NYT reviewer: Colbert proves SNL " has outlived its usefulness"

[DeepModem Mom]

Bringing Out the Absurdity of the News
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: October 25, 2005


There was never much chance that Stephen Colbert would bungle his own show. Mainly, there were concerns that the "The Colbert Report" (pronounced with a French accent, as in ra-PORE) would turn out to be the Double-Stuf Oreo of Comedy Central - too much of a good thing....

***

If anything, after one week, Mr. Colbert's half-hour sendup of cable news commentators already suggests that "Saturday Night Live" has outlived its usefulness - or at least is in need of a shake-up. When a comedian from "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" has a big enough following to warrant his own spinoff, it may be time to renovate NBC's 30-year-old comedy show. Even last Saturday, when Tina Fey, the head writer, was back at the "Weekend Update" anchor desk after her maternity leave, most of the political jokes were as labored and predictable as the comedy skits.

Yet young people increasingly rely on comedy, and particularly "The Daily Show," as their main source of news. That could explain why nowadays breakout stars like Steve Carell come from Comedy Central and not "Saturday Night Live," as they did in the days of Mike Myers and Adam Sandler. Humor has moved away from long, one-joke skits and wacky impersonations to jujitsu satire: using the glib complacency of television news against itself.

And some of the best material on Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert's shows lies in their sadistic use of snippets from real newscasts and political speeches. On Thursday, Mr. Colbert showed a montage of alarmed reports about the avian flu epidemic on CNN, C-Span and MSNBC, then showed a more upbeat Fox News headline: "Bird is the word on the street. Why the avian flu could send stocks soaring."...

***

Even though Mr. Colbert stays in character - a smug, bombastic and ultrapatriotic cable news commentator - he packs more wit and acid commentary in 22 minutes of his one-man show than multiple skits by the entire cast of "SNL." On his regular feature "The Word," Mr. Colbert routinely mocks the kind of anti-intellectual populism perfected by Fox News. "Trustiness" was his word of the day, he told viewers with a poker face, sneering at the "wordanistas over at Webster's" who might refute its existence. "I don't trust books," he explained. "They're all fact and no heart."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/arts/television/25watc.html

[Julius Civitatus]

1. SNL is a disgrace

The last few seasons have been awful. This season is ridiculously unfunny. They should cancel it, seriously. Either that or refresh it with funny writers and funny comedians.

[carnie_sf]

6. They should bring back Al Franken nt

[MindPilot]

7. They need to learn when to end a skit

Almost every skit goes on for-freaking-ever long after the funny has worn off -- if it was even there in the first place.

[iconoclastNYC]

37. Yes.

This is the #1 problem with the format.

And what's worse is they seem to be one SNL classic type sketch each episode.....which is usually a miss as well.

[OnionPatch]

76. Yep, too long

Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks the skits are waaaaaay too long. But maybe they just seem that way when they're painfully NOT funny.

[Ediacara]

45. Totally!

They've lost track of the punchline!

[Lisa]

47. and their transitions between skits could use a lot of work ...

The Monty Python people (40 years ago?) were able to do this creatively and memorably. With better technology and a more savvy audience, one would think that SNL could push some of the boundaries -- but still, their most daring opening seems to be "follow someone through the backstage area with a camera".

[SoCalDem]

56. YESSSS,, ALL their skits are painfully "too-long"

and their "talent"...is ..."well, not so much"..They are self conscious, and not in a funny way like the SNLers of old were..

When I watch them, I am actually embarrassed for them.. It's like all the writers missed the train, and they are winging it..

SNL should have been "put down" long ago.. It has not been funny since Eddie Murphy left...

[Mizmoon]

61. Images by Tyrone Green

Dark and lonely on a summer's night.
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Watchdog barking. Do he bite?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Slip in his window. Break his neck.
Then his house I start to wreck.
Got no reason. What the heck?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
C-I-L my land lord!
---------------------------------------
Talk about pushing the race envelope!

Even Eddie sucks these days cause he's not angry anymore. Someone piss Eddie off, make him poor again, and let the show begin again!

[Mr_Spock]

68. SNL skit about the fake teleconference with the soldiers was a hilarious!

Have you seen this? It's a friggin' riot - funniest thing I've seen on SNL in a long time... http://movies.crooksandliars.com/SNL-Teleconference.wmv

[AlCzervik]

2. to pik nits--it was "Truthiness" not "Trustiness"

[kentuck]

9. I thought it was "trustiness" also...

:shrug:

[AlCzervik]

21. cut to the video

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:bnwqhG_XdZcJ:www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml%3FitemId%3D24039+%22Truthiness%22&hl=en&client=safari

[mondo joe]

27. You, sir, are all facts and no heart.

You're on notice.

