http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/kenan-thompson-a-timeless-snl-weirdo/ Diondre Cole is one of the best SNL characters ever.
I'll record and watch SNL when nothing else is good on TV. Keenan Thompson is good -- the Scared Straight skits always make me laugh. He's certainly not great in everything - I don't even like the Big Papi impersonation - but to say he's the worst is silly. Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata are the two worst talents on SNL. I can't think of any sketch that they are the main character in? They seem to always be in supporting roles with no real dialogue that contributes to the comedy.
What a weird person to go on a rant against. She was the head writer of SNL (first female to ever have this role) for the early 2000s, which is generally regarded as one of the strongest periods of the show. She never appeared in skits as a cast member, only Weekend Update... which she is pretty much universally recognized to have brought back from the dead. Her Palin skits were all guest roles (like Baldwin's Trump) after she left the show, and brought tremendous rating spikes. She then went on to create, develop, and act in one of the most successful comedy shows of the past few decades (30 Rock) and one of the most critically acclaimed Netflix shows (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Date Night and Sisters each made over $100 million at the box office. Oh and she wrote and appeared in Mean Girls. No one will ever claim she is as funny as Carlin, and she definitely has had some box office bombs, but there haven't been many people who have been as successful behind the scenes in the past 20 years as she has.
I actually really like Kimmy Schmidt, I didn't know she was behind it. I don't think I ever saw a single episode of 30 Rock, and as far as I know I haven't seen any of her movies. I suppose I am basing it all on those brain-killing Amex commercials and the incessant movie previews for that Sisters movie.. and everyone falling over themselves because someone was impersonating Sarah Palin. Clearly she is a good writer and producer, that's probably not debatable at all. All I know is, I want to tear my own head off every time she whips out her American Express card like she is some kind of wizard.
Ha that's fair. I can definitely see how people could feel like she's been shoved down our throats at times.
I like Keenan. He was better when the cast was way better and Kennan was just one of the guys. Now, the show is so bad he's like #2. The truth is most of the cast is pretty much lacking in talent besides Kate Mckinnon and you can tell because they overuse her to where she's starting to get old to me. They can keep Kate McKinnon, Keenan, Cecily Strong and Beck Bennett. Bobby Moyniham(his schtick wore off for me), Leslie Jones(she's horrible and just screams for laughs), Vanessa Bayer, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Sasheer Zamata, Kyle Mooney, Melissa weird voice who does a few accents, and those new white guys(Mikey Day, Alex Moffatt) are all just regular people trying to be funny. They have no likable qualities. The worst cast I can remember. It stands out b/c the past casts were all really great. It's like they wanted a full cast of Jason Sudekis's but he was really likable and it helped that he was surrounded by really funny and talented cast. I'd say Beck Bennett is like the new Jason Sudekis, so that's why I think he can stay. With a stronger leading cast, Kate, Keenan, Cecily and Beck would all do really well IMO.
Tina Fey is a great writer. She's not the funniest actress, but she's adorable and likable. Wasn't she a writer for SNL too when they were funny?
And Strong at least has the funny awkward smile that is funny when she is supporting a sketch. Sasheer Zamata is clearly the worst. She has nothing in her toolbox and was hired midseason just to defend against attacks of racism. I'm surprised so many people are saying Kenan Thompson. I guess they don't know Zamata is part of the cast?
Zamata is awful. I honestly don't think she made me even smile once. They need to replace her with an Asian. SNL is long overdue to have an Asian in the cast (but only if qualified, yada yada).
If an awkward smile is your contribution to a sketch, you suck. She is not funny- although I concede she is cute. But still not funny.
You suck. I hate SNL now. They have to do a serious revamp. I'm not saying Strong is good. I'm just saying at least she has something. Zamata has nothing. EDIT: I retract what I said about Strong. Mistook her for Vanessa Bayer. My fault I suck.
You gotta watch 30 Rock dude. I never watched SNL in the 2000s when she was a writer, but 30 Rock was an amazing piece of work.
I think most of the people that defend Kenan were fans of his Nickelodeon stuff. I was too old when he was doing that, so I have no nostalgia for him. He's awful, except for Big Papi and Virginiaca.
Kenan is probably a fun guy to work with. Basically a good 'locker room' guy. Because I have no idea how he even got into that show.
Tina Fey is hilarious. She was head writer and fantastic. I've seen her do improv several times, and she's absolutely brilliant. I can agree that not everything on television comes off as a hit, but that's the nature of the game. But is an absolutely brilliant comedy writer.
I think he's fine as a utility player, but now that he has been there 37 years they seem to feature him in sketches more than they should. That Papi character he has is just him saying ethnic food items and accent related misunderstandings in commercial form. That's it. That's the whole schtick. Not feeling any of the new bunch really. Melissa V. can only do accents and those new guys are boring. Gotta show more love for Mooney though. They really should feature his stuff more. Him and Bennett did an "Inside Socal" sketch that I think they did on SNL once. And this was pretty funny a couple of years back.
