Althouse: "Saturday Night Live" dished out a little something for everybody.

December 15, 2019

"Saturday Night Live" dished out a little something for everybody.

Now, play "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town" by The Jackson 5...

53 comments:

Ralph L said...: Prominent retired Law prof believes in the Santa clause of the Constitution.; 12/15/19, 6:41 AM
rehajm said...: Ann did you get a tingle when the snowman recognized you?; 12/15/19, 6:43 AM
JZ said...: That was tedious and lame.; 12/15/19, 6:43 AM
rhhardin said...: They didn't serve up anything funny. Everybody's acting "I'm doing a funny sketch" rather than the material.

You could do a writer trying to do something funny under management constraints that limit him.; 12/15/19, 6:45 AM
Jaq said...: They couldn’t resist the lecture at the end.; 12/15/19, 6:46 AM
rhhardin said...: The no sense of humor thing is what ruins them. Many sacred cows out there and no hits.; 12/15/19, 6:47 AM
Jaq said...: BTW, I think Trump has “grown up” quite a bit in office.; 12/15/19, 6:50 AM
rehajm said...: The votes don’t matter bit is a cocktail of vanity and innumeracy.; 12/15/19, 6:50 AM
stevew said...: I enjoyed that one. Pretty racist though, right?; 12/15/19, 7:03 AM
Matt Sablan said...: There really needs to be more diversity of thought in their writer's room. There were a few good lines in there, but there were a lot of duds.; 12/15/19, 7:12 AM
wendybar said...: Would have been better if the Greta character was wearing her ANTIFA t-shirt with her parents wearing theirs!!!; 12/15/19, 7:13 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Also, you could sort of tell that the "liberal" family was what the writers think a caricature of the left is to conservatives, while the "conservative" family is what the writers think conservatives are kind of like. That blindness is why both those sections didn't hit nearly as well as the third section did, which still managed to get some good political lines in ("Corey Booker retweeted me and nobody noticed!") without feeling condescending. It was a really good concept that fell flat because the writers just couldn't deliver.; 12/15/19, 7:16 AM
Fernandinande said...: The Nazis banned this Devil Claus, maybe they didn't like the competition.

Krampus 1

Krampus 2; 12/15/19, 7:19 AM
rehajm said...: Eddie Murphy will be on next week- we’ll get mister robinson’s neighborhood and gumby dammit.; 12/15/19, 7:29 AM
JAORE said...: Mayor Pete line was funny. Virtually everything else was ham-handed.; 12/15/19, 7:33 AM
gilbar said...: Serious Question
Next year, when Trump whens the both the Electoral College, AND the Popular vote...
What will the Progressives say then?

[hint] it will start with the letters: NOT MY PRESIDENT; 12/15/19, 7:35 AM
Dave Begley said...: Top vid was funny!; 12/15/19, 7:39 AM
Stick said...: The irony of those states that changed laws to give all delegates to the popular vote winner if Trump wins the popular vote will be delicious.; 12/15/19, 7:42 AM
bleh said...: SNL sucks. If that’s a considered a good sketch now, the show is even worse than I thought.; 12/15/19, 7:45 AM
Tank said...: The first video was somewhat funny in a very amateurish kind of way. The singing in the second video was awful.; 12/15/19, 7:48 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Alhouse--we are adults. Stop trying to push SNL. It's dead, dead, dead.; 12/15/19, 7:55 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "Next year, when Trump whens the both the Electoral College, AND the Popular vote...
What will the Progressives say then?"

-- "How could so many people vote against their own interests!?"; 12/15/19, 8:15 AM
bagoh20 said...: Michael Jackson was a really good looking young man back when he was still black. It's shame he couldn't see that. He could have chased girls with those looks instead of..., well you know.; 12/15/19, 8:16 AM
velvetbob said...: The best book about SNL has yet to be written. It would explain why they never hired a good writer after 1979.; 12/15/19, 8:22 AM
velvetbob said...: The best book about SNL has yet to be written. It would explain why they never hired a good writer after 1979.; 12/15/19, 8:23 AM
bagoh20 said...: "You could do a writer trying to do something funny under management constraints that limit him."

Yea, they need a sketch about SNL writers who have great bi-partisan jokes, but are forced to use the lames ones we always get. That would be funny, edgy, and irreverent in the way they imagine their comedy is, but clearly is not. The manager turning down the funny stuff and replacing it with the crap could be played by Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office". That's the system the current jokes seem to be coming from.; 12/15/19, 8:24 AM
AllenS said...: Michael Jackson started life as a black boy, and died as a white girl. Sadz.; 12/15/19, 8:45 AM
Jimmy said...: If re runs of SNL from the 70's and 80's ran at the same time as the current version, people would get to see just how bad the current SNL really is. The left truly fucks up anything it takes control of....; 12/15/19, 8:45 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: progressive preaching and progressive lectures. progressive propaganda. That's all SNL is.; 12/15/19, 9:02 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: That is the best sketch I have seen from them in years as far as being somewhat even-handed. I actually enjoyed it.; 12/15/19, 9:11 AM
Mary Beth said...: Everyone's drinking white wine. Doesn't anyone have roast beef for Christmas? Who puts the cork back in the bottle while they're still drinking it? Why give the obvious twist-off cap to the black family? Was that supposed to be some elitist slam? (Although there are some very nice wines with twist-off caps.) I'm surprised they didn't just give them a box wine instead.

