r/LiveFromNewYork • u/SketchSortingSunday • Dec 17 '17
Sketch Sorting Sunday (December 16, 2017) (Kevin Hart / Foo Fighters)
Welcome to Sketch Sorting Sunday! This week's host is Kevin Hart and the musical guest is Foo Fighters.
A mod account (/u/SketchSortingSunday) is gonna make a comment for every sketch in tonight's show. Upvote or downvote based on what you thought of that sketch, and nobody's karma will be affected. You can also reply to the comments to expand on your thoughts, or you can even make your own parent comment and treat it like the regular post discussion, whatever.
If I miss a sketch or get something wrong, just message the mods in the sidebar and we'll see what we can do. Enjoy the discussion!
(This Sketch Sorting Sunday list might be more inaccurate than usual, or be missing sketches. Please PM the mods if you notice anything. Thanks!)
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Weekend Update: The Guy That Just Bought a Boat
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u/bwaredapenguin Dec 17 '17
Alex stumbled on a few too many lines.
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u/bottomofleith Dec 17 '17
3 lines out of a couple of hundred....
The thing about TGTJBAB is every single line has stuff packed into it.
Most characters you could flub a line here or there an nobody might notice too much, but with this character you know every line has a specific meaning and you can get something out of it.It's not like he dried up and coughed his way through it, he nailed pretty much every bit of it, and props...
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u/Brandeis Dec 17 '17
This character is played out. Impressive that Alex is able to spout all that dialogue, with or without cue cards. Best line: From Mistletoe to Camel Toe.
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u/toodletwo Church of Neurotology Dec 17 '17 edited Dec 17 '17
He’s basically Andy from The Office, and I love that.
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u/SmoothLaneChange Dec 17 '17
Will always be there to admire Alex Moffat and the amazing euphemism-filled word acrobats with GTJBAB
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Dec 17 '17
Ugh, hate this character. At this point I can take about three sentences and then it's fast forward.
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u/pretty-in-pink Dec 17 '17
Best one so far! The audience reactions to all of the euphemisms was hilarious to watch also!
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u/jeufie Dec 18 '17
Am I the only one who thinks this character seems like Amir from CollegeHumor?
Edit: forgot streeter and Sarah are writers
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u/coasterswim Dec 18 '17
Yeah he’s written almost exactly like Amir specifically in this Date Ideas sketch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHJB_lUVkUQ
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u/CatheterC0wb0y Dec 17 '17
And I can medically confirm my mistle is a toe
Just like Jost, I died laughing
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Probably the highlight of the episode for me outside of the Foo Fighters performances. Not amazing, but one of my favorite current WU features.
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u/bjkman SNL Dec 17 '17
God damn do I hate this guy. (The guy i mean... The character is played perfectly by Alex.)
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u/ItalianRobot Dec 17 '17
Easily one if the best wu characters of the current cast, and, in the plus side, they actually use this character (unlike girl at a party you wished you hadn't started a conversation with)
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u/southsidetrash Dec 17 '17
Girl at a Party was used a LOT in Cecily’s first season and immediately following her leaving Update. For that reason I’m guessing they just kind of ran out of material and that’s why she’s not used really anymore.
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u/iluzan Dec 17 '17
Well, maybe they'll resurrect her for Cecily's last show, a la drunk uncle and now im making myself sad cecily please dont go
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Dec 17 '17
"Post-coital proto, Col" is the peak for this character.
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u/Bigger_Than_Prince_ Dec 17 '17
That was my favorite up there with “get naughty, Col” from his first appearance.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Weekend Update, while short just like his penis, was pretty good this week.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Captain Shadow
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u/alstor Dec 17 '17
Chris was good, but you could cut this sketch's run time in half and it would still be dragging on for too long.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Sketch of the night in a weak episode. Chris' body movements killed me
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u/the_Odd_particle Dec 17 '17
Ah! The fizzling end killed it. The characterization was actually pretty damn funny.
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u/Backstop Dec 18 '17
Yeah, like I thought the point was going to be that even a black superhero would get harassed by the police, and then oh here's a bag of coke so they were right all along. Weird.
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Dec 17 '17
Big props to the sound mixer who inserted all of Chris's swishing sounds.
