Steve Who?: Sketch comedy

Showing posts with label Sketch comedy. Show all posts

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Katy Perry Fights Back on SNL's "Bronx Beat" (video)

Katy Perry and her boobs are all over the place this week. As I reported here on Friday, her musical number with Elmo was given the heave-ho from Sesame Street due to her low-cut, tits-out dress. She's been on the morning chat show circuit and was featured in a story/interview on CBS Sunday Morning today, which I'm watching as I write this.

But it was last night's appearance as musical guest on SNL that gave Perry the chance to respond to the uproar over Boobiegate (yes, I just coined a new word).

Some critics this morning are panning her appearance on the 36th season premier over her lack of acting skills and vocals that would have benefited from a dose of Auto-Tune. It doesn't matter. What everyone wanted to see was how writers were going to deal with the controversy. They could have done much better, but instead they chose to pull an old character sketch out of mothballs, as they always do whenever a former cast member comes back as a guest host.

They had the California Girls singer take part in a sketch with host Amy Poehler and special guest and former cast member, Maya Rudolph reprising their "Bronx Beat" roles as bored Bronx housewives with a local access talk show, who kvetch about everyone and everything. Perry plays a neighborhood teen who has "blossomed" over the summer. The hook is that she's wearing a low-cut Elmo t-shirt that she is literally busting out of. Poehler and Rudolph spend the rest of the sketch obsessing over how much their former baby-sitter's boobs have grown.

Katy didn't have many lines in the bit, which made me wonder if maybe they had to cut them due to her lack of acting ability. I found it distracting and disappointing, as I really wanted to hear more from her. SNL really wasted a golden opportunity this time. Anyway, judge for yourself.

Monday, February 8, 2010

SNL Has Gone Schizo on the Gays (video)

What is with Saturday Night Live these days? Granted the 35-year-old show passed its prime decades ago, but it does manage to be humorous at times. In the opening sketch, Kristen Wiig did an awesome Greta Van Susteren and the Fox "News" discussion of "Don't ask, Don't tell" was dead on.

Later in the show, they did some half-assed sketch about a Roman emperor being distracted by his slave boy/lover and an obsession with grapes. If there was a punch line, I missed it. It seems the only message here is that gays are self involved and sex obsessed, which may not be wrong, but when the sketch isn't funny, it just comes off as insulting. Was there any comedic point to this one?

I have no problem with being the subject of a gay joke, if the joke is funny and I think most of us feel that way. The gay community does have a sense of humor about itself. Lord knows we put up with "Will and Grace" for a decade. But for SNL to put this pointless piece of crap on the air after having done such a good job with the Fox "News" sketch, just doesn't make sense. Were they thinking that the one good one gave them license to do an insulting one? You be the judge.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Gay Comedy from British Comedian Catherine Tate (video)

I know that sometimes the tone of the posts here can be a little serious, so I've decided to try to include more humor whenever I can. It's sort of what I started out doing, but with so much political and LGBT news to report on, sometimes I forget that what we all really need sometimes is a good laugh. I'll be making an extCa effort to include more funny bits whenever I find I can.

This video is from British comedian Catherine Tate ("Dr. Who", "The Catherine Tate Show"). Tate's sketch comedy show ran for several years in the UK and can be seen in reruns from time to time on BBC America. Tate is a truly versatile comic genius in the tradition of Tracy Ullman. In this clip, she plays an Irish mother who's son just came out to her with hilarious results, if you can get around the funny accents.