Fallon Comma Jimmy

[3v3+Z]

What, no one is gonna say anything about Jimmy Fallon leaving SNL? I mean, I know we have these snobby, sarcastic "Still Thinks Sat Night Live is Funny" title thingys under our user names (depending on your post count), but... Oh well. I'll just bring it up.

Anyone else taken completely by surprise? Tina Fey said something in the middle of "Update" that just seemed to assume that everyone already knew. I still can't find a proper news story (as opposed to rumor or speculation) about it. Couldn't have been THAT widely known.

Any thoughts on who should take over WU? Tina solo? A current cast member as co-anchor? A current cast member solo, effectively FORCING Tina to do sketch work or split? By the way, anyone who nominates THEMSELVES... no.

Anyone know if anyone else is officially leaving? Any speculation on who mightn't be asked back? (Hey Finesse, you might want to update your resume. Then again, Dean Edwards got two seasons. How the hell did THAT happen when Jerry Minor only got to do one year??? By the way, in case it looks weird that I'm singling out black people right now, I should mention that I myself am in fact an African-American*.)

I'm thinking next year is gonna be PARTICULARLY weak. I know it hasn't been all that great the past couple years or so, but I'm thinking it's gonna get even worse before it gets better.

Perhaps the most important question about Jimmy's departure is, who the HELL are they gonna get to do the George Gaynes impression now???


*an 80th

[CptPlanet]

Man, I hate Jimmy Fallon. It seems to me that they put the shittiest hacks they can find on WU (at least recently). Colin Quinn, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, I never found any of them to be particularly funny.

Colin Quinn, obviously, has the most incompetent delivery of any professional comic I've ever seen. You can practically hear the voice in his head shouting "REMEMBER YOUR LINES FUCKFACE, DON'T SCREW THIS ONE UP.", and as a result, even if he does manage to recite a joke without tripping over his words, the delivery is so flaccid and apathetic that the audience doesn't even care.

Tina Fey just seems way too amused with herself all the time. Like she just wants to stand up in the middle of a joke and go "THIS IS SO CLEVER, HUH? WE'RE FUNNY."

Getting more to the point, Jimmy Fallon... ugh. He seems like he's trying way too hard not to try way too hard. It's like being at a party where some guy has had like 3 beers and he's pretending that he's totally fucked railed, but then he's also pretending to pretend that he's sober, so that when he "accidentally" runs into a wall, people will think he's funny. Or something.

Most of the humor in the Weekend Update was derived from the fact that people who looked and acted professional were delivering funny stories. If they can't read off a cue card or stop acting baked or go for 30 seconds without laughing at how cute their show is, the whole fucking thing is ruined.

The exception to this rule, of course, is Norm MacDonald.

[Treebeard]

Tina Fey is wonderful. Do not criticize her.

But Norm was better.

[keepthechaaange]

my nominees are matt walsh, paul f. thompkins, or the triumphant return of norm mcdonald.

[agent_PUNT]

Tina Fey isn't bad. I think she is just pretty stressed having to try and carry that show... I would say bring back Norm..but we know that ain't gonna happen....

[3v3+Z]

Things are gonna get REALLY shaken up at the "Update" desk in one way or another. There's a tradition, since they went back to calling it "Weekend Update" (it was "Saturday Night News" for a while in the early to mid 80s, and it MAY have even been called something else in the EARLY, early 80s) with Dennis Miller. Your milage may vary, but I think the GENERAL, POPULAR opinion has been, DM = good, Kevin Nealon = bad, Norm MacDonald = good, Colin Quinn = bad, Fallon & Fey = good. I'm well aware that that's a gross oversimplification based on OPINIONS and that it is, in many ways, EXTREMELY unfair. No need to point any of that out. I GOT it. But based on this pattern, we're due for a "WU" that just doesn't work.

One key element of what makes the Fallon/Fey team work (for those who think it does, and I would have to include myself as a member of that group) is the dynamic of having a smart, educated, perhaps a tad arrogant woman juxtaposed with a young, good looking, dopey guy who doesn't seem all that well read. Of course, all of this is based on outward appearance. I have no idea how factually accurate any of that is. But that's the way they come across and that's what's important from a viewers standpoint.

Based on that dynamic, I don't know that anyone else in the current cast could fill those shoes. The only one I can think of who MAY give it an interesting -- albeit DIFFERENT -- dynamic is (drum roll) Kenan Thompson. I DON'T KNOW! I haven't yet seen enough of him to know what he's capable of. I was VERY skeptical when they hired someone who's known for KIDS comedy stuff, but I've gotta say that his impression of Florida from "Good Times" just KILLED! Not that that's any indication of what he could do with the news. I'm just saying that helped me to get around the Kenan corner.

As far as Thompkins or Walsh, I think they would have to do it solo. I've gotta stop using the word "dynamic", I know. But they just AREN'T Jimmy Fallon. Check your score cards: Young? Good looking? Uninformed? Sorry. I think Thompkins was GREAT on Bill Maher's HBO show the first season, though I COMPLETELY understand them trimming him and the guest(s) at the very end of the show. It DID need to be streamlined a bit. But I could see Thompkins MAYBE taking "WU" in an interesting new direction. Unfortunately, I think he'd more likely be a sacrificial lamb.

