The Star Report -- Saturday Night You Bull Sessions

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Date Posted: 17:09:45 02/05/05 Sat
Author: CCS
Subject: The Star Report
In reply to: Patrick Lonergan 's message, "REVIEWS: Paul Giamatti 01/22/05" on 18:18:06 01/22/05 Sat

Seems like no one gave this episode a full review. That's kind of a bummer. Even when I don't have a sketch, I really enjoy reading about what other people thought of the other sketches. It's good feedback, especially on the sketches that have a vastly different approach than mine. Anyway, part one followeth:

<center>Wedding... Trump Style
by Mark Jennings Reese II</center>

This was an excellent sketch. I think the fact that SNL left the subject alone helped it seem like our sketch wasn't over-exposure. There's good tension and release used in the "you're fired" delivery. The bits about how Trump is micromanaging the whole wedding are very good, especially the recurring topic of the sun setting. The one part I felt was kind of weak was where his odd pronunciation of the word "huge" came into play. It was well set-up, I just don't think the gag had much strength to begin with. Honestly, this is one of the solidest sketches I've seen you come out with Reese and its topicality fits in quite well with the SNL style.

<center>Paul Giamatti's Monologue
by Justin Kaplowitz</center>

At first, this reminded me a lot of the Conan monologue from a few years back. Meeting Forte along the way didn't help, as it just doesn't match up comedically with Tracy Morgan's appearance in the other. I felt the sketch didn't start to establish its own identity until the "To the elevators!" comment. The conversation with Will seemed to flounder a bit, and I think the problem may have been in your choice of Will. I know he's a favorite around here, but it just doesn't seem like he's adopted an "off-camera" personality. Someone like Tracy Morgan or Chris Farley could generate huge laughs playing themselves, but Forte, like say Mike Myers, needs the stage and the funny costume and then he can go to town. Anyway, the dialogue felt a little tedious as it went along. There were some good lines here and there (I especially liked the dig at the Q&A monologues) but all in all I didn't think the sketch held out.

<center>United Tobacco Company Airlines
by Marcus Campbell</center>

There were some good ideas in this sketch, and it was a creative premise. The sketch seemed a bit of a rush, though. It's just one huge block of text with a lot of long sentences. I think what would be needed to step this piece up would be to break it up a little. Have the spokesman give a tour of the aircraft, and interact with some of the features available. Some of your gags are a bit complex when spoken, but would work terrifically as a visual. For example, the cigarrettes dropping down instead of gas masks would make a great visual reveal, but is only an ok joke as spoken.

<center>The Graph
by Jason Dignard</center>

The core of this sketch was really strong, with a good comedic premise built on a oddball repetition. The graph turned on its side and especially the addition of stickers were great iterations. Some of the straight-man comments and business small talk could have gotten a bit of a comedic punch-up, in my opinion, but all in all this was a very funny sketch. The double turn-around ending was a bit standard, it seemed, but the closet bit really helped close this one on a good note.

<center>Today at JCPenney's
by Jack Farrell</center>

A little double-check of your sketch can help spot some errors, namely the characters who seem to have two names (Brian-Gary and Chris-Bob). The pacing, theme and premise of this sketch was terrific. I could easily a sketch like this making it onto SNL. Some parts of the sketch are just a little rough around the edges. Clean these up, work on a few funnier reaction lines, agonize over minor quibbles in the writing and this sketch is golden.

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