१९ मे, २०१४
Will that liberal press give that terrible right winger Dennis Miller his due?
Click through the slide show and see as New York Magazine's Vulture does "A Complete Ranking of Saturday Night Live ‘Weekend Update’ Anchors." There have been "17 anchor iterations to sit behind the 'Weekend Update' desk over the years," and I will tell you that Christopher Guest (1984-85) is dead last, at #17.
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Slide show multi-click requirement...I'm out.
I agree with Miller ranked at #1 (there can't be a spoiler warning here, since you obviously are commenting because you RTFA). I think Colin Quinn is underrated. Kevin Nealon was funny, but he suffered from being uneasy in front of the camera. I rather liked the Fey-Poehler-Meyers sequence. The new tandem isn't really firing on all cylinders. And I whole heartedly agree that Guest was awful. I have heard that Guest is terribly dry in real life. Which makes sense. All of his movies show his very dry wit. He's British for god's sake. Bonus fact? He's a Baron in British peerage and married to Jamie Lee Curtis.
For those unwilling to bother with a slideshow (especially one from "that liberal press," to quote Our Esteemed Bloghostess), the answer is: YES! They do! They appropriately rank him at #1, and have enough comedic sense to rank that other well-known SNL Weekend Update right/libertarian Norm MacDonald at #3.
MacDonald was the host during my teenage years -- I only saw Miller on reruns from Comedy Central -- so I naturally prefer him the most ("It's official: Murder is now legal in the state of California"), but it's easy to understand why Miller earns the #1 spot.
The list underrates the Bill Murray/Jane Curtain combo from the late '70s in a major way. Seriously: JANE CURTAIN AND BILL MURRAY, DOING THE WEEKEND UPDATE. It was as good the billing would make you think.
I could never do a good job of doing these ratings because my interest in the show has waxed and waned - often for reasons that have nothing to do with the show. For instance, during the late '80's - one of the shows best eras - both of our kids were born. Getting enough sleep for the 4am feeding beats any TV show. We saw the show occasionally during the Miller era, and he did a great job. Of the people in the seasons I watched regularly, they have the order about right.
Norm McDonald was waaaay overeated. Kevin Nealon was waaay underrated. Also, Amy Poehler isn't funny.
Miller simply owned the role. There is no comparison. A lot of his subsequent work has been pretty iffy (Bordello Of Blood anyone?), but he was the Weekend Update anchor of my 'tweens and teens. There can be no other.
I'm another person who won't multi-click.
Norm McDonald was always my favorite
Once I see the word sideshow on any site, on any topic, I am done.
"slideshow"
It's hard for me to say. Those are pretty much the only years I ever watched Saturday Night Live. After the Miller/Meyers/Carvey era, I pretty much stopped watching.
Norm McDonald slays me.
William Shatner, Christopher Walken. I'll try to explain.
I loved Dennis Miller. In the day I had the hair and the attitude to do decent off-the-cuff mimicry of him, without the chops. His delivery was as unique as William Shatner, and as fun to duplicate. Everyone can do a recognizable Shatner (not necessarily good, but recognizable).
This said, I consider Norm MacDonald the Top of the Game: to mimic him is to fail, because there is a gynecological gyro gizmo in his geometry that prevents finding a repeatable center. Hence: Christopher Walken. Everyone thinks they can do a Walken impersonation, but simple pauses and straight-forward stares do not capture a timing that even jazz musicians would get thrown by. Try counting four/four to Shatner and to Walken and this will be clear.
There is much to this I would add but Vodka Monkeys are interfering with my flow. I am not a comedian but I love the Vodka Monkeys.
Which do you lose interest in first: pop music or SNL?
Charles Rocket committed suicide by slicing his own throat.
I wonder if he was associated with the Clintons?
There have been some very good ones over the years. Plus, I had no idea that Christopher Guest was married to Jamie Lee Curtis, or that he was a peer.
@betamax3000 - I may have "Try counting four/four to Shatner and to Walken and this will be clear" tattooed on a sensitive part of my body. Your work is done here.
I can't care. It's been,well, a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly
long time since I watched SNL.
Norm was funny because he acted like a newscaster until the punch line,
a great Monty Python tribute.
Okay, that's the most incisive slideshow ever. If the Nobel prize committee starts giving awards for best slideshow, I nominate this one.
I am being snarky and yet simultaneously I am impressed with the analysis and the commentary.
What's really going to suck is when the slideshows start rating the slideshows. 10 best slideshows ever! That's a lot of damn clicking right there.
William:
Yes.
I'm partial to Miller because he was the one doing the updates when I first started watching the show. His starting the segment with a rock-n-roll theme plus the hip mullet contrasted nicely with his smug sarcasm, and his delivery was the best. Seth Meyers was pretty good too.
Nealon seemed a letdown after Miller, Quinn just seemed too provincial, and Tina Fey with Jimmy Fallon seemed too much like some high school kids got hold of the set (though they're both funny outside of the Weekend Update environment).
I agree about the current team--they're still rusty and need to find their rhythm.
The comments over at the NYM article are pretty good - they HATEHATEHATE Dennis Miller.
If you look at the message board for Miller's listing on the Internet Movie Database, it is amazing the loathing he has inspired in the hearts of "liberals." Obviously the Hive doesn't tolerate apostates. I imagine something similar must have happened to Tom Paine. All I can say is that anyone who honks off that many State-shtuppers must be doing something right.
If you look at the message board for Miller's listing on the Internet Movie Database, it is amazing the loathing he has inspired in the hearts of "liberals." Obviously the Hive doesn't tolerate apostates. I imagine something similar must have happened to Tom Paine. All I can say is that anyone who honks off that many State-shtuppers must be doing something right.
Dennis Miller was also a good standup comedian.
His ripping of Bill during the Clinton years on his HBO show was great. I think a Hillary Presidency might revive his standup career.
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