Saturday Night Live/YMMV: Difference between revisions

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* [[Broken Base]]: Dick Ebersol's era. Some regard it as the high point of the show after the original cast; others think of it as a bastardized version of the original concept, designed to pimp Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo (and later, Martin Short, Billy Crystal, and Christopher Guest) at the expense of everyone else. [[Take a Third Option|And there are those who say that it may not be as great as Lorne Michaels' original cast, but it is worlds better than what Jean Doumanian turned out in her short stint as executive producer]].

* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: For every [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] on this show, there are at least a couple of [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] moments that make the sketch funnier years after the sketch aired. Some examples:

** The premiere had a fake commercial for a multi-bladed razor and the slogan that pointed out that consumers are so stupid that they would actually buy this. Multi-bladed razors became very real and actually would sell well in the late 1990s.

*** To be more specific, twin-blade razors were becoming the standard, so the mock commercial was about tri-blade razors, implying that they would be a stupid idea. Nowadays we have ''quad''-blade razors...

** On the Season 30 episode hosted by Tom Brady, there's a sketch that takes place backstage where Payton Manning (Seth Meyers) asks Brady why he was chosen to host over Manning. The real Manning would host in Season 32.

** In a Season 29 episode hosted by Ben Affleck, he touted "Bennifer" T-shirts during the monologue, explaining that he had unfortunately ordered 50,000 of them prior to his breakup with Jennifer Lopez, and went on to offer several other [[Portmanteau Couple Name]] combos such as "Benyonce", "Mary-Kate and Ashfleck", and (in the unlikely event that [[Ho Yay|Matt finally came around]]), "Ben-Gay". Only a couple years later, Affleck would get hitched to Jennifer Garner, making those "Bennifer" shirts pretty valuable again.

* [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]: The near-constant changing of writers and cast members is one of the most common reasons why fans have a love/hate relationship with the show. [[Seasonal Rot]] is the other.

 

** How about the catalog of songs composed by The Lonely Island. To name a few, ''Dick in a Box'', ''I'm on a Boat'', ''Jizz in My Pants'' and so on and so forth.

*** '''"I JUST HAD SEX AND IT FELT SO GOOD! A WOMAN LET ME PUT MY PENIS INSIDE OF HER!"'''

** Some of [[Seth Meyers]]' jokes on Weekend Update are often met with the audience groaning over how tasteless the joke is. In fact, a lot of past Weekend Update anchors have had this happen to them (particularly Brad Hall, Dennis Miller, [[Norm MacDonald]], and Colin Quinn)

* [[Ear Worm]]: ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAYcR8w_tE The Ambiguously Gay Duo! The Ambiguously Gay Duo!]''

** Inverted in the monologue as Tatum (the stripper) remembers all of his customers (an allegedly religious woman named Denise, a married woman named Bridget [whom Tatum remembers as "Flithy Bridget" because of all the filthy things she would ask for], a man named Leslie [who ends up dying when Tatum uses his stripper moves to refresh his memory], and Leslie's doctor, Dr. Matthews), much to their chagrin.

** The episode hosted by Alec Baldwin and his wife at the time Kim Basinger on February 12, 1994 will forever be remembered as the episode that had the "Canteen Boy Gets Molested" sketch (and the episode after that, hosted by Martin Lawrence, will be remembered for Martin's raunchy monologue about women's hygiene [which was so tasteless, it nearly got everyone on the show fired and is often cut in reruns and replaced with title cards explaining the gist of the monologue and why it can't be shown on TV anymore]).

** Likewise (for a nonsexual example) for the Tim Robbins episode from season 18, which was the notorious episode in which Sinead O'Connor rips Pope John Paul II's photo and screams, "Fight the real enemy!"