[AlCzervik]

31. and you sir are an "It getter"

:rofl:

[zorro349]

63. anyone can read the news to you

i'm going to feel the news at you!

[Nickster]

59. LOL

[mattomjoe]

3. You mean SNL is still on???

Cripes, as far as I'm concerned, that show outlived its usefulness years ago.

[Mr_Spock]

69. SNL skit about the fake teleconference with the soldiers was a hilarious!

Have you seen this? It's a friggin' riot - funniest thing I've seen on SNL in a long time... http://movies.crooksandliars.com/SNL-Teleconference.wmv

[mattomjoe]

72. I saw it, enjoyed it, but it used the

"read-EVERYTHING-on-the-telepromter" gag which, quite frankly, has been done many times already. Which I think gets back to SNL's biggest problem -- their comedy just isn't very fresh anymore.

[flying_wahini]

4. he is great

last night's word was pussy, my husband and I just guffawed thru
the whole show....

[Fox Mulder]

5. I really despise SNL.

I haven't laughed at a skit in a few years.

Why do I still watch it?????????

[jayfish]

22. You Didn't Laugh At The Open...

last Saturday? Come on, it was funny. Iraqis so full of freedom that they blow themselves up. A soldier reading the presidents teleprompter line and them the president reading it agian anyway. It was classic. That being said, the skits go on forever.

Jay

[Mr_Spock]

70. SNL skit about the fake teleconference with the soldiers was a hilarious!

Have you seen this? It's a friggin' riot - funniest thing I've seen on SNL in a long time... http://movies.crooksandliars.com/SNL-Teleconference.wmv

[Loonman]

8. Weekend Update is even forced and unfunny

Tina Fey, with all due respect, can't get the jokes off the ground.

[mduffy31]

13. I will be honest

That is the only reason that I tune in. I am one, and I am sure I am in the minority here, that Weekend Update stopped being funny when Miller left, before he joined the dark side.

[Dorian Gray]

24. Yeah.

I also think the problem with Weekend Update is that both Tina and Amy seem to have the same style. They need two opposing styles to compliment each other rather than having two women whose expressions and humor are virtually identical. It doesn't work.

As for the rest of the show, I can't watch it at all. Unfunny. They are just phoning it in.

[Loonman]

38. Amy Poehler

Funnier with Upright Citizens Brigade. I think SNL pigeonholed her into a mold and sucked the funny out.

Tina Fey = Maya Rudolph = Amy Poehler = Rachel Dratch

Same jokes, same delivery, same roles in skits: the hyper girls with exaggerated facial expressions and bad cue card reading.

[Dorian Gray]

39. I want to like Amy Poehler...

She is from my alma mater, so I'm predisposed to liking her. And I do, at times. But, she and Tina are just too similar. (I never did see Upright Citizens Brigade.)

[Lethe]

66. was Amy the one who did Andy's sister on Conan O'Brien?

that was hilarious!

[zorro349]

58. i agree, how are 2 cute girls funny?

i miss the old
"jane, you ignorant slut...." from aykroyd

[shoelace414]

10. Laugh in was a lot like SNL except

instead of a 5 minute skit, the skits were 20 seconds long. get the joke out and move on to the next skit.

[NuttyFluffers]

52. ... it was good

just finishing off your subject line properly. :D you're welcome

speaking of which, i'd totally be down for a DVD set of Laugh In. damn, that stuff was great!

[shoelace414]

57. Trio used to show it, until the Trio channel went away.

[Selatius]

11. NBC is owned by General Electric, a giant arms manufacturer of the US

At least, I think it is GE. It might be Westinghouse, but I think they own CBS. ABC is owned by the Disney Corp.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

67. CBS is owned by Viacom, same as Comedy Central

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/viacom.asp

[MarsThe Cat]

12. on stephanofoloffagus's sunday show-

Colbert made the "sunday funnies" in his first week on the air.

and last night's bit involving Torquemada coming back to "inquisitionize" Delay was...extremely funny.

i love the Repor(t).

[crispini]

19. That bit was GREAT. nt

[MarsThe Cat]

41. "karl rove- i'd cop a plea- torquemada was a bit of a chubby-chaser"

BEST line on a tv show in a long time.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

14. snl seems to be aimed at 13 year olds

[peekaloo]

25. Their musical guests definitely seem to be.

*sigh* I remember the days when I looked forward to, at least, a great music segment.