And I haven't seen much of Walsh on "The Daily Show". I tend to turn it off after the first segment. I fucking HATE their location interview segments. The ones where they take nobodies who have been involved in some stupid situation and ask them intentionally moronic questions just to see their puzzled reaction. I just don't get that. They're better than that. They shouldn't settle for that kind of sub-mediocre gag.

Lastly, bringing back Norm is NOT an option. Don't get me wrong, I think Norm was far and away THE best anchor they've ever had!!! But for one, too much time has passed. It's a different show now. It's one thing to do what they did with Chris Parnell and basically admit that letting him go was a mistake by bringing him back a half a season later. But to let THIS much time pass would just be awkward. Secondly, I REALLY don't think he gets along well with many people. I think THAT'S the real reason he was let go. Nothing to do with O.J.'s connection to his boss. Nothing to do with, supposedly, not being funny. He just didn't gel with the cast. He almost never showed up for the final bow, hug & love fest at the end of the show. I remember reading an article in "Rolling Stone" about the cast of SNL back in the days when Norm was the anchor. (Heaven forbid they cover anything about MUSIC in between their 9 out of 10 pages of fucking ADVERTISEMENTS!!!) I think he called Kattan a "fag" or something to that effect. Kattan said that he wasn't. Norm said that everyone he knows that acts like Kattan is gay. (I'm paraphrasing, of course. If anyone has access to the actual quotes, I'd like to see them.) Then I think Kattan called him an asshole. Here's my point: when you run a business, you're gonna get employees that, for one reason or another, don't work out. That's not always something you can SAY to an employee, or site as a reason for termination. Plus, firing someone has some messy legal implications... you get the idea. So what you do is make them quit! How do you make them quit? You cut back their hours. You refuse to give them certain privileges. You take certain privileges away. Etc, etc. Basically, you find out what kind of things make them stay and you do the opposite whenever possible. THAT'S, as I see it, what they did to Norm.


fin

[CptPlanet]

3v3+z: It looks like we've got completely opposite comedy tastes, although, now that you explained it somewhat, I at least understand the appeal of Fallon/Fey.

Before even reading your thoughts about the Daily Show, I was going to come in here and suggest that SNL just give up on WU altogether because the Daily Show had their market cornered and they were doing it better than SNL could ever possibly hope to. I don't understand why you hate the interviews/location segments. It's essentially the definition of satire, taking an absurd situation and treating it seriously. I find it to be exceptionally well done.

In response to your last paragraph, I find Norm's alleged comments about Kattan to be positively uproarious. I can just hear him squeaking out "everyone I know that acts like that is gay" in his dry, nasal way. God I love that man. Furthermore, I think that Dirty Work was the most criminally underrated comedy movie of 1990s.

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by CptPlanet
3v3+z...

You forgot to capitalize the backwards "S". :p

...I was going to come in here and suggest that SNL just give up on WU altogether because the Daily Show had their market cornered and they were doing it better than SNL could ever possibly hope to.

Agreed! At least as far as the FIRST segment goes. It's more in depth and informative than SNL can be. It's often very biting and they seem to do a very respectable job of countering the spin that "real" news shows put on stories.

I don't understand why you hate the interviews/location segments. It's essentially the definition of satire, taking an absurd situation and treating it seriously. I find it to be exceptionally well done.

I'm happy to explain: I'm not a fan of "practical joke"-type stuff. And that's, in a way, how I see these ENG (location) segments. Let me give the more specific example of "Candid Camera". They hide the camera, put people in strange situations, and watch their reactions. I recognize that there are TONS of people who think there's NOTHING funnier than that. I am not one of them. I think it's cheap. Why? There is no response that's NOT "funny". There's no CORRECT response that makes the victim NOT look like a total fucking moron! It's CHEATING, in a way. It's a comedy shortcut. THAT's what I see happening when I hear questions like, "If you're so innocent, why won't you admit that you're NOT?" Ain't my cup of meat, Captain.

...I find Norm's alleged comments about Kattan to be positively uproarious.

As an outsider, sure. But to be stuck in that kind of hostile work environment for all those long, stressful hours? No, thank you!

...I think that Dirty Work was the most criminally underrated comedy movie of 1990s.

It is fantastic. You know, I never heard much about the movie "Screwed". It seemed to bomb and I just kind of assumed that it got panned, though I STILL haven't looked at a review of it. But I saw part of it on USA or something a couple months back, and what I saw of it seemed REALLY good!!! I mean REALLY good!!! It's kinda like a, uh... DRY ANAL RAPE, except ... uh ... YOU know ... the EXACT OPPOSITE.

Alright, impressions don't really work that well in print. :rolleyes:

[BenHertz]

What's Jimmy been up to, lately?

[RizzleMcIzzle]

Continuously fading into obscurity. That sort of thing.

[Roddimus]

also occasionally doing a cameo on SNL and playing it like its amazing he had enough free time from being a super celeb to come back to his roots.
seeing him at the end of the tv funhouse special ruined that whole episode.

[3v3+Z]

What's Jimmy been up to, lately?
According to Wikipedia, "Fallon now is rumoured to be featured as Tony Nelson in the upcoming movie I Dream of Jeanie". Good plan. I can't think of a single case where one of his former castmates did the exact same thing. So I guess there's no reason for him not to give this a shot.

[5InchTaint]

This thread had a lot of words in it. I guess it still does. Whatever. I'm not reading 'em. I'm hip like that.