* [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]]: A lot of past sketches are harder to look at (and laugh at) now due to cast member deaths, host deaths, or the "prediction" of a horrifying/tragic/controversial event that was once played for laughs and not thought to be real at all. Some examples:

** A lesser known example from the "Not Ready for Prime Time" era is the sketch "Least-Loved Bedtime Stories". Michael O'Donoghue narrates a story called "The Little Engine that Died", where he says "I think I can...I Think I Can...HEARTATTACK...OHMYGODTHEPAIN!" In 1994 "Mr. Mike" woke up, felt what was thought to be a severe migraine headache, and screamed "OH MY GOD" in pain and later died from cerebral hemorrhage. O'Donoghue was an ''SNL'' writer known for his sadistic humor and frequent migraines, making this a literal "funny aneurysm moment" ''and'' a [[Karmic Death]].

** In Season 5 (1979-80), one of the sketches in the Strother Martin-hosted episode was about a dying man who recorded a video will. In August 1980, Martin died, not only making the episode (Martin's last acting gig, mind you) he hosted a [[Missing Episode]], but making the video will sketch (which he appeared in) a lot less funny.

** A sketch on the Topher Grace episode from Season 30 (2004-05 season) called "The Not Incredible Adventures of the Down-And-Out Dollar" parodies the fact that the U.S. dollar had reached an all-time low by having a tiny dollar bill (Amy Poehler) being mocked by currencies from other countries, one of which is a Euro (episode host Topher Grace), who brags that he's doing well in every country in the European Union. That would prove to be so very false five years later with news of several European countries suffering from economic meltdown (what's worse is that the Euro mentions that Greece was doing better than America economically in 2005, which isn't all that true now).

*** Then again, the Euro is still worth more than the American dollar, so it isn't all that off.

** The season 29 episode hosted by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson (particularly the "MTV Future" sketch in which Nick and Jessica are shown as an old married couple), now that the two aren't together anymore (of course, the same can be said for the other episodes hosted by famous couples, like Tom and Roseanne Arnold and Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger [even though Basinger didn't appear in a lot of sketches, and considering the Baldwin-Basinger episode itself became notorious for the "Canteen Boy Gets Molested" sketch, a [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] is the least of that episode's worries]), though that could also be [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] for anyone who hated the two or were sick of the media coverage.

** Once upon a time, in the mid-to-late 1990s, ''SNL'' aired a pretaped fake commercial called "Homocil," a prescription medication for parents who were secretly intolerant of their preteen sons who acted very [[Camp Gay]]. One scene featured a black boy presenting a pan of creme brulee to his father (played by Tracy Morgan), with the father chugging an entire perscription bottle of Homocil and chasing it with a bottle of beer ([[Don't Try This At Home|very dangerous, by the way, no matter what age you are]]). In June 2011, Tracy Morgan (now a cast member of ''30Rock''; he left ''SNL'' at the end of the 2002-2003 season [season 28], but kept making cameos in seasons 29 and 33) caught controversy for his homophobic remarks in his stand-up performance, including his claim that if his son was ever suspected of being gay, he would kill him (it was later found that Morgan wasn't actually serious about that comment, but it was still very uncomfortable for many people nonetheless).

** David Duchovny's second hosting gig opened with an ''[[X Files]]'' sketch in which Mulder's latest government source is revealed to be Will Ferrell's Janet Reno. While fighting off Reno's advances, Mulder deadpans that he's "reeeeally into pornography" - a reference to a [[Running Gag]] on ''The X-Files'' that became a lot harsher after Duchovny entered treatment for sex addiction.

** During the third season, when Dan Aykroyd was co-anchor of "Weekend Update", he read a news story advising, "Cocaine and heroin don't mix. If you must snort, don't shoot." In 1982, John Belushi ([[Tear Jerker|who was Aykroyd's friend]]) died of an overdose, which happened to be an injection of cocaine and heroin.

