Ok, question to the older DUers. When was the last time Saturday Night Live was funny...

[DemzRock]

for more than a skit or two. Seems like you're lucky if the opening skit and maybe one other is half-decent. Then everything else sucks.

Maybe 1980?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. gotten to the point I don't turn there any more

my hubby does, out of hope

[calimary]

51. My husband and I both used to regard it as "appointment viewing."

We'd never miss it. Laugh-out-loud funny week after week after week. Stayed that way through the Eddie Murphy years. Little blips and blurps with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. But that's about it.

We don't bother anymore. It just doesn't ring the ol' chimes anymore, and Dear God, we used to laugh til we almost choked.

[LiberalHeart]

2. 1976 n/t

[dbonds]

No honey, your not supposed to blow, that's just an expression

Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and your not.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. agreed.

could say that about more than SNL.

[mth44sc]

3. Back when Steve Martin showed up

been awhile...

[MadrasT]

4. Yep, 1980 was my answer. Went downhill from there. n/t

[SharonRB]

5. Sounds about right.

I miss the good old days of Gilda, Chevy, Eddie Murphy, Belushi, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, etc. Now those were some funny people.

[ChazII]

25. Seconding your remark. n/t

[emilyg]

44. Yes,

I don't bother watching now.

[d_b]

6. 90-94 was alright.

[susanna]

64. Agree there.

It came closest to recapturing a modicum of its original luster around then. Of course, you can't replace Belushi, et al, but there were some fine comedians involved in the early 90s.

[pleah]

7. I quit watching regularly after the original cast.

But, occasionally watch, it just isn't as funny as it used to be.

[liberal renegade]

11. not even close.

[pleah]

23. In YOUR opinion!

;-)

[liberal renegade]

68. that's not an opinion

that's a fact!

[evlbstrd]

8. It's been a long, long time.

The best years were the first years.

[Liberal_in_LA]

33. The steve martin, john belushi years were funny.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. The years dominated by Chris Kattan as Mr. Peeper creeped me out... little monkey guy jumping on

people ugh.

[evlbstrd]

73. Yes, they were.

And Aykroyd, Radner, Curtin, Murray...

[Clyde39]

9. Watched it from 1976-1981

The first couple years were the best in my opinion. I don't know what happened to it.

[KharmaTrain]

10. Early 90's

The late, great Phil Hartmann, Carvey when he had Mike Meyers around, Chris Rock (Nat-X is still a fave). I go back to SNL's first season...thought the show should have been buried years ago...along with Lorne Michael's ego.

[Az]

12. Circa 1980

Every show since then has been a cheap knockoff attempting to copy what came before it.

[scarface2004]

13. should have stopped when they were ahead...

once the original cast moved on it was over

[misanthrope]

14. When Phil Hartman was still there**nm

**

[City Lights]

17. Agreed.

:-(

[dbonds]

15. Last time I laughed my ass off

William Shatner hosted and did his famous Star Trek Convention bit.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. Is it just me?......

....but I don't remember the old timers relying on the cue cards SOOOO much.

Maybe I just started noticing it in the last few years but you can see them reading lines ........looking off camera with eye movements and all.

It's not too bad during "Weekend Update" because they would naturally look straight ahead anyway.

[RoyGBiv]

31. Not just you ...

Jimmy Fallon was one of the worst at this. He'd regularly be facing another actor and visibly move his eyes or even turn his whole head in an unnatural direction for the scene so he could read his lines.

I understood it more from guests, especially those that aren't actors, but the cast should have it down so that cue cards are merely props for when they get stuck.

[villager]

18. Maybe sometime in the 80's....

n/t

[RoyGBiv]

19. 1980 would be the latest ...

The Will Farrell years were funny because of Will Farrell. There have been several individuals like that through the years, sometimes even two, but I always found myself just waiting on those one or two to have a skit. And some of those weren't funny either. Ferrell had some recurring characters I thought were just horrible.

The original teams was funny most of the time. When they weren't, you could at least give them credit for being unfunny in a creative way. The reason, imo, so much of it since then has been unfunny is that it became an "institution" and stopped taking the risks that original team had to take just to get noticed.

