Kermit Parody on Saturday Night Live

[sarah_yzma]

You have a point... Disney supposedly made this day care in Florida paint over the Disney characters painted on their walls.

Man, then every children enterprise in the world should be after a day care where I live!

 

[jediX]

Man, then every children enterprise in the world should be after a day care where I live!

http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.htm

There's the article.

 

[mkelley]

It's pretty clear that The Muppets are fair game for satire -- some of it (like Simpsons' references) I find amusing. But as someone who has watched SNL (and "live") since the very first episode, I have to say my wife and I have just about had it.

Maybe it's because we are no longer in the target age group (haven't been for quite some time, though :>) but the skits are just truly terribly written. Nearly any sketch I wrote for public access TV was better than anything that's been on SNL this season (and they were pretty poor sketches themselves, given the resources and talent available).

SNL now breaks down into three distinct categories: the "concept" sketch, with a bizarre setup (often quite amusing) for a punchline that is then repeated over and over and over again, with no real ending because... well, we've *already* heard the punchline (this was typified by the sketch with the Yankees Coach who threw people to the ground). These sketches typically last an hour or two.

The second type is the "personality" sketch, in which the cast members attempt to create regular characters for themselves in the hope they will end up being the next "Blues Brothers" or even "Wayne's World." These sketches are usually unfunny because no one has the talent of an Ackroyd of a Belushi (and was it just me that noticed how George Wendt ran rings around these kids and showed what a true comic personality could be -- he made the kid doing the Chicago accent look truly pathetic).

The last thing we see regularly on SNL is the non-live produced bits (usually commercial takeoffs) that work because they are edited well AND because they are short and to the point. If the show were made up of these it would be brilliant (but then it wouldn't be SNL -- more like SNTaped -- and it would cost way too much to produce).

The Kermit bit was actually funny, somewhat, but as usual, the setup was far away better than the payoff. If the rest of SNL was at least this funny it would be worth watching -- but it isn't.

Even TiVo'ed SNL is too hard to take -- we now fast forward so much that the show lasts around 5 minutes -- but at least it's much less painful. I highly recommend that approach to anyone who still wants to watch.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

Yeah, SNL seems to get more and more disappointing with each season. As uninterested in politics as I am, it is the political humor, oddly enough, that I usually find funniest these days. The whole Election 2000 thing was hilarious. I kinda like the Charlie Rose segments now and the other one - is it Crossfire? They're kinda funny. I loved the sketch a couple years back when Paul Simon was on the show coinciding with the release of "You're the One" and the DeMarco Brothers tried out to be part of his tour. Cracked me up. Generally, though, while I always watch SNL hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised, I think it leaves an awful lot to be desired.
Erin

 

[Amazing Mumford]

The second type is the "personality" sketch, in which the cast members attempt to create regular characters for themselves in the hope they will end up being the next "Blues Brothers" or even "Wayne's World." These sketches are usually unfunny because no one has the talent of an Ackroyd of a Belushi

Yeah, the "personality" sketches have gotten truly awful. I actually stopped watching on even a semi-regular basis when they brought out Goat Boy and Mary Catherine Gallagher EVERY WEEK a few years ago. Sure, they've been beating characters into the ground since the show's beginning, but now the characters aren't that funny the FIRST time they appear.

SNL will always be a hit-or-miss show, but I just wish they came up with more original material every week. After all, don't they supposedly hire the best young comedy writers in the country??

 

[Drtooth]

SNL now breaks down into three distinct categories: the "concept" sketch, with a bizarre setup (often quite amusing) for a punchline that is then repeated over and over and over again, with no real ending because... well, we've *already* heard the punchline (this was typified by the sketch with the Yankees Coach who threw people to the ground). These sketches typically last an hour or two.

The second type is the "personality" sketch, in which the cast members attempt to create regular characters for themselves in the hope they will end up being the next "Blues Brothers" or even "Wayne's World." These sketches are usually unfunny because no one has the talent of an Ackroyd of a Belushi (and was it just me that noticed how George Wendt ran rings around these kids and showed what a true comic personality could be -- he made the kid doing the Chicago accent look truly pathetic).

Absolutely agree... all we have are annoying accent characters, here and MAD TV (I watch Mad from time to time only if they have the occasional satirical skit, there were a few good ones this year, including a take off on Harlem Globetrotters cartoons, featuring Shaq about the Kobe Bryant affair). I guess Chris Kattan, whoever the heck was Goatboy, and all those other skinny boys are incapable of humor, so the next best thing (in their opinion) is to mince around with a bad accent trying in vein to be funny.

I agree some sketches drag far too long. I was watching th Christmas special, and other than a few classic skits (like Gumby's Christmas special... funny schtuff) there wasn't much to write home about. Chris Kattan, or some other guy (unfunny skinny boys look alike to me) and some nondiscript fat guy in glasses sing some song about Christmas... everyone in the audience was laughing. I was thinking "At What?" the song's a pretty straight line, and their not doing anything really funny. A little hammy, but not anything amusing. Plus another one all about NPR, and they were interviewing some local bakery owner who baked "Salty Balls" or something... 5 minutes of the same unfunny joke. I said to myself... "Yes! I get it!! it's innuendo! Everything has a dirty second meaning. It's not funny! Shut the *&^% up!!!"

It seems that the new trend in humor is not to actually be funny but to try too hard to be funny, and be annoying in the process. Maybe someone will mistake it for a joke in their favor. All I have to say, the current staff of writers pretty much deals in jokes...

What does he mean by that?
The writing is pretty Much a joke.
And no one is Laughing! Dwoah ho ho ho!!!!

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Hey! It was "SCHWEATY Balls."

 

[Drtooth]

Whatever... It was a minute long bar room joke that went on for 5 minutes... I would have killed to see Scred's Christmas party instead, not a bunch of unfunny people making unfunny jokes...

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I love the old Christmas sketch with Paul Simon and, I think, Terri Garr , where they're stranded on a desert island. And Paul gives her a bunch of pot holders and a couple shells. She, meanwhile, presents him with a pocketwatch and telescope that she somehow made out of things on the island. He feels really dumb because his gifts to her seem so inadequate by comparison. At the end, though, he goes off with his telescope, and after he goes, she says, "I guess it's good I didn't give him this last present..." And she moves a bunch of leaves and branches to reveal a hidden car.
Erin

 

[mkelley]

I love the old Christmas sketch with Paul Simon and, I think, Terri Garr , where they're stranded on a desert island. And Paul gives her a bunch of pot holders and a couple shells. She, meanwhile, presents him with a pocketwatch and telescope that she somehow made out of things on the island. He feels really dumb because his gifts to her seem so inadequate by comparison. At the end, though, he goes off with his telescope, and after he goes, she says, "I guess it's good I didn't give him this last present..." And she moves a bunch of leaves and branches to reveal a hidden car.
Erin

And the reason the sketch works is because it actually builds properly. First Terri gives him a telescope (I do believe), then a watch, and then the punchline (the hidden car) when he leaves. Perfectly built, follows the rule of threes, and is also very short.

In today's SNL this sketch would last an hour, would have at least forty presents all given to him, and would have no punch line whatsoever -- he would just sit there mad as they blacked out. Truly, the writers today are really quite awful at sketch comedy (Tina Fey is quite clever, but I don't think she writes any sketches, just the news). And it seems to be getting worse.