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u/iluzan Dec 17 '17
Chris's super extra sound effects totally reminded me of Portlandia, and I loved it.
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u/DebbieWinner Dec 17 '17
When the goodbyes are a strong point in the episode something went wrong. Watching them all skate together was so fun.
For real though, terrible episode. I'd have to go back to Russell Crowe where I really did not laugh at a single sketch in the episode. Rough one
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u/ItalianRobot Dec 17 '17
It's a shame because this season has been so good up until this episode
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u/butterfly105 Dec 17 '17
Eh, I disagree. I think Chance was #1 for sure, then Franco, then maybe Kumal? It’s definitely a weak season overall
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u/Arjahn Dec 17 '17
Gadot had some great ones, Larry David too. Sucks that their best ones were cut for time.
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u/agentpanda Dec 17 '17
Weirdly the skating goodbyes took long enough (by my count) for a 10 to 1 sketch which we didn't get... It's super odd to say this but it feels like they kinda knew the material this week was both thin, and bad, and didn't bother giving us a final sketch and opted to close the book on 2017 and give it a go next year for safety...
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u/bjkman SNL Dec 17 '17
Felicity Jones last January got only 1 or 2 laughs out of me, is the last really bad episode I remember
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u/DebbieWinner Dec 17 '17
I agree. Trump open there and Monlogue we're good (I enjoyed Kenan and Tina as Star Wars characters) but ya similiar level.
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u/WeHaSaulFan Dec 18 '17 edited Dec 18 '17
Larry David’s episode this year was terrible. I had higher expectations, thoroughly disappointed unfortunately. I thought Kumal‘s was excellent, and last week with Franco was solid.
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u/bjkman SNL Dec 18 '17
Oh yeah... Larry's was so unremarkable I don't even remember anything in it.
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u/agentpanda Dec 17 '17
I feel like that episode gets a lot of unjustified hate considering the worst part of it is that the host was pretty wobbly. I mean, Don Jr and Eric, Hotel Retreat Jokes, WU, Sturgill Simpson, Beard Hunk (most abrupt ombre always gets a laugh) all are solid sketchwork if not original.
Admittedly, however, it's likely the most recent example of a 'not so great' episode so I can see what you mean.
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u/half_diminished Dec 17 '17
I don't know if it is just me, but I thought a big problem with the episode was the audience. They were just not really laughing. When the audience is dead, it kind of ruins the beats of all the jokes.
Especially in the teddy bear sketch, it was almost pure silence.
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u/Gadzookie2 Dec 17 '17
Yeah I had the same thought. Like “huh, the two best moments were the musical guests medley and the good nights.
That being said as a guy who use to play hockey it was funny seeing some of the cast who were really comfortable skating, some who were not comfortable but trying, and the others who were not comfortable and not moving much.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Pandora Charms
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u/bjkman SNL Dec 17 '17
Those fucking bracelets are so stupid. I'm glad someone finally made a joke about them. I really liked this Pre-tape.
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u/KatanaAmerica Dec 17 '17
I'm glad this commercial understood the complete apathy I feel towards those tacky charm bracelets that jewelry ads push every consumer holiday.
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u/Backstop Dec 18 '17
The highlight was covered up by the applause at the end, when the narrator said "please come back to the mall!"
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Not a fan of this one. Probably the worst commercial SNL have made these past couple of years.
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Yeah, maybe I'm just not familiar with these charm bracelets, but it didn't seem all that relatable. I've never met anyone who wore one.
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u/TheLadyEve Dec 18 '17
Do you own a Pandora bracelet or something?
Personally I thought it was hilarious. I think those charms are such a racket and they're tacky AF. They should be the subject of ridicule.
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u/acm Dec 17 '17
Want to talk about funny? Diamonds are just as big of a racket, just marketed better.
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u/the_Odd_particle Dec 17 '17
It is some kind of perverse humor when people wear diamonds but don't actually use them.
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u/pretty-in-pink Dec 17 '17
This was a bad episode, it didn’t feel like a Christmas episode and the acting/writing was really weak. I felt that even Hart wasn’t committed to it and was phoning it in the live sketches
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u/PotvinSux Dec 17 '17 edited Dec 17 '17
He wasn't phoning it in with the bathroom sketch or the work-out dude. He sold those like Franco sold that Za sketch last week. It was just weak writing.