[Pennie109]

20. The commercials are sometimes funnier

than the show. I agree, there are spots that are funny but the rest of them suck and/or too long (and painful to watch).

[lpbk2713]

22. Last time I watched SNL was when Martin Short was on as Ed Grimley.

Mid 80's or so? I never really watched it much then either.
From what I hear now it is a pathetic attempt at humor.

[fulllib]

24. I have to give props to Will Farrell

The middle school music teacher skits alone are some of the funniest things on there.

[susanna]

65. Will Ferrell's Blue Oyster Cult (cowbell) sketch ranks in the top...

...of all SNL history, IMHO. That one still gets me. I don't care how many times I watch it; it's absolutely hilarious.

[FVZA_Colonel]

66. Watching him passively-aggresively play the cowbell right by that guy's ear

remains the funniest thing I've ever seen.

[susanna]

69. That sketch is the only time in my personal history...

...where I understood the phrase "I'm peeing my pants" in regards to a funny moment.

He was utterly ON in that sketch. I watch it every so often and that original feeling never goes away. It's utterly hilarious. :-)

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. Reagan was still president the last time SNL was funny.

Many you werent' born when SNL was funny.

[Duer 157099]

27. Somewhere in the early 90s

After 95 I think I can count on one hand the number of episodes I've watched all the way through.

editing to refine my answer: it was actually hit n miss through much of the 80s-90s but the hits were always worth sitting through the yawners, imho.

I started watching it when it debuted, so got to see the best years. Man that was something, the 70s, wasn't it?

[rwheeler31]

28. They had a good time in the early years. Creativity is not a gop

thing.

[Generic Brad]

29. It is always funny in spots

And some sketches always fall flat. It's been that way since the beginning. I have been watching it since it first aired.

I remember watching it when it first came out and my parents thought it was the dumbest thing they had ever seen on the tube whereas I thought it was brilliant. I think we were both right. It is always a little of both.

[RollWithIt]

30. The day Will Ferrel left?

So about a decade.

[DemzRock]

32. Thank you for your responses. You know, I never figured out why it was such a big deal to have it..

live in the first place. I guess they think it keeps it fresher and maybe it harkens back to the old variety shows of the 60s. But the best skit shows other than early SNL, IMHO, were In Living Color (not live, right?), MadTV's first couple of years (not live), SCTV (not live), and Monty Python (not live). I think they should have dumped the live stuff and just tried to make a better show. What does live get you, besides a slight feeling of sponteneity? I don't think I have ever seen a live mistake that ever made me laugh. It makes the skit bomb almost universally. Just IMHO.

[RoyGBiv]

40. Being live was the hook ...

When it first started, it really was a radical experiment to have a comedy troupe on at that time of night. Having it live regularly was one thing that originally brought viewers to it, convinced them to stay up and watch. These were the days when you didn't stay up all night watching television, *especially* on a Saturday.

And those other shows are all modeled after SNL, just without the "live" part of it because, truly, it's not necessary and actually detracts from the quality when you don't have a cast that can really improvise well, which few of the cast members since have been able to do ... certainly not an entire cast. The original cast were all excellent improvisations. That's the only reason it worked. When they flubbed a line, you either never knew it, or they'd flub it in such a dramatic way that it couldn't be ignored, and they'd improv something hilarious out of that.

Casts since then have been more like high school drama clubs. On the whole, they can't handle the live performance.

[WA98296]

34. Remember the swingin Checkoslovakia brothers? They were funny...or maybe I was young.

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. They were funny! What about 'The Loud Family' or 'The Big Butts". lol

[Mari3333]

38. here u go 2 wild and crazy guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9SaKYFR6ms

i still laugh.

[TankLV]

36. 70's & 80's - Anybody remember Skred and the Great Pavar?

The "Million Year Old" creatures - original muppets skits...?

They should have retired the thing when the new century dawned...

Lame acting - lame skits...

[TacticalPeek]

46. Hello. My name's da Mighty Favog an' I'll be your diety dis evenin'.

http://www.toughpigs.com/anthgorch02.htm

:)


Favog rulz!

