I thought Chris' monologue was great, others not so much??

Few lowlights, the horrible married couple sketch that was just a mess from start to finish.

Then Prince had to plug in his guitar after he'd been playing for a while....

I just dont get the controversy.

i didn't think he said anything too outrageous...it was pretty funny but tons of people will react without actually hearing his bit.

Is that what people are mad about?

I thought the sketches were mostly duds, though. Not just the one with Rock and Leslie Jones (that one obviously sticks out,) but most of it was mediocre even when cast members weren't flubbing all of their lines.

The Women in the Workplace and How's He Doing were fine, and the bank robbers got me. Everything else was kinda meh.

Why'd they keep Jost on Weekend Update, though?

NO! He made MARATHON jokes. So dumb.

And yes, Jost is awful to hear and look at.

Barack droppin 7% to 92% cracked me up.

It was the best monologue all season BY FAR.

It was great.

He hit taboo subjects like the Boston Marathon and 9/11 and people will make a big stink about it no matter what. They don't hear the jokes, they just hear "Wait, did a comedian mention something tragic! OUTRAGE!"

Fake outrage is a business plan nowadays and with so many commentators with so many venues to speak their mind, they'll get indignant about everything.

If you are not in NYC you might not get it. Also I didn't find it terribly funny. I kind of think t was because it was such poor timing but at the end of the day if the jokes were really funny it wouldn't have mattered.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

>If you are not in NYC you might not get it.

NYC, the self-proclaimed toughest city in the world, has had 13 years of clutching its collective pearls every time a building collapses in a shitty disaster movie.

I am not even talking about 9/11.

I am talking about the fact that Chris Rock was making shitty Boston Marathon terrorist jokes in NYC the night before the NYC Marathon and even bigger target.

And the most important part is that they were shitty not funny jokes.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

>I am not even talking about 9/11.
>
>I am talking about the fact that Chris Rock was making shitty
>Boston Marathon terrorist jokes in NYC the night before the
>NYC Marathon and even bigger target.

All this hand-wringing every time someone mentions terrorism is bullshit. And that's why that joke--regardless if you think it's funny, or not--works. Because it's bullshit. And people can finally unclench their assholes and admit it now.

it's topical for that week...Freedom tower was getting it's first tenants this week and the marathon was the next day. Were it an episode that aired in April he probably wouldn't have talked about that.

weren't any of us sweating Chris Rock jokes...

mainly because it was in NYC the day before the marathon.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

The Freedom Tower bit was funny and the marathon bit could have been funny if he cut the wait time on the punchline. All of the folks saying "oh he shouldn't mention the marathon the day before...", why? Do you think someone is going to say "hey I think I'm gonna bomb the NYC marathon since that Chris Rock monologue was so damn good. He had a point!"

We gotta do better as a society. You can feel outrage if you want but that doesn't make something not funny it just means YOU can't laugh at it.

>The Freedom Tower bit was funny and the marathon bit could
>have been funny if he cut the wait time on the punchline. All
>of the folks saying "oh he shouldn't mention the marathon the
>day before...", why? Do you think someone is going to say "hey
>I think I'm gonna bomb the NYC marathon since that Chris Rock
>monologue was so damn good. He had a point!"

No. More like, it makes you start thinking, "damn I hadn't thought about it but is it possible someone may try to bomb or attack the marathon tomorrow?" which isn't what you want people thinking while they are suppose to be laughing.

>
>We gotta do better as a society. You can feel outrage if you
>want but that doesn't make something not funny it just means
>YOU can't laugh at it.

It's not outrage, it just doesn't work as a joke contextually (or like you said isn't funny).



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

>>The Freedom Tower bit was funny and the marathon bit could
>>have been funny if he cut the wait time on the punchline.
>All
>>of the folks saying "oh he shouldn't mention the marathon
>the
>>day before...", why? Do you think someone is going to say
>"hey
>>I think I'm gonna bomb the NYC marathon since that Chris
>Rock
>>monologue was so damn good. He had a point!"
>
>No. More like, it makes you start thinking, "damn I hadn't
>thought about it but is it possible someone may try to bomb or
>attack the marathon tomorrow?" which isn't what you want
>people thinking while they are suppose to be laughing.
>
>>
>>We gotta do better as a society. You can feel outrage if you
>>want but that doesn't make something not funny it just means
>>YOU can't laugh at it.
>
>It's not outrage, it just doesn't work as a joke contextually
>(or like you said isn't funny).
>
>
>
>**********
>"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then
>they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
>
>http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

>I thought Chris' monologue was great, others not so much??

The jokes in the monologue were fine. And as he told them, I KNEW, people would be up in arms about them. It was his delivery that needed work. It wasn't a refined "set". It was as if he was workshopping the jokes. That said, best monologue of the season.

>Few lowlights, the horrible married couple sketch that was
>just a mess from start to finish.

