3 posts tagged “lorne michaels”

I was pleasantly surprised to go to Entertainment Weekly's web site today and see a post about Saturday Night Live's decline in quality, with writer Ken Tucker directly addressing the issue of Kristen Wiig (finally!).

The post states: "Speaking of Wiig, her Kathie Lee Gifford and Bjork were excellent, but I doubt I'm the only person who thinks she's on-screen way too much these days--at best, she's carrying too much of the load."

Finally! All this time, I thought I was crazy. I've stated in previous blog posts my confusion about Kristen Wiig and why she shows up everywhere in movies and television, playing the same dry-talking, weirdo female character. Against everything conventional, Wiig is like the most popular girl in school who makes goofy faces and fart noises in class all the time, and students think it's hilarious and cute. It just doesn't happen. Yet, Wiig appears in EVERY SNL SKIT.

Message boarders chimed in at the bottom of the EW article, with one saying she's "one-note" like Adam Sandler.  I feel like I've finally been vindicated.

However, I will say that Wiig does a good job of impersonating celebrities, especially Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She nails it -- dead on. But really -- it isn't hard to make a View skit funny when the material is pretty much directly lifted from the ABC daytime talk show itself. It's similar to Tina Fey making "Sarah Palin" funny when Fey looks exactly like the V.P. candidate and took dialogue directly from Palin interviews (which then became "jokes").

Either way, SNL needs a reboot. While I love Seth Meyers' Weekend Updates, I don't know how he leads the writing team with some of the skits that garner crickets from audiences. I long for the days when Will Ferrell would show up and somehow make the worst written skit funny (although I'm sure many will debate me on this one!). I wonder if Lorne Michaels and crew think Wiig is the new go-to girl for that.

Here's Wiig in The View skit that actually made me laugh:

Kristen Wiig is everywhere, and I can't take it anymore.

No offense to the woman. She might be a nice person. But I can't take another SNL skit or low-budget, throwaway farce with her face in it. I can't watch a trailer for an Apatow comedy or anything that might even have a few chuckles in it without seeing her face or hearing her voice drop in that low ironic way in which she only knows how to speak.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch a trailer for the new Superbad-esque comedy Adventureland, Wiig shows up in the trailer, pushing me over the edge. That's it. Something needs to be done. I would like to build a case against Kristen Wiig and argue how unfunny she is.

After her "retirement" from Sarah Palin, Tina Fey said that she thought Wiig would be a good contender for future SNL impersonations of the Alaskan V.P. candidate. Really? You be the judge of whether I'm right or wrong. The future of Saturday Night comedy depends on it.

First, I would like to submit exhibit A into evidence of Kristen Wiig NOT BEING FUNNY:

Watching Wayne's World on Comedy Central this afternoon, it suddenly occurred to me that my life is pretty much the plot of the movie.

Like Wayne, I have taken on a series of jo-jobs, nothing I'd call a career ("I have an extensive collection of nametags and hairnets"). I reluctantly still live at home ("which I admit is bogus and sad"). I, too, wear old concert t-shirts and jeans that are ripped at the knees, play loud music in my Mirth-Mobile, and describe people in terms of what flavor of ice cream they would be ("pralines and dick").

This is not a good realization. This actually might be the beginning of my downward spiral into madness. This is where I start collecting jars of my own urine on a mantel.

Scratch that. The beginning of my madness started when I realized that I'm every Mia Farrow character in every Woody Allen movie, when I clearly thought I was a Diane or Dianne.  If you're a Woody fan, you know what I'm talking about. Who wants to be whiny Mia Farrow? I don't. Does this mean I hate myself? I think upon realizing this I made my friend write down my impending suicide date on a post-it note. (FYI: it's June 30th).

However, back to my main point. When the plot of your life takes on the plot of a Lorne Michaels movie, you know you are doing something wrong. Basically, there's not much to your life.  You probably hang out with an obese friend a lot, enough for two movies worth of antics (Tommy Boy, Black Sheep). Or maybe you are a Catholic school girl who has never seemed to grow up and sniffs her armpits (Superstar). I suppose the one plus to leading a Lorne Michaels-produced life is that Will Ferrell will frequently make cameos (plus to me, minus to many).

I guess it could be worse. I could have a brother I go to clubs with and dance to Haddaway's "What is love?." Thus, I could have no plot at all.