The Sketches
Now, I can't simply say that sketches should be funnier, its unrealistic that every sketch for every show would be a homerun. However, the place to work on improvement is the cold open. There hasn't been a funny cold open since Will Ferrel left the cast in 2001, and took his Bush impression with him. That was ten years ago. Think about that, ten years without a memorable way to open the show. There hasn't been a drought that bad since the original cast left SNL in 1980, and didn't get revitalized until the cast of the early 90's came along. The cold open needs to be the thing that gets people talking about the show. You want people saying, "Did you SNL the other night? Oh man it started with this great sketch about..." What people have been saying is, oh I heard there was a good digital short the other night let me check it out on Hulu.The cold open should be relevant, it should NOT be something featuring Lawrence Welk. It should comment on an event that has happened in the past week. Or it should find a way to combine two events in a way that the audience might not expect. SNL did that a few times this year with WikiLeaks, and some Obama stuff, but again nothing that really stood out. The event itself is not enough to carry the humor, they need to satirize it.
If the cold open can be fixed, the next thing on the list needs to be the monologues. Nothing was more dreadful than Ed Helms monologue a few weeks. SNL can often be painful to sit through at times, but listening to Helms struggle through some made-up story about how he wanted to be a baton twirler was excruciating. The monologues have become obscenely formulaic, they either have the host sing, go backstage, take questions from the audience, or have a cast member interrupt them. They need more variety, or I guess less variety. What I mean is, let the host come on, and be who the audience expects them to be. let them be loose, and natural, and for godsake let them have fun. Too often they take a host and put them in a box or take them outside of what the audience know them for. After 36 seasons even this approach has become stale. It's too often that the host seems to be rehearsing a story rather than telling one. As much as Lorne Michels hates ad libbing, it may be time to switch to a less scripted format and give the host a little more control over that aspect of the show.
Finally, SNL needs to ditch any sketches that take place between 1930 and 1995. They just aren't funny in any way shape or form. The only exception to this rule would be if they can make it a parody for something going on in the world today. All of these lame brain game show sketches featuring celebrities that no one is familiar with isn't appealing to anyone. It's the same with impressions, non one cares if you can impersonate someone the audience has never heard of. Keep impressions familiar, this s where new cast members Jay Pharoah and Taram Killam have really broken out this season. Relatable impressions like Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Eminem, and Lil' Wayne. This more of what SNL needs, taking people down a peg or two who really deserve it, rather than trying to simply be funny by copying mannerisms from a certain time period.
The Cast
The SNL cast is in serious need of an overhaul. As I mentioned earlier the biggest problem is diversity. It is a predominantly white cast, and really has only one standout female performer. The cast members who get the most screen time are also the ones that have been their the longest. and these are the members that need to move on. Of the current cast members over half have been on the show for five years or longer. Seth Meyers is currently tied for third place for the cast member with the longest tenure on the show. Fred Armisen is right behind him with nine years, and Kenan Thompson follows with eight. Bill Hader has six, as does Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis. Compare that to some of the more successful cast members SNL has seen. The original cast only lasted for five years, if not less (Chevy Chase only lasted a year and a half before moving onto motion pictures). Adam Sandler was on for roughly four seasons, and Mike Meyers was on for six. The reason this is that cast members know after three or four seasons whether or not their career is going to go somewhere. The people who stick around for longer than five or six seasons are simply biding their time to figure out what they are going to o with their career. SNL is a launchpad for a film career. Fifteen years after Adam Sandler left and began making films, he is still making movies that easily gross $100 million when they are released. That wouldn't be possible if he hadn't had SNL to get his name out there and build up a fan base that have now aged along with him, and still flock to see him.
Out of all the current cast members I listed above, three have a future in film. Sudeikis is slowly gaining a foothold with work is last spring's Hall Pass, and this summer's Horrible Bosses. I don't know that he will ever be a strong box office draw, but I think he will find plenty of side kick roles head his way in the years to come. As will Bill Hader who also has a established foothold in film with parts in Superbad, Adventureland, Hotrod, and this spring's Paul. He will continue to find roles as the sidekick as well, as well as scene stealing cameos, like in next summer's Men in Black III (reportedly playing Andy Warhol). The one who has a chance to be the big draw is Kristin Wiig. In all honestly I hate most everything Wiig does on SNL. I find her characters abrasive and her presence on screen over bearing. I mean what is funny about this sketch? (Seriously tell why this is supposed to be funny)
That being said I do enjoy her work in film where she plays more down to earth characters. With the recent success of bridesmaids, Wiig may begin to succeed where few other female SNL cast members have as a major film star.There have been many successful and popular females on SNL but few (if any) have serious weight when it comes to the box office. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are more known for their television work then their film work.