It was hard to find the jokes in that sketch. I really didn't get it. Aside from the terrible performances in the sketch. Quite honestly, the entire show was a mess. It was rudderless. The sketches seemed to have a premise and nothing else. They didn't build to any actual jokes. The youtube dance video was probably the best (worst) example of this.

>Then Prince had to plug in his guitar after he'd been playing
>for a while....

That sucked. It looked like the wire for his guitar was hanging on the microphone and the guitar was in the back. So he forgot to plug it in when he grabbed the guitar. Despite that, the dude is such a professional he keeps going without missing a beat. I've seen similar eff ups in his performances and he always keeps his cool and plays it off. A real pro.

>
>I just dont get the controversy.

i wish Pedrad had stayed...

most of the skits were remarkably bad though....there are like 3 or 4 really funny members of the cast and everybody else is funny sometimes...

Bayer
Gillam
McKinnon
Che

Cast isn't bad, but there's so much inconsistency. And why they took Strong off of Weekend Update and kept Jost will never make sense to me.

Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney's filmed pieces are usually pretty funny, but I've never been blown away by either of them in the live sketches.

> And why>they took Strong off of Weekend Update and kept Jost will
>never make sense to me.

i like her too, i'm not convinced the other two are consistentley funny, but i do like most of the cast....

they do have a uneven amount of funny in there, some weeks alot, others barely any..i think that's just them letting different writers try to shine and that failing, plus people pitching ideas that might sound funny in the writers room, but aren't funny in execution...

i guess kinda like "madea and joe", and when chris does his "old man" imitation right, it's hilarious...BUT....that ain't what happened...plus neither carry a scene well

Also, apparently this sketch was written by Rock's writers he brought in, not the show's normal writers (which he probably shouldn't have even done.)

Actually, this was all just speculation, so who knows.

She left before she finished giving her lines. Then when she realized it, she came back but had trouble relocating the cue card.

He was yelling and repeating set-ups way too much. He didn't seem comfortable with the jokes.

He flubbed way too many lines in sketches.

Way too many Uber Car jokes.

And I was really hoping for a Nat X sketch - or at least an I'm Chillin', or Buster Jenkins.

If he hosts again I'll watch.

dude's not a great actor. Even when he was a cast member of SNL. Some standups just aren't good at acting or inhabiting characters.

Though a new Nat X would've been great.

>He was yelling and repeating set-ups way too much. He didn't
>seem comfortable with the jokes.
>
>He flubbed way too many lines in sketches.
>
>Way too many Uber Car jokes.
>
>And I was really hoping for a Nat X sketch - or at least an
>I'm Chillin', or Buster Jenkins.
>
>If he hosts again I'll watch.

I was more offended by the delivery than the substantive material of the
jokes.

> at least an I'm Chillin'

...if they did I'm Chillin' without Farley.

>> at least an I'm Chillin'
>
>...if they did I'm Chillin' without Farley.

In the early 2000s, right?

>>> at least an I'm Chillin'
>>
>>...if they did I'm Chillin' without Farley.
>
>In the early 2000s, right?

I believe it was Chris and Jim Breuer instead of Farley.

He was more than a little over the top.

He's got normal Chris, Chris practicing material, Christ performing at a theater, amp-ed stadium show Chris, and then this.

like, exactly.

some skits sucked.

I liked the Obama skit.

That made no sense to me. A couple it made sense, but there was no reason for the wig in the Swiftamine sketch.

The Obama sketch had a good premise, but didn't really go anywhere. I did fall out laughing when Kenan speculated whether they would support Obama if he got dreadlocks, with "Three big braids." and Leslie Jones said, "Haitian Sytle?". I was dyin'.

I saw Rock about a year ago working out those same jokes and there's actually a lot more there he DIDNT do (for time or whatever) that I hope is still in there (Prices are falling this 9/11!, shit like that). He's still got it. His next special should be great.

That said, the sketches were SO bad....

he was probably a Reagan slam away from killing a few old white guys with that monologue.

monologue was great. show, not so much.

Cats these days are fucking soft.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Individuals have always been outraged by comedy.

But nowadays, thanks to the internet, the outraged have a voice. If blogs existed in Richard Pryor's day, there would've been outrage pieces galore.

there's always been an element of controversy in good comedy

or is comedy sacred ground so long as enough people consider the material funny?

others may or may not agree. it's all part of the game.

than always go straight to outrage

there's a pretty big difference between adding levity to a tragic event, and people's fears (including his own), and actually making fun of the tragedy in an attempt to trivialize it.

if people don't think his jokes were funny, it's all good, but let Fox News and the outraged internet tell it, Chris Rock thinks terrorist attacks and dead americans are funny. Most of them know it's nonsense

comedy is a lot more nuanced than many people realize, i think, but the fact that there are trigger words and subjects for instant outrage is disappointing.

monologue was great, even if rock seemed a little rusty (and while i was watching i knew people would be fake outraged over it). prince was amazing and i'm glad they gave him some time/a different musical format than the usual one. every sketch seemed like a fantastic concept but the execution was botched on almost all of them.