[TankLV]

47. That's it !!!

I could never understand exactly how to pronounce the name!!!

Thanks for the link!

Now people will know what I was talking about...

I used to stay up late at nite to watch, and would be laughing hysterically, and my Dad would come down from already going to bed and sit and watch with me wondering what the heck I was laughing at!...then my Mom would eventually join us too...

[xanadu1979]

39. early to mid-90's

I'm a young guy and even I know that the last funny years were the Chris Farley, Mike Myers, and Dana Carvey years.

[katandmoon]

42. Ditto. LOVED Phil Hartman/Jon Lovitz/Jan Hooks/Nora Dunn as well

They did some classic stuff.

[PerfectSage]

56. Phil Hartman was awesome on Newradio as Bill McNeil and on the Simpsons as Troy Mclure.

Phil Hartman was awesome after leaving SNL. Hard to believe it's been 10 years since he passesd away.

[susanna]

67. Wow. DH and I were talking about him the other night.

Mostly about how tragic that was. It's really been ten years? Damn. I feel old. :-(

[InternalDialogue]

41. SNL stopped being funny the day they fired Charles Rocket.

Seriously, he was a hack, but when they -- the supposed vanguard of cutting edge comedy -- fired a guy for going "too far," they were done.

[Duer 157099]

43. Ed Grimley was one of my favorites of all time

So many SNLers were really one-trick ponies weren't they? Although Martin Short was excellent in many roles, but only on SNL - after he left there, forget about it.

God, remember when he was that tobacco company exec/spokesman, doing the interview??? I barely remember anything about it except that it was hysterically funny. "I don't know what you're talking about"

crap I have to edit this cuz I had to go to wiki to look this up:

Nathan Thurm

This was a character created by Martin Short. A shady lawyer, Thurm was a chain-smoker, quite paranoid, and constantly in denial about his paranoia. "I'm not being defensive. You're the one who's being defensive." When questioned, his catch phrase often included, "It's so funny to me that you would think..." He would also look into the camera and express his puzzlement at the questioner by asking, "Is it me, or is it him? It's him, right?" Other times, he would deny an accusation, then immediately reverse his position when the accuser reaffirmed the statement. "No, it isn't!" ("Yes it is.") "I know that! Why wouldn't I know that? I'm well aware of that!"

Perhaps the best known appearance of Thurm was in a 1984 SNL sketch that was a send-up of 60 Minutes. Harry Shearer played Mike Wallace, accusing Thurm of being involved in corporate corruption. Thurm of course denied everything and nervously tried to turn the tables on Wallace.

Thurm was later reprised on Martin Short's short-lived talk show in 1999-2000.

[WCGreen]

62. I must say I agreeeee with your assessment...

[DaveinMD]

45. it was great

when Will Farrell was on. It was also great when Dana Carvey was on. It goes through cycles.

[Booster]

48. When Gilda Radner was on.

[BlooInBloo]

49. Bullshit. It was funny with Will Ferrell....

The best is of course Ackroyd/etc., but SNL has had other funny times as well. Definitely in a downturn now, of course.

[TreasonousBastard]

50. It was NEVER "funny"-- if you wanted big yucks you...

watched Laugh-In.

SNL was edgy, occasionally brilliant, often boring as shit, and ultimately relied on what all sketch humor of the time relied on-- taglines and characters. The biggest laughs I remember came when they left the script and ad-libbed a line or two. Pretty much the same as Red Skelton, Sid Caesar and the other live shows did. Hip kids watched SNL thinking they were cooler than their parents who watched Milton Berle. Really hip kids knew about Ernie Kovacs.

Don't ever try to make the argument that Samurai Florist, the Bees, or Chevy Chase falling off the stage was cutting edge or classic humor. SNL now is pretty much the same as it was back then, and if it's still around in 30 years people will be mourning the "good ol' days" of SNL at the turn of the century.

[rwheeler31]

52. Do any of you go to live performances? You never know.

[leftofthedial]

53. 1980 is about right.

[Kickin_Donkey]

54. I think it was consistently funny ...

through the Eddie Murphy years (early '80s).

