Live from New York... it's good again?

I haven't watched Saturday Night Live in a while. Like most fans of the long-running show, I've caught the "Digital Shorts" on YouTube, but mostly given up on the show, which seemed to be downwardly spiralling, never to be seen again. However, I did read about Lorne Michaels' attempt to bring the show back, by downsizing the cast (i.e. getting rid of Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz) and generating buzz with lots of young newcomers. Honestly, this didn't seem like the smartest idea at the time, but now, it seems to be working. Because last night's episode (Rainn Wilson and The Arcade Fire) was honestly good. Surprisingly good. The choice of guests is a sign that SNL's audience is changing. Rather than focusing on the biggest possible stars, they chose buzzed-about current hipster icons, who would get teens talking on the Internet. Plus, Rainn Wilson is funny and talented, unlike when they get an athlete or politican to host and every skit basically bombs. Notice how the only mentions SNL has gotten in the last year have been about "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box," both starring Andy Samberg (aka "The New Jimmy Fallon" and another notch on Kirsten Dunst's bedpost). Last night, it was Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis who really shone. Their Jim and Pam impersonations were SPOT ON, as was pretty much everything else they did.


The other big difference about last night's show was the type of humor. They're going for random nowadays. They understand that teens want fast-paced ADD humor like Family Guy or any YouTube clip. No clip went on for forever. No clip had a stupid theme song at the beginning telling us exactly what to expect for the next 2.5 minutes. They used the cold-open and Weekend Update to do pop culture references and spoof current events, but the rest was pure sketch comedy. So yeh... whether they can keep this up is questionable. It seems like they're going on a hiatus, as are most good shows after February Sweeps. But I'm interested to see if they can keep up the good work.

Oh, to be a Groundling...

The Coming has commissioned Dorien Davies to share her experiences on what it's like to be in the advanced class at the Groundlings. The results are interesting in the first of a soon-to-be regular piece, and if anything, it illustrates how difficult it is to make it big in a group like the Groundlings, the LA version of Second City or UCB. One thing that strikes me is the fact that you can't just audition for these groups. You have to go through all the classes, so if you really want to be a part of the group, you have to shell out at least $1000 in up to four levels of classes (more at UCB, I think). Which makes sense, considering then everyone has the same level of training and comes from the same background. But at the same time are they missing out on any incoming talent by charging so much for their classes? I can't imagine a lot of struggling but talented comedians have a thousand dollars laying around they can place as an investment for a group they may not even make it to.

Skip 'n' Dale's

I don't usually post links to videos, but this one is chock-full of UCB members including Jon Daly in a thong and Project Improviser winner Marcy Jerreau. Check it out here .

Raising the bar

The Apiary is the best record of the NYC comedy scene on the Web. If you're interested in the industry, stand-up, improv, etc., it is a fabulous read for a disgustingly cold day like today. They have a great series with bartenders at the Upright Citizens' Brigade Theatre, who are also usually improvisers and comedians, so the interviews are always hilarious and give a cool sense of what it's like to be in with the cool guys, but still working for the weekend. You can read the latest installment here .

More Thursday NBC sweetness

According to TVSquad.com:

Andy Barker P.I., the half-hour comedy starring Andy Richter and produced by Conan O'Brien, will make its broadcast debut on Thursday, March 15th at 9:30 on NBC. That's 30 Rock's time slot, but they'll be back after a five week run of Andy. In addition to Andy Richter, the show stars Tony Hale - Buster of Arrested Development fame. Writer Jane Espenson, who announced the show's premiere date on her website, also revealed that Amy Sedaris will be stopping by for a guest stint.

Personally, I'd rather they replace My Name is Earl for a couple of weeks, but maybe the slightly later time will give the show a good lead-in or let them be a little more experimental. I'm kind of losing my patience with Scrubs lately too. Musical episodes (with the sole exception of buffy the vampire slayer) are sure jump-the-shark territory for me. But I was a big fan of the short-lived "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and hopefully, they can have lots of delicious guest stars for the few months when the show is on.

stand-up round-up

Two AMAZING stand-up specials that I caught recently were Louis C.K.: Shameless and Demetri Martin: Person. Louis C.K. has written for Conan, SNL, and the talent cesspool that was the Dana Carvey Show. He's great in a relatable, but off-color way and is always funny when he's talking about his wife and kids, especially pointing out the asshole-ishness of 4-year-old daughter. I thought his short-lived HBO show, Lucky Louie, was really underrated: he took a huge risk in experimenting with an R-rated sitcom, a format which hasn't really been played around with yet.


Demetri Martin seems like he's often at the forefront of the alterna- comedy movement, which is not so alterna anymore, now that there's 100 spots on vh1 shows for them and infinite space on youtube. Martin used to do stand-up at UCBT, but has gotten some corporate sponsors to fund his Comedy Central special. It's well-deserved success since his irreverent sense of humor and quirky drawings are really hysterical. He's also got gorgeous hipster hair and ironic hipster T-shirts. Some of his bits remind me a little too much of Zach Galifanakis though. Tsk tsk.

Check out this College Humor interview with Paul Mecurio, stand-up comic and writer for The Daily Show. He's working on a show that will "be to Sports Center what The Daily Show was to the news." Doesn't sound that great to me, but maybe sportsfans will disagree.