** The season 36 episode hosted by [[Russell Brand]] (which aired on Febraury 2011; it was the Valentine's Day episode of season 36) had a one-off sketch about three proper British ladies (all played by episode host Brand and two male cast members [Bill Hader and Andy Samberg]) who try to have a teatime talk show, which is located on a fault that's really sensitive to earthquakes and hilarity does ensue when they keep getting interrupted by said earthquakes. Thanks to Japan's earthquake the very next month, the sketch was found to be [[Too Soon|in bad taste]] and had to be replaced in reruns with a parody of the movie trailer ''Unstoppable'' (which was originally on the episode hosted by Scarlett Johanssen).

** Another example, on a Christmas episode: John Malkovich reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas" to little kids and interrupting the story to dispense horrifying and depressing facts about the holiday season (like the giant spike in the suicide rate, how Santa Claus would burn up in the atmosphere if it was physically possible for him to fly through the air around the world with eight magic reindeer, and the existence of a Portuguese Santa Claus called Pai Natale that likes to eat the toes of naughty children).

** Ke$ha performing "Your Love Is My Drug" in glow-in-the-dark tribal makeup on the Season 35 episode hosted by Ryan Phillippe. Whether or not you like the musical guest performances on ''SNL'' (or Ke$ha in general), you have to admit that it's freaky as hell.

** Jim Carrey, Taran Killam, and Bill Hader as murderous machine-operated puppets in an amusement park ride is [http://www.hulu.com/watch/205732/saturday-night-live-amusement-park scarily accurate], right down to the [[Uncanny Valley]] appearance (provided by Jim Carrey, Taran Killam, and Bill Hader). What's scarier is that the original ending {{spoiler|had Kenan Thompson's character beheaded and made into the latest Merryville Brother robot}}. Sadly, it was changed to {{spoiler|Kenan getting attacked by the robots and his robotic clone appearing for no reason}} due to last-minute [[Executive Meddling]].

*** The Merryville Brothers sketch on the Justin Timberlake/Lady Gaga episode is a little [[Lighter and Softer]] compared to the one from the Jim Carrey/The Black Keys episode...until the [[Fridge Horror]] sets in: if the robots {{spoiler|tried to kill Kenan Thompson's character}}, then who's to say that they {{spoiler|wouldn't do the same to Nasim Pedrad's character or Jason Sudeikis's, since Nasim's character got married to the robots played by Justin Timberlake and Taran Killam and Jason got paired up with the robot played by Bill Hader}}?

** On the season 37 episode, hosted by Melissa McCarthy, the mock advertisement played after the monologue was about a doll called Lil' Poundcake, a doll that has been FDA approved to administer the HPV vaccine to children under 10, complete with retractable hypodermic needle. The commercial was supposed to be funny and poke fun at the current issue, but [[Paranoia Fuel|this troper still can't sleep]].

** Taran Killam as Bruce Jenner on the "Kim Kardashian's Fairy Tale Divorce" sketch. Killam made Jenner's face so frozen and creepy, it should be used in public service announcements for the dangers of excessive cosmetic surgery. Also: the way Kristen Wiig as Kim Kardashian's mom, Kris, says, "What do I have to do to get attention: murder someone?" is a tad unsettling.

* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: Fred Armisen as [[Barack Obama]]. Apparently, Lorne Michaels does not realize how completely wrong it is for someone who isn't white (Armisen is Japanese, German, and Venezuelan) to play a black man (though it's safe to say that Fred Armisen was never put in black make-up for his role, and, in some viewers' ears, Armisen actually has the voice down). Made worse by the fact that two black comic actors (Jordan Peele from ''[[Mad TV]]'' and Donald Glover from ''Community'') originally auditioned to play Obama around the time that ''SNL'' was put on hiatus because of the Writers' Guild strike of 2007-2008.

** Having a cast member of one race play someone famous from another race is nothing new to the show. [[Jimmy Fallon]] (the same one who became notorious for cracking up on-camera) once played Chris Rock in a Season 25 sketch, which is more of an unfortunate implication than Fred Armisen playing Obama.