What I would like to see is for the three of them to move on this summer, and pursue their film careers.
As for the other four, I think Samberg could use one more year to make a little more of a mark in live sketches. While eveyone loves the Digital Shorts, He also has a movie coming out with Adam Sandler at some point in 2012, so if that's successful, he could potentially also become a box office draw.
Meyers, Armisen, and Kenan all need to leave. While I've enjoyed Seth Meyers solo run on Weekend Update it's time to go back to the co-anchor format. In addition as head writer, Meyers carries most of the blame for the poor sketches, and as I mentioned above, his limited vision on how to handle the monologues is a detriment to the show. The show needs some fresh blood to take over and shake things up, otherwise viewers are only going to get more of the same when the next season roles around.
As for Armisen, his contributions to the show have always given more credit than he really deserves. His Obama impression is weak, and his seniority on the show has let him keep that gig when Jay Pharoah really should have gotten a shot at it. Other than that he never really any strong recurring characters to call back too. He was a good supporting player but for some reason got more of the spotlight than he should have. He has a show on IFC called Portlandia that I have not seen, but got renewed for a second season. Stop splitting your time Armisen, and let someone else have a chance to shine.
Finally is Kenan Thompson. When I first saw that Kenan had joined the cast in 2003 I thought, wow that guy from Nickelodeon made it. Eight years later and I've come to realize. Kenan Thompson's charatcters are all the same. Literally every single one is simply a variation on the other. All he does is tweak his voice slightly from normal, but he tweaks it the same way, for every character. He puts on the same goofy grin, for every character. He doesn't have any range, and outside of "What's Up With That?" rarely makes a significant contribution to a show. I don't know how Kenan has survived on the show this long, contributing as little as he does, outside of the fact that he was, until this season, the only black cast member. I'd like to think Lorne Michels is better than that, but I'm not sure his track record supports that.
So that's who I would vote off the island, what about who should stay.
As I said, Samberg should stay on for one more season. I also would like to see Bobby Moynihan come back. I think Moynihan has potential that has yet to be tapped. If some of the veteran players get out of the way, Moynihan may be able to step into the spotlight. He has a very cartoonish quality to him that has only been unleashed on the rare occasion. That leaves us with Abby Elliot as the only cast member. Again because so many of the female parts go to Kristen Wiig, it's hard to judge the other females from this past season. However Elliot does have talent when she's allowed to show what she's got such as playing a girl Justin Timberlake slept with in last week's episode.
That brings us to this year's featured players. Perhaps I should explain for those who do not understand how SNL works. Every season there are Repertory players, those listed above, and featured players. You can tell the difference of who is who at the beginning of each episode during the theme song. You know the tune "It's Saturday night live with ... " and then the Repertory players are listed, then there is a break where they say "featuring..." and then lists the Featured players. The featured players are often the newest members of the cast, the ones that get tried out before becoming fulltime members. This try often rests on their shoulders thy need to prove themself to Lorne Michels and the audience that they have what it takes to draw people in. To have people coming back each week to see what they will do next.This was especially difficult this season, since there were five featured players competing for airtime with established cast members. That being said many of the featured players had at least one or sketches this season that they owned, but there chances of coming back are really up in the air. Let's go alphabetically.
Vanessa Bayer has perhaps been the the most successful at finding a niche in the SNL framework with her recurring Miley Cyrus Show Sketches.
Hard to believe those just started this season right? Beyond that she played one of the Karadashian sisters, and had a few pop up roles else where. Since most of her work has been impressions this seasons it's hard to say how well she would fit in more of a character role, but it will be interesting to see if she comes back next year.
Paul Brittain had a rough season in terms of getting screen time. When he did though he brought a certain whimsical insanity that might make him a good replacement for Samberg. He has at least one good impression of James Franco, and snuck this little bit of crazy onto the end of a show a few weeks ago.
I'd love to see Brittain come back next season and get some more screen time, and inject some more of that crazy into what has become kind of a stale show.
Last summer when I heard Taram Killam was joining the cast I got pretty excited. SNL is not Killam's first TV job. His first job was as Jimmy the overly touchy orderly on the eighth season of scrubs. While he had a few funny parts on that show it wasn't until he unleashed his dazzling array of impressions that he truly got to show his talents. (Jump to :55 second mark)
Killam got to unleash a few of those impressions this year with varying degrees of success. However I think one of his better sketches came at the end of this season as a creepy automated robot.
If he comes back next season I would like to see him achieve a good balance of impressions (and actually do something effective with them) and more off the wall stuff like this.
