SNL 40

Before I get into it, here is Kyle Mooney's unaired sketch from the SNL 40 celebration, it is weird, awkward, and I'm so sad it didn't make it to air.

I was so, SO excited for the celebration of 40 years of Saturday Night Live. Obviously, I'm a huge fan, but this was going to be a family reunion for most of the important people in comedy for the last half-century.

My fear was that it may be taken too seriously, or devolve into a 4-hour comedic masturbation session. It did neither!

Every moment of this special was steeped—STEEPED—in the long history of the show's comedic voice. The so-so opening with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake (saved by Dratch's perfect Debbie Downer and Steve Martin's impeccable timing) into a live performance from Sir Paul McCartney and Paul Simon as if to say, "That's right New York City, we're OPENING with a m*********ing Beatles song!"

Dan Aykroyd peddling the Bass-O-Matic 2150; Will Ferrell anchoring a belligerent Sean Connery, vapid Tony Bennett, and decidedly Norm Macdonald-y Burt Reynolds; Bradley Cooper trying his best to break the Polygrip holding Betty White's dentures in her mouth; Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jane "you ignorant slut" Curtin hosting a Weekend Update featuring the shark at the door; it was picture perfect.

And then it got better.

Giving Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, and a few others their due was a great touch without derailing the whole show, but what really brought it home for me was the audition tapes.

Everyone who tries out for the show has to audition live on the stage of Studio 8H, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in front of Lorne Michaels, the head writer and some producers. These are recorded for posterity and occasionally have been released for individuals or leaked, but they've remained largely guarded.

Seth Meyers revealed on his talk show that no one knew they were going to run the auditions package, so it was a blindside to everyone.

Seeing Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman, Dan Aykroyd, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Dana Carvey, Tracy Morgan and all of the others in young faces and strange clothes talking nervously to a camera. None of them had any idea what was in front of them, what their next phone call from Lorne would mean for their lives. Next to the "in memoriam" reel, it was the most emotional moment of the evening for me.

I hope SNL doesn't go anywhere soon, but if it does, my ~TOTALLY LEGALLY~ download of SNL 40 will keep me warm at night.


P.S.

All the credit in the world to Mike and Dana for giving a shoutout to the crew of SNL. Norm Macdonald commented that the immediate standing ovation was not prompted at all, and was something he had never seen before in that theatre.

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Louis C.K.

Every generation, in any medium, someone comes along and changes the way things work.

There’s really nothing I can say about Louis C.K. that hasn’t been said by a slew of comedy bloggers and writers with far more authority on the subject than me.

All I’m going to do is explain exactly why he is deserving of all the praise he receives.

Louis was born in Mexico, not that you’d guess that with his shocking ginger hair and beard.

 “C.K.” was a moniker he adopted early into his career, as his last name was impossible for the average comedy club MC to correctly pronounce (“C.K” is the phonetic pronunciation of his last name).

Louis has a heroic career in writing for late night comedy. Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Dana Carvey Show, and The Chris Rock Show all boast Louis’ singular comedic voice at different times.

He has been nominated for 25 Primetime Emmys. He’s recorded 4 critically acclaimed stand-up specials (and one yet-unreleased one).

He writes, directs, produces, and edits his award-winning sitcom Louie himself.

Mechanic of Comedy: Most stand-ups take 2 or 3 years to cycle through enough new material to make a fresh new hour. Louis takes inspiration from George Carlin, arguably the greatest comic of his time, by recording his special, and then immediately dumping his entire act and starting from scratch.

I can not stress how insanely difficult it is for a comedian, even a professional, to write a full hour of rock-solid material in a year.

Seriously.

In 2007 he recorded his first special, Shameless

In 2008 he released his second, Chewed Up

In 2009, his first independently produced special, Hilarious, setting the format of paying for the production himself, and keeping all the profit. Something comics like Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari would follow suit with in following years.

In 2010 he used the hour he had written as content for the first season of Louie.

In 2011, Live at the Beacon Theater was released for $5.00 DRM-free on his website, further showcasing C.K.’s connection to his fans and the changing media landscape.

2012 was again focused on creating content for Louie, but he released the audio versions of Shameless and Live at the Beacon Theater DRM-free for $5.00.

In 2013 he recorded his fifth special, Oh My God, released in the same format he’d used for the last two years.

Louis C.K. is not for children, his content is often crude, black, and challenging. There are only a handful of comics living today who have the ability to manipulate every angle of a topic into a joke like Louis.

If you like stand-up, you can’t avoid Louis C.K. any more than a hockey lover could avoid Wayne Gretzky or a movie lover could avoid Stanley Kubrick.

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