Why don't Tina or Amy hire Cheri Oteri?

Melanie Hutsell is crazy?

Melanie was in Bridesmaids.

I wish they didn't hire Tracy Morgan

[quote]But the feud doesn’t end there. Apparently, Morgan’s anger is so deep-seated, he went off-script while recording his audiobook (A tip of the hat to Gawker.com for finding this clip.): “They never going to host Saturday Night Live. And I don’t mean — that’s not even me, but that’s what happened to me over there. They never treated me well. There were people that treated me beautifully, like Will Ferrell and Colin Quinn and Molly Shannon — I love them. But Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan — I never cared for them either. F— ’em.”

OP here - thought Melanie Hutsell was a trumpette. My mistake.

OP, that was 10 years ago. Maybe, Tracy doesn't feel that way anymore. Both Kattan and Tracy bitched about Fallon back then, too, but they all seem to get along now.

Noticed the Cheri black list also here. Rachel Dratch is another who gets some decent scraps thrown her way. Only thing I saw Cheri on post SNL was Curb Your Enthusiasm (in which she was amazing-- the crazy nanny).

She was on "Those who can't" or whatever that teacher's sitcom on TBS is, the show is funny, she's not. I've always thought she was awful and not funny, the Spartans and those years were the worst. Kattan sucks too.

Cheri is bipolar, right?

Cheri is forced and unfunny. I can see why they don’t hire her.

I love Cheri I have always wondered why she didn’t get more work

She is probably a difficult person.

Love Cheri! Adele, Rita, Nadine, Althea, Collette...she has so many hysterical characters. I saw her new film/project a few weeks ago at a film Festival "Turkey's Done". She's basically a younger Rita Delvechio in it. And she looks great. She was even there and I met her. So nice and still has that funny bone.

She does look good r13, I will give her that, but that's all I will give her, she almost ruined that TBS show. She's like Ted McGinley.

As Morgan implies, Oteri and Kattan are disliked by more than a few SNL alums.

I think it's been mentioned that Oteri has some mental health issues, but Kattan is considered kind of an asshole.

I think Kattan has mellowed out a lot since his SNL days. He write a book last year and Seth Meyers wrote the forward. Fallon and Molly Shannon wrote blurbs for it.

Based on several SNL interviews I've heard/read, it seems like Seth Meyers created as good a working environment as is probably possible at SNL when he was the head writer. In other eras, there was a lot of jealousy and tension.

^wrote

So Hutsell isn't nuts?

I love Rachel Dratch, loved her on King of Queens and am actually now watching the "Kimmy Schmidt" where she plays the pretentious, lesbian, college professor.

Melanie’s cool! She was in Jonny McGovern’s awesome “Modified” video.

Because she’s not funny, probably.

Didn't Amy or Tina imply in one of their books that Cheri was fairly skilled at playing the game, pushing her characters and not being much of a team player?

It was probably Tina since I don't think Amy's SNL tenure overlapped with Cheri's time on the show.

I can't get enough of Cheri. Collette Reardon aka Pill Lady based on her grandmother was hilarious.

In other post SNL work she played the mayor in Matthew Broderick's Inspector Gadget.

It's beyond me why Adele, the office flirt, isn't a DL icon. "Mmm, I could use me a cup of joe right now. And by joe, I mean a cup of your man milk. I’m talkin’ about your semen!"

One of the funniest skits ever.

SIMMER DOWN NOW!

Cheri was just on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as the local theater director. A little of her went a long way but I just thought that is how the character was written.

Another who loved Oteri. She was on when I was in high school and I just loved her.

I'm curious to this as well. You just really don't see her a lot anymore. I always thought Oteri was a riot when she was on SNL. You'll see Shannon (W&G) , Gasteyer (various movies and guest appearances) and other gals from before (who was the pageant judge in Drop Dead Gorgeous? I always thought she was funny, and Jan Hooks too). But Oteri just never pops up anywhere. Is she doing stage theater? I have to say, I'm getting sick of the Poehler/Fey/Rudolph/Dratch buddy thing. They're funny gals, no doubt; but their thing is running thin these days, IMO. The Kimmy Schmidt show was cute enough, but it was just sooooooooo Tina Fey. I don't quite know how to describe it, but whatever it is, it gets real old real fast. Even J. Krakowski started getting on my nerves, and I love that woman.

Tina fucking ruined that show when she was on it r30, I cringed at all her stupid fucking "hey playa!" and weird ebonics bullshit on Kimmy. Jane could be too much but Tina was the fucking worst on that show.

R30, you're thinking of Nora Dunn, who has built up a pretty solid character actress career.

And if Nora wasn't enough of a proto-DL icon, her character from Working Girl was named Ginny!

Oteri is also hilarious in Scary Movie. She had some weird plastic surgery and didn’t look like herself on one of the SNL anniversary shows but I haven’t seen her in years so maybe it’s settled now

tracy morgan is about as funny as an anal fissure.

amy polarizing is too busy doing stupid commercials

tiny fey's ego fell on her husband and disabled him

cheri was funny.

