Bloopers

Although they seem like flawless comedic gods and goddesses every Saturday night when they perform, SNL cast members shockingly are human. I know, its weird but its true. From time to time cast members will blunder on a joke, start uncontrollably laughing, or even tell a bad joke. It is shocking to think that such an immortal show can have flaws. But, when thinking about these 'mistakes', are they really bad? Is it bad to associate human-like flaws with our favorites comedians? If anything, in my opinion, the presence of bloopers and mishaps only strengthens the relationships that the audience has with SNL cast members.

Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers were the two comedians that did the SNL skit 'Weekend Update' every episode. Amy has since moved on to a new show, but in their prime Poehler and Meyers would deliver hilarious news every weekend that had their own little jokes sewn into the script. From time to time, however, they would blunder on their jokes by either fudging the words or telling an awful joke. This clip Weekend Update Bloopers shows some highlights of the mess ups found on Weekend Update.

On many occasions during SNL, cast members have broken into laughter during their skits. Sometimes, this even prohibits them from performing until they regain their composure and try to continue on with their lines. This link Best Crack Ups shows the top 10 moments in SNL history where cast members have started laughing during a skit. Coming in at number one on the list is a skit called "Debbie Downer" featuring Rachel Dratch among others. The skit is a perfect example of when a cast member breaks into laughter and has trouble speaking her lines. She can't help but chuckle at the ridiculous things that she has to say. This is especially funny in this scene because the point of the skit is that Debbie says very depressing things that ruin everyone's mood. However, as Dratch can't help but laugh the otherwise extremely depressing things that she says seem hilarious and get the rest of the cast to laugh along as well.

All of these examples do not deteriorate SNL humor, as would be expected from a screw up in the show. They only add to the overall hilarity of the show because the audience gets the feeling that the comedians are enjoying their performances and find what they are doing funny. The audience is much more likely to laugh along at the something that the cast is noticeably finding funny, especially if that same cast member is laughing uncontrollably.

Jimmy McMillan

I recently came across a video which I thought deserved its own post. Although I am sure this was a one time SNL appearance, it was so hilarious and so well done that it gets its own special place on my blog. The New York state elections occurred recently, and despite his best efforts to win, Jimmy McMillan only received 1 percent of the vote. This may seem like a small number, but given his very controversial stance on things it is quite impressive that Mr. McMillan even got that many votes. If at this point you are very confused as to who Jimmy McMillan is, then this video will clue you in:

Jimmy McMillan

Mr. McMillan is the man now famous for representing "The Rent is Too Damn High Party." And no, this is not a joke. This man seriously ran for governor as shown in the video and apparently achieved a somewhat large following, if not only for amusement.

The good people of SNL, in their usual manner, saw Mr. McMillan in all of his glory and decided that he deserved a parody of his own during a recent episode of SNL. The below clip is of Kenan Thompson portraying Jimmy on the "Weekend Update" segment of SNL.

Weekend Update- Jimmy McMillan

The parody portrays McMillan in his usual attire (extensive beard included). It is funny, however, when compared to the original video because the things that Kenan says as McMillan are not so different from what the real McMillan actually said in his gubernatorial debate. Although slightly exaggerated in terms of the figures that Kenan uses, the general picture that he paints of McMillan is not overly made up. The ability to parody a political figure without drastically changing their actual behavior and still keeping it funny is a skill that SNL has mastered over its long history. What makes the skit so funny is the fact that McMillan actually said those things and acted in that way in a real political debate. It is not that SNL is making him into a funny character, they are merely accentuating those characteristics which he holds that make him humorous.