Now Nasim Pedrad is the most senior of the featured players joining the cast in 2009. This will either be a make it or break it summer for Pedrad as she will either be promoted to a repertory player, or be cut from the cast. Pedrad hasn't done a lot to make her mark. She also has been one of the Kardashian sisters, otherwise she's just kind of had bit parts. The one exception is the Under-Underground music festival commercials she does with Jason Sudeikis.
While these are fun she needs to show she has more to offer to become a well rounded cast member, and as a significant part of the show.
Finally, there is Jay Pharaoh. As I said above, he rally should have at least had a shot to take over Obama from Fred Armisen. Many people complained that all Jay Pharaoh got to do was impressions this year, but hell at least he was good at them. He was a sorely underused talent, and could easily become the next Chris Rock (at least in terms of SNL).
For the most part I would like to see each of these five come back next year and take over the show. SNL needs some fresh faces in a desperate way, and these people are talented they just need some room to spread their wings.
The Hosts
The problem with the hosts SNL brings in is two fold:
1. They bring in people that they don't know what to do with.
2. A serious lack of diversity, this season there was not one African-American host.
The one thing SNL did do a good job of this season was trying to even out the amount of male and female hosts (9 females to 11 males). However not being able to find one African-American to come in and host inexcusable, there are plenty of talented people out there that could come on and do a great job.
As for my other point there have been too many cases in the last few seasons where hosts have come on and either been absent from a number of sketches, or are simply put into roles that they should not be in (e.g. Bryan Cranston, Ed Helms, and January Jones just to name a few).
So I'm going to do SNL a favor and pick out their hosts for the next year. I'm going to include some favorites, so newbies, and try and split the females and males evenly, and throw in some diversity. I'll also give some reasoning as to why. Also I'm not going to try and guess musical guests because that's just too difficult to predict. Here's my wishlist:
(All dates subject to change)
Sept. 24 (Season Premiere) Aziz Ansari - Season needs to get off to an energized start and for that they need an energized host. Last season started with Amy Poehler, which was a mistake. I like Poehler but she isn't the right person person to start the season, especially since it was her first time as host. Aziz Ansari is bursting with energy, he seems game for anything, he sings, he dance, and he does stand-up. He has a movie coming out this summer with Jesse Eisenberg that looks like it could be pretty funny, combine that with his work on Parks and Recreation, and you have something who has something to promote as well as someone who will work well with the younger cast I'm hoping will be more prevalent next season.
Oct. 1 Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a movie coming out on Sept. 30 with Seth Rogen. Gordon-Levitt has hosted once before and did a pretty good job even if he wasn't given the best material to work with. He brought a strong, positive energy to the show that would be fun to see again. In addition it gives him a chance to promote his film outside of the trailers, which are emphasizing the fact that it is a cancer-comedy.
Oct. 8 Zooey Deschanel would be a fun follow-up to Gordon-Levitt. If you've read my previous post about Fall TV, you'll know I'm pretty excited for her new show on FOX this fall. If it proves to be a hit, as I'm hoping it will be, she would be a great person to have host. Also, as Julie Roberts begins to noticeably age, the title for America's Sweetheart is pretty much up for grabs, and I see Deschanel putting it in her sights. She could even pull double duty as musical guest with her band She & Him.
Oct. 22 Rihanna has been slowly building an acting resume. She's proven she can do funny with her work with The Lonely Island. She has been a musical guest twice, and the third time has sometimes been the charm for musical performers to pull double duty as host and musical guest.
Oct. 29 Kal Penn will be out promoting the third Harold & Kumar movie during this time, so what better place to stop by than SNL. Penn has been keeping pretty quiet since leaving House a few years ago to go work for Obama. The one to punch of a new film for his most recognizable character, and an appearance on SNL will help put his name back on the map.
Nov. 12 Amy Adams hosted SNL back in 2008. She will be starring with Jason Segel in the new Muppet movie around this time, and it would be fun for her to ring a few of her felt friends along for her hosting gig. The Muppets and SNL have a long history together, from Jim Henson's adult Muppet sketches during the first season of the show, to Cookie Monster's appearance this past season with Jeff Bridges. So it would make sense to bring her on.
Nov. 19 Morgan Freeman wouldn't really be promoting anything at this time, his next film will be The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, but that didn't stop Dana Carvey from coming on and hostign this year. Morgan has never hosted SNL although he did appear back in October on a "What's Up With That" sketch. This would technically be the Thanksgiving episode, and I think Freeman's soothing vocals would set the perfect tone for this show.
