Saturday Night Live 2012-13 - Page 3

Kate McKinnon. Yes, she's very good.

I really like the characters that Vanessa Bayer does.

And of course, I love Nasim's characters.

Loving Vanessa as well. I still hate that Nasim is so underused. So damn cute. The girls are definitely a strong force now.

They really were a developing troupe, but Kristin seemed to be on camera 80% of the skits.

Now they have a chance to really be an ensemble cast, with some very strong and funny females.

I still get mad when I think about Michaela and Casey being run off. I thought they were both awesome, and Casey proves how great she is on Happy Endings.

You're mad about Michaela? What did she ever do that was good? I didn't really like Casey when she was on SNL but I do Happy Endings. More because of Damon Wayans Jr. though.

I thought her Hoda Kotb impression was great.

I have to agree with you on this. But they just never seemed to give "this new girl" anything actually funny to do or say. Writing for her was dreadfully unfunny. Or... maybe she just wasn't funny in this environment.

Same seems to be the case for Aidy Bryant this year. Has there been one single laugh from anything she's been asked to do? Presumably she had some comedic resume that she brought to the show, but you'd never know it from the results.

In contrast, Kate McKinnon seems to be the next Kristin Wiig, if you ask me. She does great physical comedy, wears hair/makeup and costumes well, and actually has funny characters.

Add in Vanessa Bayer's maturing and ability to amuse with her understated deadpan facial work (she works great in bits with Fred Armisen that she's taken over for Kristin), and Nasim's terrific cuteness and characters, and you have a new Gilda/Jane/Lorraine era coming I predict.

Cecily Strong has potential, but she's no Kate McKinnon. Jury's still out. We'll have to wait to see more of the season, and hope the writers give her something truly funny.

I miss the Khardashian girls sketch. Really miss Abby Elliott (aka Angelina Jolie).

When I think about Abby, we lost a lot of good impressions. Rachel Maddow, Zoey Deschanel, Drew Barrymore, and I always loved when she'd come out as Angelina and try to steal a baby. Vanessa isn't beautiful, but she's so nerdy-cute, and what makes her more attractive is her willingness to be the ugly character in a skit. I love that.

Oh she must have been the warm body they had to stick in the sketch so Kristin Wiig could do her awesome Kathy Lee.

kind of how i felt on first viewing.

re-watched last night and found it better on second viewing

You're mad about Michaela? What did she ever do that was good?

She did the girl on weekend update with the milkshake who did the movie reviews and who knew nothing about movies. Her characterizations were subtle and I never saw her break. Like many newbies, she wasn't given a whole lot to do. On the other hand, what does Bobby Moynihan do that is any good other than drunk uncle? And Jay Pharaoh's claim to fame are his impersonations, which are only mediocre at best.

Come on, his impressions are mediocre? Will Smith dead on, Denzel dead on, Steven A. Smith Cuba Gooding Jr. dead on. And that bitch please update segment is the one thing I remember from her, and I remember it because it was so bad (in my opinion). It's easy not to break when what you are doing isn't funny. Bobby's drunk uncle is better than all her stuff put together easily.

Haha, I loved "bitch please". She was a solid cast member, imo. Pharoah's impressions are really good. It's a shame his acting is such ****. What's the point of doing a great impression if you cant follow it up with equally good acting to sell the bit? He constantly reads cue cards. Even when he's in one damn skit a week. Dude, memorize!

I agree with you on a lot of things, but thinking that the "bitch please" was good and missing whatever her name was and then being glad that Kristin Wiig is gone blows my mind. There has to be a reason why Kristin Wiig made it bigger than all those other chicks. SHE IS FUNNY.

I'm not happy she's gone per se. I'm happy other women now get more of a chance to shine. I wouldn't put any female cast members on the same level as Kristin until we go back to the Maya/Amy/Tina days.

I liked Michaela Watkins better than Casey Wilson. I really don't like Vanessa Bayer, either, I don't find her funny regardless of what material she is given.

Nasim Pedrad is absolutely outstanding, though. She is carrying the show when it comes to female castmembers right now. She has been good for several years, and probably could have taken over most of the work that was sent Kristin's way the last few seasons.

Michaela was on Modern Family tonight, playing one half of a lesbian couple (Wendi McLendon-Covey being the other half). She was Abbott to Wendi's Costello, but she did good solid work nonetheless. She did a hysterical Mary Magdeline on Key and Peele a few weeks back as well. She was a Groundling, too.

I've enjoyed Michaela the few times she's shown up on New Girl.

New show tonight with Christina Applegate. So, are they going to open with the VP debate? Are we going to see CA doing Stephanie Cutter?

It's times like this I miss MAD-TV

I'm curious if they'll reference the last time she hosted 19 years ago (which included the great Matt Foley Motivational Speaker)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4183

Wonder no more.

Wow, hard to believe that was 19 years ago.

Checking in.

well.. they got it out of the way at the start of the monologue.

Just saw the opening. LOL! Very well balanced, MAD could not have done better.

SNL, feeling the <3 again

Over on the "Hot off the Press" thread there are comments, not related to last night's SNL but to the news that NBC is dropping the plans to use his sitcom as a midseason replacement, about how Dane Cook's career has fallen off.  Couldn't help thinking of the accidental synergy with Jason Sudeikis's portrayal of him last night as a low-rent knockoff of Sesame Street's Swedish Chef, a pun I'm surprised I never heard back during Cook's days of fame.

TechTalk ended up being an extremely funny skit, as was the fake trailer for Give Us All Our Daughters Back. I would totally watch that movie. I also chuckled at the Odyssey Sirens with their guilty pleasure chick songs.

I can't believe they're still making skits out of "The Californians". Its one of the stupidest ideas they've had, and certainly isn't worthy of the 4 or 5 efforts so far.

That Kate McKinnon girl was in practically every single sketch... something tells me they're setting her up for success.

That Kate McKinnon girl was in practically every single sketch... something tells me they're setting her up for success.

But she's good. She's better than the stuff they've been giving her to do.

Not too crazy about what I've seen this year. And did they just give up on the Thursday night Update at 8:00? Not that it was all that funny this time.

Yeah, they're done with the Thursday shows. It wasn't really working out this year anyway, what with the debate last week.

This was a pretty good outing for SNL.

I absolutely LOVE the "The Californians" skits!!

Your not finding it funny might have a lot to do with where you live.