R31 I thought Fey's character was funny, and thought she portrayed her in a relatively competent way (although it was a rather stupid character). I laughed at her doing that Whip Nay Nay dance thing. For me it's her writing in general. I remember watching 30 Rock the first time around and rolling on the floor. I tried to watch it a few years later and thought it was stupid. Again, her style of humor is fine on first viewing, but it has a serious expiry problem. Her writing just doesn't stay funny. And you become immune to it after a while where nothing of hers ends up being funny. I got a few chuckles out of Kimmy, but it was generally pretty unfunny. I think J. Krakowski was the only person who got me laughing.

Tina seems like she'd be unbearable in real life but I love the Titus Andromedon character and Titus Burgess's acting choices, even if the character is written off as an offensive stereotype. He makes me laugh with him, not at him.

OMG r36, that "whip, nay nay" thing was the worst! It's so funny how different people's tastes are. I thought Titus was the best part of that show though Jane was good too.

Tina on Oteri ( and Kattan):

[quote] The only other thing I remember about the Sylvester Stallone show was that they did a Rocky-themed monologue and they needed someone to play Rocky's wife, Adrian. Cheri really wanted the part – she was little, she was from Philly, she could do a good imitation of Talia Shire – but instead, somebody thought it would be funnier to put her co-star Chris Kattan in a dress. I remember thinking that was kind of bullshit.

[quote] I wasn't privy to the decision-making process at the time; it was my first week, after all. When I reminded producer Steve Higgins of it recently, he (understandably) couldn't remember whose idea it was, and thought that it might have even been Sylvester Stallone's. No offence to Kattan, whom I love, or Sylvester Stallone, but I think Cheri would have been funnier as Adrian.

Fey has a strange sense of humor, and I think it's off-putting for a lot of people.

On her episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, she asks Jerry Seinfeld what hia family does for Christmas, and he says, "Uh, we're Jewish" and she nods vaguely, and she's so dry in that moment that I've seen tons of people say they thought she really didn't know.

R40 Off-putting perhaps, but I do find her funny (sometimes) initially. I think one of the things that has started grating on me about her writing (and the entirety of her productions) is they tend to go up their own butthole. What I mean, is the whole production starts to feel like an inside joke that only she and her cohort are in on. And then, she uses the same actresses and actresses which reinforces this exclusionary "clique-y" feel. For example, on the Kimmy show, there was an ongoing bit with this singer (Maya Rudolph played her in flashbacks, can't remember the name of who she was impersonating). The bit had a base-level of comedy because it Maya Rudolph was doing her usual whacky schtick. But I kept feeling like there was a further nuance (based on the qualities of the singer Rudolph portrayed) that I just couldn't get. There was a part of her getting stuck in a dress on camera or something; it was funny because it was an old lady with her dress hiked half-way up and Rudolph saying doofy, weird things. But there was something off about it. I truly feel Fey and her gal pals got drunk one night, one of them did an impersonation of this singer in a weird situation, and they were all " let's put that in the show!" Her entire body of work just feels like one inside joke for which you just kinda had to be there. But that's just me. And to be fair, there have ben plenty of times when she's hit the nail on the head. But when I compare her writing to that of others, there's a stark difference. Someone referenced Seinfeld above. Despite not being a huge Jerry Seinfeld or "Seinfeld" fan, it always felt like I got the joke; he never cloaked his writing or delivery in the same way Fey did/does.

How dare you r41! "Some singer"? she was impersonating ME!

R41. Well said (or written). I think Tina is whip smart and her writing is on 50% of the time (and when it's on, it's fantastic). But, what you wrote is spot on. Kudos for explaining it so well. I have tried before but it is a difficult point to get across. It's the inside joke thing but there is also another layer to it. I don't have the correct words for it. It is that self effacing/ yet not really self effacing humor that in its delivery smacks of something. Or..... that "I'm not clique-y because see I'm a dork... but I'm really not and I'm actually quite elite, sequestered and a little bit sand offish". Ahhh fuck it. It's hard to put into words. You did it well though

r43 Agree. What sucks about her turn on Kimmy is that her insights were great and the breakthrough Kimmy had about her mom was then ruined by Tina saying, "Wazzzup!" or some bullshit. That shtick is very annoying even on a younger person, on a 35 year old it is intolerable.

What issue did Morgan have with Oteri? Love Oteri, you can see many, many SNL players copying her style every year since. Most recently, Kate McKinnin.

With regards to Oteri, I think it's very telling that she has never worked in a Will Ferrell project since leaving SNL, considering how frequently they worked in tandem on the show. Ferrell has had plenty of opportunities to give her work (and Adam McKay who was head writer for most of the time Cheri was on SNL), but hasn't.

I loved Cheri's pill-popping Colette Reardon and idiotic morning talk show host Cass Van Rye characters.

