D--k in a Box

EW’s PopWatch suggests (pretty facetiously, I assume...though I can think of worse ideas) that Saturday Night Live should just go to all digital shorts from now on and get rid of the “Live” after by far the funniest skit of the season, the “D--k in a Box” music video. It’s definitely an interesting time for SNL (beyond the whole “NBC’s running two shows about the making of a fake SNL” thing). The new new head writers are still trying to figure out what the mostly-new cast is good at, and the three funniest skits from the past two seasons (“Lazy Sunday”, Natalie Portman’s gangsta rap, and “D--k in a Box”) haven’t been performed live. Granted, SNL has always had pre-recorded fake commercials and things like that, but this is different, and so far these shorts have been more successful than not. And while "D--k in a Box" wasn't the outright homerun that the other two were (if you lived through Color Me Badd, you find it 100x funnier), it was still a strong triple in the corner.

I still DVR SNL every week, and I’m actually starting to get hopeful about the rest of this season. Last season, the writers had a few new parts to work with as well, and they really didn’t hit their stride until the Nov/Dec range. And just like this season, it seemed to catch some momentum after a hilarious episode by a not-guaranteed-to-be-funny host (last year, Dane Cook; this year, Justin Timberlake). In last week’s episode, they didn’t try to cram a square peg into a round hole—they played to Timberlake’s strengths (he sang and/or danced in almost every skit), and the payoff was huge. Beyond “D--k in a Box”, the Chipmunks “Christmas Song” takeoff in the monologue was good, the rapping/dancing Cup O’ Soup was good, Hip Hop Kids was pretty good, the Gibb Brothers Show skit (with a Jimmy Fallon cameo...another non-guaranteed-to-be-funny gamble) was relatively amusing, and even the Target skit was good (it isn’t always).

It does appear that there is a lot of unique talent in this year’s cast, and it’s easy to get your hopes up that the writer’s will find a niche for everybody. Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiits are both fantastic (Witts in particular), and I have a new-found respect for Maya Rudloph after watching A Prairie Home Companion last weekend (she was by far the best thing in the movie, surpassing even Kevin Kline). Andy Samberg has had some fantastic moments in the digital shorts, though that hasn’t translated to success in the live aspect of the show (it definitely seems like the writers don’t always know what to do with him), and Seth Meyers and Will Forte have turned into pretty reliable performers. Even Keenan Thompson is having his most impressive season to date. It's not a great show yet, but if the writing can catch up to the talent, that will bode well for the rest of the season and beyond. That’s quite the “if,” though.

(Kudos also to Justin Timberlake, who has been a big hit both times he hosted. That Mickey Mouse Club experience seems to have paid off. He was funny in every skit.)

I assume NBC will get this yanked from YouTube at some point, but for now...