It’s Saturday Night!

Thanks to 2008’s U.S. presidential campaign and the wonders of the Internet, my brother and I have become avid fans of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Our interest was piqued thanks to the numerous media reports on its  blunt, hilariously skewed and remarkably spot-on critiques of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Cleverly disguised as a sketch/comedy/variety show, SNL has long been the late-night guilty pleasure (it debuted in 1975) for the politically-aware and enthuasists of current news. SNL has had a surprisingly profound impact on American comedy and pop culture (click here for further info).  For instance, the movie hits that are Wayne’s World, Coneheads and Ladies Man were developed from its humble beginnings as mere skits on SNL. On top of that, the majority of the who’s who of comedy in Hollywood – Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Mike Myers, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, David Spade, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Jon Lovitz and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss – actually laid roots at SNL.

Since its initial broadcast, the show has largely retained its format of beginning with a sketch that ends with one of the characters screaming that one signature line that best describes two important features of the show, “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” Shot in New York and aired live in front of a studio audience, each show is features a celebrity guest host and a musical act. The guest host will join in on several of the sketches, and on occasion, so will the musical guest. See if you can figure out who the musical guest was in this skit (and yes, this was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and to the 80’s babies, ‘Doogie Howser M.D.’).

Even after successively losing two key cast members who are also comedy heavy weights, Tina Fey (’30 Rock’) and Amy Poehler (‘Baby Mama’), SNL’s stable of varied and promising comedians for Season 34 are continuing a bang-up job of bringing the house down.

 

As long as something’s hot with the current American administration, you can expect Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis and Darrell Hammond to make hilarious performances as President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain respectively. Then there’s Andy Samberg, the aspiring musician…and who has occassionally used his band, ‘The Lonely Island’, to perform some of the wickedest skits, like this one with T-Pain:

Making up for everything else in between are Bill Hader, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, Casey Wilson and latest cast members, Bobby Moynihan, Mikaela Watkins and Abby Elliot. Though, special mention goes to the awesome and superbly versatile Kristen Wiig. Every performance she delivers with pinpoint accuracy and complete self-emersion. A perfect example of this is her stint as Judy Grimes, the  nerve-wrecked fictional travel correspondent of the Weekend Update.

Ah, the Weekend Update. That is our personal favourite on SNL. It is the longest recurring sketch on SNL, in which dedicated cast members act as news anchors who inject smart alec-ky comments into otherwise current events. Typical of TV news, there are also editorials, commentaries and even interviews…only with fictional characters or parodied versions of real-life public figures played by other cast members (to name a few, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, ex-Senator Rod Blagojevich and Charles Barkley). It’s usually a 2-person show but currently, the sole honour goes to the ever brilliant Seth Meyers who is also the Head Writer for the show. Oh…and in case you were wondering, it was Seth who came up with skits featuring ex-cast member Tina Fey as Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

In short, if you are looking for some thought-provoking comedy on current events (cause sometimes the sketches are ssooo beyond me and some, the punchline hits me way after the sketch is over), then look no further. I guarantee SNL will be a fresh change!