There isn't enough food on the table for the South Carolina holiday dinner. I can still see table top. Although, I will give someone credit. That family still had their plates empty before the blessing.

These are the things I notice when the dialog is too dull to keep my attention.; 12/15/19, 9:19 AM
Ryan said...: SNL is trying desperately to revive its audience by pretending to be slightly less extremely partisan. Too late. Your audience is LONG gone. You drove them away ferociously.; 12/15/19, 9:31 AM
rcocean said...: Wow. Why is it still on the air?; 12/15/19, 9:36 AM
Tom T. said...: The parody Macy's commercial about kids' Christmas clothes was hysterical. The recorded bits are often the best part of the show, since they are more polished.; 12/15/19, 10:03 AM
Breezy said...: Too bad they missed the opportunity to spoof how all those claims of bribery, extortion, treason, firing an ambassador became “abuse of power”, and how challenging subpoenas in court amounts to “obstruction of congress”. That would have been funny!; 12/15/19, 10:09 AM
rehajm said...: Although there are some very nice wines with twist-off caps

Stelvin® closure. (sniff!); 12/15/19, 10:48 AM
rehajm said...: It would explain why they never hired a good writer after 1979.

When was Jim Downey hired? He was the writer in cahoots with Norm MacDonald on Weekend Update. The last SNL writer trying to be funny rather than a political operative. OJ's friend at NBC Ohlmeyer canned them both...; 12/15/19, 10:58 AM
JML said...: I watched it while taking my daily constitutional. It was very satisfying, unlike the skit. Both had something in common: they consisted of the same product.; 12/15/19, 11:19 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: stevew said...

I enjoyed that one. Pretty racist though, right?

SNL has gotten progressively (no pun intended) racist over the years, all in the name of racial enlightenment.; 12/15/19, 11:30 AM
Narr said...: I thought it was pretty funny; the Prof's morsels of SNL amuse me, usually, and at the same time fail to make me want more. (My next vids were "Salieri's March defiled" from Amadeus the movie, and "Flying the B-26 bomber." How DO they know so much about me?)

Narr
If "Trump grow up" is the big applause line, he's safe; 12/15/19, 1:03 PM
eddie willers said...: Michael Jackson was a really good looking young man back when he was still black.

As some wag said of him:

"Only in America can a poor, black boy grow up to become a rich, white woman".; 12/15/19, 1:10 PM
narciso said...: I was watching star wars a new hope, and dreading how abrams is ruining the ending from 36 years ago,; 12/15/19, 1:24 PM
Iman said...: SNL has been lame for nearly two decades now. I like comedy, laughter is very good for the soul, but these writers and performers wouldn't know funny if they tripped over it.; 12/15/19, 1:29 PM
narciso said...: as they asked rudy after September 11th, 'are we allowed to be funny' and I believe he said 'there's always a first time,; 12/15/19, 1:54 PM
rehajm said...: It’s hard to explain to young people how popular Michael Jackson was before he became a freak. They only know the freak.; 12/15/19, 3:55 PM
TJM said...: haven't watched SNLefty in years.; 12/15/19, 4:31 PM
walter said...: Surprised they didn't use Greta's catch phrase "How dare you!!"; 12/15/19, 5:04 PM
Gunner said...: Does this not count as "mocking" Greta because the person doing it does not like Trump?; 12/15/19, 5:19 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: Last night's surprise, for me, was to find that Scarlett Johannsen is engaged to Colin Jost. Her third upcoming husband!

I always thought she was happily married with kids.
And I always thought Jost was a homo.; 12/15/19, 5:27 PM
Nichevo said...: Interesting. I think Kate McKinnon also has a bit of that fetal alcohol syndrome look in her face going on. Good choice to play Greta Thunberg!; 12/15/19, 6:15 PM
Darrell said...: Greta recently talked about putting people up against the wall.

She lost all protection at that point.

Fire away.; 12/15/19, 7:09 PM
Kansas City said...: Interesting. SNL appears to be trying to broaden the comedy to hit the D's sometimes. I thought they were funny on the D debate a few weeks ago, mediocre on the Nato cool kids bit, and even lower on this one. The concept was pretty good, but the writing was not great. I'd say the black family bit was the funniest. Overall, a 4 or 5.; 12/15/19, 10:49 PM
MadisonMan said...: If re runs of SNL from the 70's and 80's ran at the same time as the current version, people would get to see just how bad the current SNL really is.
I think that would only remind people how many horrible SNL skits from back then they've forgotten about.; 12/16/19, 8:00 AM