I-Ran Back to SNL This Weekend
September 30th, 2007 by Alec McNayrPosted in Comedy | 1 Comment »Saturday Night Live has not been a truly great show for a few years. Everyone knows that SNL goes in streaks and slumps. For me, the early 90’s were the golden years of the show, with Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Jan Hook, Phil Hartman, and newbies Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade, and Chris Rock. Then it went into a scary netherworld for a few years, and then Will Ferrell saved the show.
Honestly, the only shows worth watching the past two years were ones where Justin Timberlake was hosting (see D in a B, OmeletteVille, Barry Gibb, and Punk’d).
With all that said, this year’s premiere had all the makings of a disaster. A year since the show made big budget cuts. LeBron James (LeBron James? Really?) was hosting. The Internet continues to be THE source for comedy clips — and beyond an occaisional SNL Digital Short featuring Andy Samberg, it hasn’t really played well online. Once again, I was questioning the show’s cultural relevance.
But I have to say that SNL did a great job this weekend. I laughed out loud more than once, and I see the early signs of a show re-emergence — with a great young cast, and seemingly new ability to skirt show censors. If you haven’t seen it, enjoy the latest Digital Short: I-Ran, with Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen (as a very convincing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and Adam Levin from Maroon 5.
Update: NBC pulled the clip from its official YouTube channel because it didn’t clear the music for use beforehand. Oops. (Thanks, NewTeeVee). New version posted above.
Update2: I watched SNL again last weekend, with Seth Rogen, and it was crazy lame. I take back 64% of my “SNL is back” comment.
1 Trackback(s)