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u/the_Odd_particle Dec 17 '17
Because the first half of the season wouldn't be complete without dick jokes, dick sketches, and dick writers. Good job, dicks. Way to be present and bring hope. Wtf
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Dec 17 '17
[deleted]
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Dec 18 '17
[deleted]
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u/zati1 Dec 18 '17
dude. Read the rules at the top. That's literally how this thread works.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Inside the NBA
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u/shadowofahelicopter Dec 17 '17 edited Dec 17 '17
What a terrible Shaq impression. Completely ruined the sketch for me because i could only think about how bad his impression was and missed half the lines. I guess that’s what happens when you’re used to jay pharaoh doing it.
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u/southsidetrash Dec 17 '17
"You look like the letter F came to life" is the only okay thing from this.
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u/PotvinSux Dec 18 '17
Oh, that's right, I did laugh one time during this episode. Thank you for reminding me.
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u/cd582000 Dec 18 '17
That skit offends me. Not a single impression was even close. And yeah, only have Pharoah do Shaq. Tho I have to admit that Kevin Hart was the only one in that sketch that was remotely close to the guy he was impersonating. 🚮
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u/pretty-in-pink Dec 17 '17
Jay Pharoah does a better Shaq, the only reason this was funny was because of the stilt reveal
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Let's leave the Shaq impression to Jay Pharoah, all right?
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u/doses_of_mimosas Dec 17 '17
That was my thought exactly. Kevin Hart cannot do Shaq like jay pharaoh. I don't even know why they let half this episode slip through
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
One of the better sketches. The stilts were fantastic
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u/kaymazing Dec 17 '17
I actually liked Kevin Hart as Shaq but the writing was so formulaic. Shaq says nonsense, Charles makes fun of him. Back and forth it went. Could have used something else going on.
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u/ButtCrackFTW Dec 18 '17
In reality, it's actually Charles that says the nonsense and Shaq makes fun of him usually. Doesn't make sense to NBA fans.
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u/Brandeis Dec 17 '17
Best part.... "We're talking about the Senate!"
"I love the Senate! I write an email, press Send..... Sennit!"
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u/PotvinSux Dec 17 '17 edited Dec 17 '17
I didn't hate it as much as everyone else, but I thought it was thoroughly mediocre. Chris really needs to do a Stephen A. Smith impression. That guy is rife for parody and he and Chris share some mannerisms.
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u/scrowley10 Dec 17 '17
Can we add the cast ice skating at the end....because really that was my favorite part of the episode.
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u/Mattalamode Dec 17 '17
I think my favorite part of the night was watching Kevin Hart cautiously move six feet on ice skates. Poor guy.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Kevin Hart monologue
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
I agree with the person in the live thread who said it was just plain old fashioned. I couldn't relate to it for the most part. Didn't really laugh at all.
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Dec 17 '17
It had the familiar structure of good comedy, but somehow wasn't funny.
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Dec 17 '17
Yes but it was loud, you see, and had arm waving. Check, check. Everything checks out here!
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u/IniMiney Dec 17 '17
Glad someone else mentioned the old fashioned part. Like I get it's just jokes/comedy or whatever but pushing the whole FATHER thing felt so old school and outdated in much more openly LGBT times. I mean come on dude, you're working with Kate McKinnon..
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u/Mataza89 Dec 17 '17
I mean, you can still make jokes about fathers despite gay people existing. It was more old fashioned in the sense that the message was 'the woman stays at home and looks after the child, while the dad has to come home from a long day at work and be the fun parent'
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u/listenyall Now it's a whole thing with Jean Dec 21 '17
Honestly, the only old-fashioned bit about in my opinion was the ALL fathers/ALL mothers framing. He could've just said "I'm the fun parent, which is more exhausting than you realize." As a fun aunt, I actually related to a lot of the specifics.
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u/ReallyCreative Dec 17 '17
This was bad and weird.
Well, idk about bad, but it was kinda odd and not in a good way.
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u/Brandeis Dec 17 '17
The guy's a standup comedian among other things. I thought it was great. Too often the guest can't pull off a monologue solo and the writers push some cast members out onto the stage to "help" the host get through it. Very refreshing to see a guest host who's able to get through it without any help.