Cheri Oteri was also a good impressionist. I’ll never forget her Mariah’s Carey and her nailing that whole “Honey” white miniskirt move she did constantly. Her Baba Wawa was very funny as well.

I used to love Mealnie's Tori Spelling impression.

R43, ok I didn't think of that, but you're very correct. That is another thing that bugs me about her comedy (although the inside-joke element irks me the most), the whole "I suck, I'm a loser and a dork but actually I don't suck, you suck" thing (God how can one adequately describe that concept haha). Is it humble bragging? And again, it's not that it isn't funny, but there's an underlying something that's so grating about it, when you analyze it further. And in an effort to be fully intellectually honest, I don't know if I actually find her and her writing funny, but rather the delivery of it by the actors. A lot of Fey's "comedy" is saying mundane phrases in goofy ways to induce a laugh (as opposed to a traditional joke-punchline setup or observational humor a la Seinfeld). It's like trying to make a baby laugh by making up words in high pitched voices. I remember a part in Kimmy where Amy Sedaris dressed up as Sia (that name I remember) in this giant blonde wig and then started singing and thrashing about. It was pretty crappy writing, but Sedaris can take a cup of pee and turn it into lemonade.

Re: Oteri impressions, I always thought he Debbie Reynolds was hilarious.

You can tell Tina Fey is kind of a bitch. I mean, she did create Regina George.

Re R50 Tracy Morgan is a prime example of simply saying things in goofy ways to induce a laugh. No wonder Fey keeps him around.

Based on stuff I've heard her say, I think she was probably someone who spoke up for herself. She has said she wrote all her characters. If she wasn't writing for herself, she wasn't going to get much airtime. And usually people don't like people who speak the truth. Whether you like her or not, she was on fire back then. Countless hysterical characters (and recurring ones). The cheerleaders is one of the most mainstream, pop culture skits ever on SNL. It wouldn't surprise me if some were also jealous of her. I mean Tracy Morgan? Lol. I can't name one thing he did on SNL. I like Tina and Will but find them both to be very hit or miss so I don't follow them much. I dunno, it is very strange how she has seemed to struggle.

R53 Brian Fellows Safari Planet?

I think Oteri is probably the best female comedic actor to ever come out of SNL. The fact that she’s all but vanished since leaving the show seems to indicate that she’s impossible to work with.

Hutsell did a great Jan Brady. Her SNL tenure was totally forgettable otherwise.

R43, I totally get what you’re trying to say and I agree it is hard to articulate. I love Tina Fey’s writing - but there is an undeniable “improv company at an elite university” aspect that is baked into all her comedy. It’s always very pleased with how intelligently constructed it is. Fey’s always needs her audience to marvel at her ability to create structural meta-logic- her work is full of throwaway bits that are in fact winking call-backs to earlier jokes or foreshadowing of a larger central theme. Arrested Development was very similar - except more upper middle class liberal bro and L.A. in its essence compared to Fey’s very female and New York perspective. Also, I’m not sure how much of Kimmy Schmidt would land for someone without at least a NYT subscriber’s understanding of politics, feminism, race relations, showbiz gossip, the history of the broadway musical, and the particulars of social class indicators in New York City.

In Bossypants, I remember Fey writing about how helming SNL meant balancing the unconsciously elitist “Harvard boy wonder” energy in the room with the Los Angeles sketch company transplants, who just want to wear wigs and scream catch phrases. Oteri is a clear example of the latter - and I always felt like she had a real knack for incredibly well-observed and detailed character work, though much of it had a very dark manic quality that seemed to have an undercurrent of barely concealed rage.

R54 ok there is one I guess...although it didn't stay on my radar and doubt it has aged well. Doesn't come close to Collette, Rita "I keep it now", Nadine "simma down now"...

Slightly off topic, but I miss Kristin Wiig. Another one who was cranking out hysterical characters.

Why wasn't Tina Fey in Bridesmaids? Not even involved in producing or writing. Does Kristen Wiig hate her?

I don’t care for Chris K but Tracy Morgan is completely unfunny except for his Brian Fellows skits. He sucked in the new Twilight Zone.

Cheri O’Teri on the other hand is gold. Fuck Amy and Tina for not hiring her. She’s one funny bitch. They’re probably afraid she’d outshine them.

[quote] Tracy Morgan is completely unfunny

Oh I don't know about that

Tina and Cheri both grew up in Upper Darby, PA.

The problem with both Oteri and Fey is that they work better in 3-5 minute skits. A little Cheri Oteri goes a long way. Tina Fey can write good jokes/characters but her story sense is shit. Both 30 Rock and Kimmy Schmidt go off the rails so quickly it’s astonishing. Oh, and they’re both cunts.

I agree about Kimmy Schmidt. It's a good show, but very "New York insider" type of humor.

I'm also guessing that Oteri has mental issues and/or is a pain in the ass to work with. For someone so funny and talented, she's barely done anything since SNL.