cowbell, Jeffrey's, Hot Tub Lovers. Plus Kattan revived his DeMarco Audition skit with Chris Parnell to make it a team skit and far better as the DeMarco Brothers Auditions.

So I kind of saw this amazing team breaking apart and getting replaced by people who weren't quite so explosive and funny. To be fair, Jimmy's impressions were amazing, and I looked forward to seeing him at the Weekend Update desk with a guitar in his hand. That was hilarious and amazing at the same time.

But the skits and characters weren't there, and I don't think they've ever gotten back to where Ferrell and team had them (they concentrated on team skits, which were far funnier than casts supporting individuals like they mostly do now). So I have found that cast/generation to be funny at times; they just didn't have the magic of Ferrell's team, the Dana Carvey/Mike Meyers team, or the original cast.

And I don't think the current cast is there either. I liken the current cast to when Sandler and Farley led the cast with their friends like Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade (who still do movies together like the new movie, Grown Ups; Ferrell should be teaming with his SNL cast more for films, as should Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey).

Sandler and his boys were funny, and there were some great individual moments, but they didn't have the consistency, absurdity, and randomness that Ferrell's team, Carvey/Meyers's team, and the original cast had.

Likewise the current cast is similar. They are funny. I laugh hysterically when I watch "What's Up with That?" Kristen Wiig has mad skills. Jason's sports announcer makes me chuckle despite Will Forte. Andy's Digital Shorts are the life line of the show. And most of the other skits are worth a good chuckle (Bobby, Abby, and Nasim are promising). But they don't team together well enough. They support well, but individual skits or the strange Will Forte office-style skits just aren't as interesting and entertaining as a team skit.

The last great team skit I saw out of them was the A-Holes with Kristen and Jason, and they kind of overdid that skit in two seasons and ran its course.

Understandable, since the two had a hit skit, and they wanted to get popular and known as quickly as possible; lately SNL has done the same thing with "What's Up with That?", the Forte/Sudeikis Women's Sports reruns, Wiig's Gilly, and more. Basically, they randomly found a good thing so they repeated it as much as possible to keep the show alive.

- TAE

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