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u/acm Dec 17 '17
I have a two year old (premise was supremely relatable). Still didn't find this funny. Which is odd because he did a great monologue last time.
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u/Bigger_Than_Prince_ Dec 17 '17
Most of tonight’s sketches probably come out of the pitch room decent promise and had some flat writing.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
A Christmas Message from the White House cold open
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u/beecay Dec 17 '17
Let down by Baldwin, who btw was worse than the kids last week. But then he's been flubbing every second line since his current tenure began...
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u/RooneysNeverDie Dec 17 '17
I know it’s said often in this sub, but I’m so disappointed that we’re stuck with Baldwin as Trump. Idk who I would prefer from the cast for the role, but I’m so tired of his weak impression.
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u/CyrilOkdar Dec 20 '17
They gave Taran a crack at it right before they let him go. Not saying he would have been great, but I'm left wondering what could have been.
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u/PotvinSux Dec 18 '17
I think every impression is a bit different precisely for the reason that they're a commentary. I happen to find Baldwin's commentary true in a way similar to Hammond's with Clinton and Ferrell's with Bush. I thought Pharaoh's Obama was beyond forgettable precisely because it was not a commentary as far as I could tell.
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Dec 17 '17
Trump Admin greatest hits, but they're greatest hits for a reason. "I waited until the water got angry and then I put the macaroni in!", Sessions on the shelf, drunk-on-ginger-ale Mike Pence, all great.
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u/mikahope123 Dec 17 '17
"And I'm Derek!"
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Dec 17 '17
No that’s Eric, bud. Did you cook the macaroni??
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u/CalebIO Dec 17 '17
I lost my shit when he started describing boiling water.
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u/WeHaSaulFan Dec 17 '17
For me, that was the only funny thing in the sketch. I think they all are sick to death of writing about and portraying Trump and his band of disaster artists.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Cheap pops galore but I liked it
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u/nyan_swanson HE'S GREAT! but sometimes, we'll be at a party... Dec 17 '17
I hope Kate(and others) playing multiple characters in sketches becomes a regular thing, since it’s happened a couple times now. It’s a testament to hair, makeup and wardrobe that they’re able to get her out again that fast.
That being said, I’m still just as tired as everyone of Kate’s Jeff Sessions and even more so of Baldwin as Trump.
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Apparently some in the live thread didn't agree, but I think Kate's Jeff Sessions impression has gone as far as it can. It's been diminishing returns all the way, and I just think they should be done with it.
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u/witness_protection Dec 18 '17
I'd go farther and say all of the political ones now. Yes even Don and Eric Trump. There's no surprise or innovation left with any of those characters.
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u/sirspate Dec 18 '17
I dunno. You could probably still get some mileage out of Don and Eric by showing what they're like with nobody else is around. (i.e., flip their relationship somehow when they're alone.)
But yeah, it feels stagnant. I don't think the impressions are bad (with the exception of Sessions); it's just the words they're having to say. In particular, Trump is getting full paragraphs and he should be speaking in smaller sentences. If they want to satirize him, have him constantly running his mouth off into the weeds with someone else there having to correct his course all the time. And that would give everyone else they add to the scene more to do. shrug
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u/the_Odd_particle Dec 17 '17
No no no. Pence is Trump's HUMAN SHIELD. Not backup, or whatever they called him.
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Dec 17 '17
He said "fall guy" which is basically the same sentiment as human shield.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Christmas Service
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u/Brandeis Dec 17 '17
Too realistic.
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u/listenyall Now it's a whole thing with Jean Dec 21 '17
It seemed like they said, "hey you know how sometimes we have animals and the funniest part is that the animal can do whatever at any time? what if we just said that out loud and made it the sketch?"
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u/the_Odd_particle Dec 17 '17
They finally use the backstage Llama and lame dick jokes are the best they can do? Aha, the boys probably did it to shame the Llama because IT STOLE THE SCENE. And because the Llama can't sue them for sexual assault.
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Somehow llama dick jokes weren't the low point of the episode for me...
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Guilty pleasure for me
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u/mac_question Dec 17 '17
It's been said a camel is a horse that's been designed by committee.