After that, it became hit or miss. There were some flashes of that greatness -- Church Lady, Nora Dunn, Will Farrell and Sheri Oteri as cheerleaders, Molly Shannon, name your favorites -- over the ensuing years, but it's spotty.

[ColbertWatcher]

59. I have to agree. Eddie Murphy was amazing. n/t

[PerfectSage]

55. Dick in a box skit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg

The last really good regularly occuring skit that was really funny was Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanchez doing 2 college pot smokers broadcasting from a webcam.

[PerfectSage]

57. Ding Ding Ding post 1000

To bad it wasn't the Phil Hartman tribute post.

[SeattleGirl]

58. When all the original Not Ready for Primetime Players were

still on.

SNL was absolute MUST SEE TV during those years.

[DebbieCDC]

60. After about 1980 or so it lost it's edge

And to the prior poster above, yes SNL owed a HELL of a lot to the groundbreaking work of Ernie Kovacs and Milton Berle, but those shows preceded SNL by 20 years or more. Monty Python was contemporaneous with the original SNL and the fact that it was more cutting edge was because it was the product of the BBC which had a LOT more leeway because it wasn't dependent on sponsor $$. SNL was as "cutting edge" as it could be with the 'merkin sponsors breathing down their necks.

I was in college when SNL debuted and it was a must watch for us students every Sat. night with a pizza and cheap wine/beer and cigarettes, etc. (wink - wink - nudge - nudge). Just thinking of some of those sketches now makes me laugh 30 years later -- Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtain with their send-up of the "60 Minutes" point-counterpoint segment (you youngsters won't know what that was), Steve Martin's "King Tut", Bill Murray's no-talent Holiday Inn lounge singer, Belushi as Joe Cocker, damn that was some funny stuff.

By the way, from the same era but a show that never got the credit that SNL got was "The Midnight Special" -- jeebus, great music and comedy acts live on a Friday night. It was UNHEARD of at the time. I just recently saw that the entire series is now availble on DVD. I just got to get that.

Feeling nostalgic for my lost youth now :cry:

[DefenseLawyer]

61. Cocaine is a helluva drug

In the beginning it was edgy, but honestly, especially when you see the old shows now, there was always lots of truly unfunny stuff mixed in with the funny stuff. 50/50 at best.

[AtomicKitten]

63. In the 1970s.

[crimsonblue]

70. The digital shorts

are the best thing about the show these days... That and the opening skit... that's never lost its luster, IMO.

[Skittles]

71. I watched the pilot episode when I was in USAF basic training

it was a treat for good behavior :D

I think SNL has had its ups and downs but I think it has always had its moments - it's had plenty since 1980 - Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell - heck, I loved Horatio Sanz :D

[MilesColtrane]

72. I stopped watching in '81.

The original SNL was genuinely weird and unpredictable, and that's what made it great.

The same vibe was captured in it's choices of musical acts; Zappa, Ornette Coleman, Patti Smith, Peter Tosh, The Band.

The musical guests started sucking about the same time the comedy started sucking.

[tpsbmam]

74. Dunno -- I stopped watching. I watched religiously when it began

and as the years progressed, i watched only sporadically. I haven't watched it at all now for about 15 years (at least). I catch the good sketches when someone replays them and otherwise, feh -- it bores me most of the time.

[timtom]

75. The year Martin Short was in the cast.

[frogmarch]

76. yeah, maybe 1980. nt

[behave]

77. Hartman, Lovitz, and Nealon

[jayfish]

78. It's Never All Been Good.

The formula has always been that the funny skits go before "Weekend Update". The remainder are always iffy at best.

Jay

[JeanGrey]

79. I loved the Palin/Hillary one but you are right the rest

of it isn't funny anymore. Ah for the golden years of the 70's and 80's

[madokie]

80. The last episode I watched

and I've been watching it since day one but I admit I don't often stay awake that late :-)

[Nikki Stone1]

81. 1976

Mostly it's been pretty sad.

[vanderBeth]

82. It isn't the same show as the one in the 70's, that's for show. The "Michael Anthony Hall" years

and most of the 80's was the dark period. Got better in the 90's, but is mostly hit and miss since.