SNL-2/16/13

Christoph Waltz is the host and Alabama Shakes are the musical guests. I predict that Waltz will play the Pope (and probably a Nazi), there will be a Carnivale Cruise Line sketch and Fred Armisen will play Marco "Dry Mouth" Rubio. And Seth Meyers might attempt an Oscar Pistorius joke but that might not be such a good idea.

• Are you an insider, OP? You sound like one.

• Sounds like it will be a funny show.

• He gives me the creeps, and no not because he played a Nazi, I'm talking when he is being himself on TV.

• I still can't quite believe that after decades of doing mostly crappy, bland German tv movies he suddenly became a big Hollywood star. He deserves it though - he's brilliant in the Tarantino films.

• No, R1. Just using common sense.

  OP

• Opening with a Carnival Cruise sketch

• The pope retirement planning commercial was funny.

• Weekend News Update was horrible!!!

• Weekend Update hasn't even aired yet on the east coast.

• I predict no one will laugh once at anything on the show. And that they'll do "The Californians" YET AGAIN.

• Uhhh, no, they didn't, R10. They're not that stupid.

• A decidedly mediocre show this week.

• I did not find any of the show especially funny. I watched to see my new obsession. Brittany Howard with Alabama Shakes

• Are the Christians not foaming at the mouth over the Djesus Unchained sketch?

• Kate McKinnon's Russian lady was good. She's very talented.

• I thought the Djesus Unchained sketch was hilarious! The rest of the show was mediocre.

• [quote]Kate McKinnon's Russian lady was good. She's very talented. She was one of the best actors on The Big Gay Show.

• The Russian lady was the only funny thing on the show. Well, that last throwaway skit made me laugh a few times, though I don't know why.

• This is my first experience with Alabama Shakes. I was very impressed.

• Is SNL just a collection of fake game shows and reality shows now? That's what it seems like, every show. It's lame and there's no element of surprise.

• McKinnon made me laugh out loud.

• Holy shit, Alabama Shakes is amazing.

• I just bought it on iTunes. Haven't been moved by music like that in awhile. Good stuff.

• SNL needs new writers...soon. The cast takes the blame but it's the shitty writing that brings the show down. Loved Alabama Shakes.

• r24, don't always blame the writers. The producers who pick the sketches are often the ones who bin the edgier material in favour of the cheap laughs and overused characters/bits. The real problem with SNL is that everyone on it uses it as a springboard for the rest of their careers. As a result, the ass-kissing and back-scratching and positioning ruin the show. Yes, I know it was always like that, but it was way more organic.

• I was very surprised by Christoph. I found him charming and was so game for anything. After the dire Levine and Bieber episodes this was a real breath of fresh air.

• No one funny joke. Did the writers take an early holiday?

• The Carnival Cruise sketch could've been gold if they had done it right but it was just flat and boring. I laughed out loud at Djesus Uncrossed and Alabama Shakes was wonderful. Has SNL gotten more conservative in recent years? I remember it being much more daring in the 90s.

• I like the new fat lady. Her sketches are always weird.

• Please, R28. You can't get more non-conservative than that DJesus Unchained sketch. Taran Killam was surprisingly sexy last night in several sketches - esp. in those black satin pjs in the infomercial sketch.

• [quote]I like the new fat lady. Her sketches are always weird. I'm with you r29. The most bizarre of her skits so far was Maine Justice (or whatever it was called) where they were all participating in a trial in a New England courtroom, but everyone seemed to have just stepped off an 1840s Louisiana plantation. I appreciated how 'out there' they were, and I wasn't even high when I watched it.

• Nice to see more of Jay Pharoh.

• Can someone please link to the Djesus Unchaibed sketch? I'm at work.

  Thanks

• [quote]Can someone please link to the Djesus Unchaibed sketch? I'm at work. If you don't have the time or freedom at work to type two words into YouTube, you don't have the time or freedom to watch it at work. Look it up when you get home, you putz.

• [quote]Nice to see more of Jay Pharoh. Yeah, I'm glad they are finally using him more. But his Stephen A. Smith impression, while pretty good, could be retired as far as I'm concerned. It was very funny to me the first time, but now this is like the 6th time they've featured it with nearly the identical jokes each time. SNL always runs skits into the ground though so I'm sure they'll have him back for the NBA playoffs.

• Any rumors about Christoph? He's hot as hell.

• Jay Pharoah is useless once the "Ooh he sounds just like that other black dude!" tingles wear off, which takes about ten seconds into his every appearance. I like all the new ladies, but McKinnon is a riot.