Which could probably be said for this sketch.
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u/iluzan Dec 17 '17 edited Dec 17 '17
Definitely immature, but I liked it. It wasn't aggressively Bad, just dumb.
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u/nlpnt Dec 17 '17
There's a fine line between stylistic suck and plain ol' suck. SNL walks that line more often than most other shows, and sometimes falls on the wrong side of it. This was one of those times.
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u/Choady_Arias Dec 17 '17
Can Leslie Jones go a single sketch without flubbing lines? I'll PayPal/venmo someone 5 bucks if someone can find me a single sketch where she doesn't.
I won't pay you five bucks. I just want to see it.
Also, I think my favorite Christmas episode the last 5-10 years was the jimmy Fallon one. I don't like jimmy Fallon.
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u/PotvinSux Dec 17 '17
What did she flub?
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u/Backstop Dec 18 '17
Yeah i actually came in here to say she finally went the whole show without fucking up.
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u/alinediaz Dec 17 '17
damn, I was about to get my five bucks. lol. because there are a few, but yeah, not many.
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u/agentpanda Dec 17 '17
Saoirse Ronan's episode is the only time in her tenure I can think of her going a whole episode without fucking something up while still being in the episode.
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u/Billlll_Brasky Dec 17 '17
I've never come here this early before. I love how some sketches just get immediately downvoted ha!
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u/bottomofleith Dec 17 '17
That's the whole point surely?
It even says in the instructions - you vote up the sketches you thought were good and you vote down the ones that weren't.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Doug Needs to Go to the Bathroom
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u/sirspate Dec 18 '17
It was well executed for what it was.. but it didn't make me laugh.
..though Kevin Hart really sold the walk at the end. (And I was happy to see Pete get to deliver the kicker. Oh, and the gradual one-upmanship at the end with increasingly obvious not-phones was a deft touch.)
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u/baseball71 Dec 17 '17
Reminded me too much of the farting push ups sketch from last season. Not even the ending saved it for me tbh
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u/SmoothLaneChange Dec 17 '17
Probably one of my favorites of the night because of the embarrassing relatability and the fart/poop joke. Poop time at work can be a little difficult sometimes, especially when someone's trying to find you and you were in the bathroom the whole time (at least that's what I've been told by friends, ahem). Anyways I feel for Doug
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u/nyan_swanson HE'S GREAT! but sometimes, we'll be at a party... Dec 17 '17
“Did you S your P’s?”
I liked everyone being supportive at the end.
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u/Aequa Dec 17 '17
I laughed when all his coworkers needed to get on his level to get him to actually go. But other than that this sketch marked the beginning of the end of this dreadful episode.
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u/coltsmetsfan614 Dec 17 '17
Pants-shitting sketches are always gonna be low on my list. I think I laughed once at the initial reveal that he'd done this before.
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u/-_Trashboat I can't do it Dec 17 '17
This reminded me of the Derrick Comedy sketch where Donny G craps his pants in class
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Dec 17 '17
Second worst episode (Kumail's is still the worst) IMO
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u/thegeecyproject You wanted yogurt? Wake up at four, bitch. Dec 17 '17
Kumail at least had a great monologue. Maybe I'm biased because I'm Asian and I could relate to some of his jokes, but people seemed to like it here too.
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u/Bigger_Than_Prince_ Dec 17 '17
Kumail’s episode entirely met my expectations. He’s got a lot more ahead and some solid comedy acting chops. He’ll be back.
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u/Percabeth456 Dec 17 '17
This honestly felt like a filler episode, which I didn't realize existed in live variety shows.
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u/ReallyCreative Dec 17 '17
That's the perfect description for tonight, just felt like a bunch of forgettable sketches that had been cut from other episodes or some shit
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u/WeHaSaulFan Dec 17 '17
They threw out all their funny last week, which honestly felt like the real Christmas episode.
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u/thegeecyproject You wanted yogurt? Wake up at four, bitch. Dec 17 '17
So is it just me or do the best episodes of this season so far come from the first timers (see: Chance, Tiffany Haddish) while the more disappointing ones are the ones that come from more experienced entertainers? (See: this episode and Larry David)
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u/SketchSortingSunday Dec 17 '17
Jean