[RepublicanElephant]

15. they need to back to the old formulas... finding real comedians at

comedy clubs, and/or accepting material from the general public.

remember mr. bill? that was some of the funniest crap i'd ever seen, sent in by an ordinary viewer.

nowdays, whether it's tv, movies, business, and oh yeah, politics, everybody's got to have connections to get in.

cronyism is a killer of real talent.

[rmgustaf]

20. Could you imagine

if they could get real comedians again? People like Dane Cook five years ago would have been perfect to revitalize SNL.

As it is, I don't watch anymore. There's few actors I like on there anymore and Weekend Update is terrible. Bring back Nealon!

[chelsea0011]

16. SNL is meaningless.. They all laugh at their own jokes all the time

I truly gave up on SNL a couple of years ago when they did a skit about the protest against the war leading up to Iraq. Matthew McGonahey(sp) was the protester trying to get the crowd going about fighting against the war in Iraq. And the joke was that the crowd thought the protest was against whales, guns, or anything, but Iraq. The skit ends with the crowd shouting "bomb Iraq" over and over. It was complete insult and SNL which has always prided itself on being a counter-culture, finally became the problem. I always felt SNL jumped the shark when they threw Sinead O'Conner to the sharks. Hell, Ashley Simpson got a do over on SNL last week. Sinead" she got her picture torn up the folowing week and has never been back.

[TimeToGo]

17. I don't know how

The Colbert Report can sustain itself (imagine week after week) -- BUT, regardless of that, it is very, very funny right now.

[Breeze54]

18. SNL is still funny!

I look forward to SNL every Saturday evening!
It can get tedious sometimes but the opening
skit is what I look forward to!

No offense but it sounds like a lot of you have lost your innocence

and your sense of humor!!

Lighten up! Relax!

Have a little laugh!

It can't hurt and might help!

Cripes!

"Sound the alarm! Cancel the show! Outlived it's usefulness!"

Give me a break!!

[burythehatchet]

26. the last time SNL was funny was 1984

[Breeze54]

32. That's your opinion....

Not a fact!

[burythehatchet]

33. no seriously, I can prove it. n/t

[Breeze54]

36. He,he,he!!!

:P

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Mr_Spock]

71. SNL skit about the fake teleconference with the soldiers was a hilarious!

Have you seen this? It's a friggin' riot - funniest thing I've seen on SNL in a long time... http://movies.crooksandliars.com/SNL-Teleconference.wmv

[burythehatchet]

77. I did, the Brit Hume thing was a riot. The laughs that

would warrant it being a "funny show" are very few and far between. I guess I'm nostalgic for the genius of Belushi and the original cast. Nothing beats the original (except in the case of Daily Show).

[m_welby]

29. lost my innocence long, long ago and SNL was still funny then

I'm glad you still find it funny, apparently many people do (not in this thread though). I do not.

I know I haven't lost my sense of humor, because I still laugh all the time.

I certainly think the humor on SNL has changed from what it was to predominately sophmoric, tasteless, obvious jokes. Thats fine, but it doesn't make me laugh.

In terms of weekend update and real satire, yes it has outlived its usefulness. SNL doesn't do satire well anynmore, they do parody; but not satire, at least not funny satire.

[Breeze54]

35. So, your saying Belushi wasn't 'sophmoric"? wtf?

Now THAT was funny!! :P

"I certainly think the humor on SNL has changed from what it was
to predominately sophmoric, tasteless, obvious jokes..."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

You ARE funny!!

:P

[m_welby]

40. uhh, 'predominately sophmoric'

certainly belushi was sophmoric, and tasteless.

If SNL was all belushi skits then it wouldn't have been nearly as funny. Besides, when belushi did it 30 years ago, it was groundbreaking. now you might as well watch his old skits because the new ones on snl aren't very original or groundbreaking. You can see the same formulaic jokes on south park, will & grace, etc. etc. etc.

Oh, belushi also didn't pad a skit for 10 minutes, 7 minutes after the joke stopped being funny.

[Dorian Gray]

43. Personally,

I'm one of the few that didn't enjoy the Belushi/Akroyd/Curtain years. I watch reruns of those years now, and nothing is funny to me.

I preferred the Sandler/Farley/Rock/Myers years. I don't know why, but Farley as a motivational speaker is funny! Falling into tables? Even funnier! So, I absolutely DO like Sophomoric humor.

[Breeze54]

48. "Nothing is funny to me" wtf? ....I feel....

really bad for you!

I mean that.

That is really to bad.

I try to find a little humor daily.

It keeps me sane.

If I were to 'analyze' everything by my work standards ?

I'D GO INSANE!!

