THE FEY DECADE: Tonight at 9pm, NBC airs a two-hour documentary on Saturday Night Live in the Aughts, about which Tom Shales has much to say. It is a decade which will be remembered -- as are all SNL decades -- as less fresh, more hackneyed and more in need of euthanasia than the one which preceded it, one which as of yet has failed to produce a movie star. On the other hand, it never had as much political impact in its history as it did in 2007-08, and the Fey-Dratch-Rudolph-Poehler team from 2001-06 is the best group of women the show has ever had.
So, folks, soak your corks, put your [] in a box and try to be funny ... why not start now?
I'm no fan of Dratch (an accent is not a punch line; a loud voice is not a punch line except for the Loud family sketches), but plug Tina Fey in pretty much any period and it's the best group of women the show has ever had.
ReplyDeleteHey, where did the other half of Horatio Sanz go? Was it the half that laughed whenever Fallon spoke?
ReplyDeleteI'd also include Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon among the strong group of women in the just-finished decade, even if they're a *bit* earlier than . Molly Shannon's "Liz Taylor reading the lottery numbers" bit on one of the Thurs night weekend update things back in 2001 remains one of my favorite things ever. Having said that... my favorite SNL femail cast member of all time remains the great Jan Hooks. My God, she was brilliant on that show.
ReplyDeletePoehler may have been the Tim Raines to Tina Fey's Rickey Henderson -- the second-best woman in the show's history, but not properly recognized as such because of playing in the same era.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Debbie Downer (original) never fails to crack me up.
I just got to the part in the documentary where they showed Debbie Downer. Still hilarious. There's a BIG difference between Jimmy and Horatio cracking each other up and what happened with Debbie Downer. DD was one of the rare SNL crack-ups worthy of The Carol Burnett Show. And speaking of... <object><param></param><param></param>http://www.youtube.com/v/3qqE_WmagjY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param></param> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param></param><embed>http://www.youtube.com/v/3qqE_WmagjY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
ReplyDeleteJust saw the part in the documentary where they showed the bit from the original Debbie Downer. Still completely hilarious. And there's a world of difference between a "Jimmy and Horatio crack each other up" sketch and Debbie Downer; I'd say that DD is the rare SNL crack-up worthy of The Carol Burnett Show.
ReplyDeleteI love Tina Fey to death, but there isn't really a question that Amy Poehler is a better performer, with more range. I mean, she's one of the best improvisors ever, but also does great support. (Maybe Tina gets the edge because she's a better writer, I dunno. But that seems like the wrong criterion.) I think Kristin Wiig might actually have been used best of all three, though.
ReplyDeleteMaya Rudolph may be more versatile than either, but she didn't have quite as strong or definitive a run as the first two. And Wiig, unlike the prior three, I get tired of from overuse.
ReplyDeleteThing I did not know and embiggens us all: Tina Fey wrote Colonel Angus.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting tidbit from the special: The "Vincent Price" sketch from the first Jon Hamm ep had Hamm play Dean Martin in dress rehearsal. After dress, they switched it to James Mason, which he nailed during telecast without a rehearsal. Which I think is reason 5437 why I love him beyond words.
ReplyDeleteFey was the head writer, and for whatever reason (without evidence) I think of her as, in that role, the dominant creative person on the show throughout the post-Ferrell period.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed the retrospective last night , but i couldn't put my finger on exactly why. i think it's because one of the things that has plagued the show over the last few years has been that the sketches are one joke, which is often funny or at least interesting, but spread over 5 long minutes. last night we got edited versions of the good stuff, of course. the show would do itself a world of good by slashing the average sketch length and including (shortened versions) of some of the sketches that don't get into the show.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that everyone always complains that SNL isn't as good as it use to be. It's had up years and down years. One thing people forget is after the original airing, we only see the highlights. After watching only highlights for a few years, the past always looks better than the hit/miss present sketches. If you go back an watch complete episodes from the first 5 years, you'll see that they had plenty of duds also.
ReplyDeleteJan Hooks is my female fave, too. I'll always have a soft spot for Gilda Radner though. :)
ReplyDelete