Dec. 3 Tina Fey has hosted 3 times in the last four seasons. She pretty much can come on whenever she wants, so why not on this one? Fey has been pretty consistent during her hosting stints, except this last one which was a bit of a snooze. If the cast members that are more familiar with her don't come back next season, it could be refreshing to see her do something new with a cast that wasn't there while she was a cast member.
Dec. 10 Daniel Craig will be headlining a new potential franchise as the Hollywood version of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest comes out around this time. Craig would be only the second actor to play James Bond to host SNL after Pierce Brosnan. Craig has shown he can be charming and witty through his Bond role, but a stint on SNL would allow him to let loose and show his comedy chops (if he has any).Dec. 17 (Christmas Episode) Steve Martin is always a great host, and again while he might not have anything to promote at this time, he would be a good way to end the first half of the season. Also Steve Martin has been around to revitalize SNL when it was in desperate need of it. From being hosting multiple times during the shows first five years to this amazing monologue from an early 90's Christmas episode.
Martin could bring some of that juice back to the show, and bring SNL back to prominence as it heads into election season.
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| Plus she's hot |
Jan. 14 Donald Glover has put up a strong showing on Community, as well kicking off a stand-up and rap career. Glover has a unique brand of humor that resides mostly in his persona being naive. However anyone who has heard his rapping alter ego "Childish Gambino" know that Glover is anything but. It would be fun to see what Glover's energy could bring to a show that doesn't normally cater to his brand of humor.And if you need more convincing, just watch this:
Jan. 28 Dwayne Johnson has hosted SNL three times in the past all with verying degrees of success, his most recent time her broke out a new character called "The Rock" Obama.
He will be out promoting his new film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island around this time as well as gearing up for his return to the wrestling ring as he takes on John Cena at next years Wrestlemania. He would be the most logical choice to host during this time.
Feb. 4 Mindy Kaling hasn't had much of chance to break out beyond her time at The Office minus a few small film roles. However she does have a good amount of comedy chops and has written some of the best episodes of The Office. Not only would she be a fun host, but she would also be a great asset to the writing staff, being able to work with them to fine tune sketches.
Feb. 11 Nicolas Cage getting in the cage with Nicolas Cage. Imagine the possibilities. If Samberg stays on for another season like I hope he will, imagine the insanity that would occur if he unleashed his Nic Cage impressions on the man himself. Cage has never hosted SNL before, but with Ghost Rider 2 (yep they're making it) hitting theaters around this time, this would be the perfect time for Cage to give it a go. Besides has Nicolas Cage ever turned down a role?March 3 Peyton Manning is one of the few sports figures that have hosted SNL that have actually done a good job with their hosting duties. Remember this gem?
Manning did his one and only hosting gig in 2007, and with the football season ending around this time, this would be the perfect time for him to return.
March 10 Jennifer Lawrence is quickly becoming a household name after her work on the critically acclaimed Winter's Bone and this summer's X-Men: First Class. Expect that trend to continue when she headlines the first adaptation of the widely popular Hunger Games trilogy, as the heronine Katniss. What better way to celebrate her rising stardom then by getting her first hosting gig.
April 7 Eugene Levy is another person you might be surprised to find out has never hosted SNL before. The fourth (that's right fourth) American Pie film will be out in theaters around this time, and while it's more likely we'll see someone who from the cast of those films who has hosted SNL before return, like Sean William Scott (where does the hyphen go in his name? Anyone?), I'd like to start the online campaign for Levy to host right here.
April 14 Elizabeth Banks has now projects around this time, but I needed another woman for this list, and Banks is certainly funny and recognizable and would be a fun host.
May 5 Lady Gaga proved she's got what it takes to steal the spotlight away from the likes of Justin Timberlake. I don't know what else you need to do to prove you can host SNL. The writer's certainly seemed excited to have her, as they wrote her into more sketches that any other musical guest in recent SNL history, I'd be interested to see if she has what it takes to carry a whole show.
May 12 Zoe Saldana is another actress who is making a name for herself. The last couple of episodes of any SNL season are usually reserved for celebrities looking to promote big summer films. Perhaps its more likely we would see someone from the new Avengers film hosting during this time, but I'll pull for Saldana in the hopes that Star Trek 2 will be able to meet its release date.May 19 (Season Finale) Jon Hamm, there's not much more I think I need to say about this. SNL made the appropriate decision in the last few seasons to ensure the season ends on a high note by bringing in ringer hosts. Hamm has never hosted the season finale of SNL and I think next year would be a good year to have that honor. Really all I want is another sketch in this vein:
So there it is my extensive wishlist for the the 37th season of Saturday Night Live. Agree? Disagree? Got some other people you would like to see host next season? Hit the comments and let me know. I might do a follow-up post.
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