Hope you find your way back to the lighter side....

PEACE!

[Dorian Gray]

51. I think that you didn't read what I wrote..

Nothing in the original years of SNL strikes me as all that funny. If you included the entire FIRST sentence in what you quoted from me, you'd realize that's what I said. So, no need to "wtf" in response to my comment. It was quite kosher, and not very sad at all.

As for SNL, "Cheeseburger ad infinitum..." was not funny (to me). The shark at the door? Sort of funny, but not lol funny. I think that the problem is that at the time I was too young to get it. And when I caught the reruns on E, they weren't the "groundbreaking" fare that they were back when they were first run.

I find LOTS humorous in everyday life. I break out laughing just from reading some of the intelligent and humorous posts on this board. I also laugh at shows that I find funny: Entourage, Arrested Development, Weeds, The Daily Show, The Soup and a variety of others.

I just don't think SNL is very funny. At all. There were five or so years (awhile ago) where I found it hysterical. Now... not so much.

So, please don't feel sorry for me. You misread what I wrote.

[Breeze54]

54. I read what you wrote.

That's my take on what you wrote.

I edited it 'on purpose'....

I know what I wrote.

This explanation confirms it.

[SpiralHawk]

60. Dorian, you need to go Disco Roller Fishing

and see what it's all about...

[Dorian Gray]

65. Spiral...

what is this Disco Roller Fishing of which you speak?

[SpiralHawk]

75. DiscoRollerFishing lies beyond the Bass O' Matic

Disco Roller Fishing was an old SNL skit, based on the premise that you would still have your arms and hands free while Disco Roller Skating. so they plunked a fish pond down in the middle of the disco, handed out fishing poles, and started a new dance/fishing/roller skating craze.

For whatever reason, years ago, it hit my funny bone...

[peekaloo]

23. I loved his "Know your District" segment.

Hilarious show even when he stumbles over his words.

:D

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. SNL still has its moments

and there have been years when it was much worse than it is now but the only way to watch it is to record it and keep your finger hovering over the FWD button.

Besides, if they canceled it how would us middle aged white guys know who the popular bands are these days?

[ComerPerro]

30. LMAO. Great review. Colbert does the best OReally impressions

on that show.

[long_green]

34. "wordanista?" That killed me.

I just got my cable back, I'll have to tune in.

[KittyWampus]

42. Getting back to Colbert, his interviews are better than any of the hacks

pretending to be journalists and political commentators.

[stevietheman]

44. MADtv is a far better "skit" show, and the comedy is riper.

I suspect that having to fill in 90 minutes with mostly live entertainment is what hurts SNL more than anything. Then, of course, there is the stale writing and overextended skits. It's like they pour all their talent into the opening skit, and it all goes downhill from there. Compare to MADtv, which is usually funny and biting all the way through.

It would seem that Comedy Central and MADtv have all the good comedy writers.

[TimeToGo]

49. I don't think I have ever laughed at MAD TV

They have one joke -- always centered around someone who is retarded or close to it. It gets real old.

[stevietheman]

50. You haven't actually watched MADtv, have you?

I'm sorry, but your remarks indicate this.

[tjdee]

62. I have watched it, and I never laughed either.

My sister loves it though.

I really have not cracked a smile. :shrug:

[TimeToGo]

64. I have indeed

[SavageWombat]

46. Eric Idle

I'm just reading Eric Idle's "Greedy Bastard Diary", and he made this joke about SNL:

"What's the difference between life and a sketch on SNL?"

"Life eventually ends."

[thebigidea]

74. he should know - he's damned to hell for making "Rutles 2"

a shame, as the original is pretty brilliant. I'm loving his post-python sketch show these days, "Rutland Weekend Television" - some fairly hifi copies have dribbled onto the net.

but still, Rutles 2! What an abomination!

[Ladyhawk]

53. I can only watch Colbert on Comedy Central's website, but

it already looks great. TDS rarely (if ever) bombs. Jon Stewart is god. I just watched The Woman President segment and about coughed out a lung when they did that sex ed part about Mr. Monthly Visitor.

[question everything]

55. Just read the complete article

Does he really mock Scarborough and CNN Aaron Brown? I don't watch either. Nor do I watch O'Reilly but is still fun to watch him.

And, I have not watched SNL for ages. Tried once last year, during the campaign and found everything flat.

[LeftHander]

73. Franz Ferdinand rocked on SNL....

Apart from Ashlee Simpson...I dig the music on SNL....

It is what kept me wathcing all these years...

Elvis Costello
Patti Smith
The Replacements
X
Green Day
The Police
U2
and sooo many more...........