SNL- Zach Drops by the Set

It's a sad state of affairs when my favorite Saturday Night Live episode of the season so far did not have a single sketch with Andy Samberg in it. Zach Galifianakas brought comedy to the SNL stage last night in a ways that no other has done here in season 35. When you think about it, it makes sense because he's actually a comedian. Stop putting on famous people just because they're famous. There are enough famous funny guys out there to fill an entire season of the show.

It didn't start well, as they again bored me to death with a political Cold Open. Things quickly turned around as Zach killed his Monologue as he went straight to what seemed like his stand up act. It was very jokey but it worked great, especially after some of the disaster monologues we've seen. Now don't get me wrong it wasn't nearly as good as Joseph Gordon Levitt's dance number, but not much could be.

Throughout the ep we got three SNL recurring sketches that didn't disappoint. The Vogelcheck kissing family moved the side show to a funeral home this week and the make out session between Fred Armisen and the dead grandpa was both disgusting and awesome. What Up With That? once again showed that Kenan Thompson is the best man in the cast this season. Kathy Lee was back with the fourth hour of the Today Show and Zach dropped by to spice things up.

Then there was the Bidet sketch that was good and all but the highlight of the night was definitely Zach Drops by the Set. The idea of somebody dropping by all these different tv shows is funny on its own, but when you make that person a fat bearded man it gets that much better. They started you off slowly with Zach just being in the background of Brian Williams, but they slowly made him more infused with each tv show he visited. Hard to beat him asking "You guys doing a tv show or something?" to Jenna and Kenneth of 30 Rock, but the fat man managed to when he came up behind Anthony Anderson on Law And Order, takes a picture of him and then hands him the phone and says, "It's my aunt Louise."

A Bit Too Hungover

Well Jon the Bon wasn't in attendance so I don't think I can actually count this as a Quiet Pool summer movie, but if I were to compare The Hangover to summer comedies of the past, it would be last by a mile. The past five years I've seen Meet the Fockers, Wedding Crashers, You Me and Dupree, Chuck and Larry, and Step Brothers. Crashers, Dupree and Stepbrothers were instant classics, while Fockers and Chuck and Larry were just good. The Hangover was just not a funny movie.

As Seth Cohen claims in an episode of The OC, "big isn't funny." Like Summer's new boyfriend Danny, The Hangover was big, obvious, over the top and unclever. From watching the trailer and listening to the hype from the masses I knew this would be the case. I also knew that everyone would love it. And without a doubt everyone in the theatre was cracking up at some of the most unfunny gags I've seen in a while.

This is what is wrong with people. They find it funny when a guy gets hit in the head with a car door? There's a tiger in the hotel room, a lost baby, and a dude who loses a tooth and they go nuts. Does Hollywood not have to work for a laugh anymore?

Skip Bayless has been tweeting about all of his movie viewings recently and although I obviously agree with him about The Hangover not being good, I completely disagree with his analysis on why. The scenes from the trailer were not funny, just I had assumed. And there were a few, and I mean a few (two to three) times where I laughed out loud, which were not in the trailer.

All of them were from Zach Galifianakis's character, Beardy. When he wanted to be like Phil, Bradley Cooper's character, it was hillarious. The best part of the movie was at the wedding when Beardy had his hair slicked back and asked if his hair looked good. The Nard Dog said yeah, and Beardy asked if "it was good like Phil's." So good. Other than that there were a couple times when he laughed at the things that had happened that showed great comedic timing. A few other moments from Bradley as well as Matt Walsh as the doctor made me chuckle, but that was about it.

Bradley is fantastic, but he was basically the straight man in this three dude comedy group. He wasn't quite 'Sack master' enough to bring out comedy gold. Ed Helms proved once again JJ's theory that no one from the Office can branch out and do well out of Scranton.

I didn't know Galifianakis before this and I was impressed. He seems pretty funny, but he wasn't given enough funny material. He pulled a lot of things off well, as mentioned before, but was given too much unfunny and obvious material to make his character truly hilarious. Beardy got much better as the movie went on, but it seemed those in the theatre with laughing histerically at his early movie doings (this threw me through a loop).

I commend Todd Phillips for making a movie that a lot of people seem to like, and making a lot of money for himself on this one, but The Hangover is definitely not up to snuff.