STILL, I'M GONNA MISS YOU: In my memory there have been three perfect season-ending skits on Saturday Night Live -- "Summer Lovin'," which bade farewell to Jimmy Fallon; "Goodnight Saigon," which ended season 34 and proved to be Darrell Hammond's last; and now last night"s Graduation Day, which for similar musical rights issues you'll never be able to find online legitimately long-term**, but used the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" and "Ruby Tuesday" to allow an emotional goodbye to Kristen Wiig.
As much as some of her characters may have grated from overuse, her seven-year tenure certainly deserved as capper like this, and her departure leaves a deep void.
** updated: Well, I'll be darned. Also, cut from dress: Kings of Catchphrase Comedy III.
I got misty when she and Hader were dancing, due to Adventureland-related sentiments.
ReplyDeleteThat was just perfect. You can see that they all, but particularly the boys, have great affection for her.
ReplyDelete<span>OK, I'm struggling to say anything about Kristen Wiig. Because I don't want to be mean, but I regard her moving on as a fabulous thing which forces SNL to finally start using the rest of their female cast. I seriously had to think hard about her tenure, and checking Wiki as well, and I can't think of one character of hers I liked.* </span>
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<span>*Full disclosure, my taste is suspect here; I also despise the Stefon character. </span>
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<span>However! I've loved Wiig's film work. Granted, she's had some much better material to work with; the scripts for Adeventureland, Bridesmaids and especially Whip It gave her much more to work with and she rose to the occasion each time. So, I'm happy for Wiig having more time for that and I'll be looking forward to it. </span>
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<span>(That said, I could watch, as Watts rightly pointed out, Poehler rocking out to Ruby Tuesday for a good hour or so.)</span>
I haven't watched regularly enough during her tenure to have gotten as tired of her presence on the show as others have, but I thought it was a terrific sendoff. That said, if we're talking about SNL goodbyes, the Phil Hartman goodbye sketch (which you also can't find online?) -- which ends with Farley asleep, cradled by Phil -- is one for the ages and to me, tops the more recent three that Adam cites above.
ReplyDeleteHere's the transcript: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/93/93tsolong.phtml
ReplyDeleteDid this episode also mark the end of the SNL Digital Short?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the actual Will Ferrell farewell skit, in which Tracy Morgan called him a racist. Warmly.
ReplyDelete<p>I completely agree. The Phil Hartman/Chris Farley goodbye sketch is #1 for me.
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</p><p>Not a fan of Wigg on SNL, but I've liked her movies. This was a nice send-off for her.
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Agreed. Her characters are largely one-note annoying people where the joke appears to be playing that one note for so long that it becomes funny. It rarely does. If there was a departing cast member who should have been recognized it was Samberg. He has almost singlehandedly brought a 35-yeard old improv show into the Hulu era with his digital shorts. Will also be sad to see Sudekis go if for no other reason than the absence of his dancing in What Up With That. But, he really has outgrown the show.
ReplyDelete1) That was a really great goodbye. I would not be upset to see every season end in a singalong, like last night or Ferrell in 2009.
ReplyDelete2) Wiig was almost used as a veteran long reliever when it was a light week, ran out there to fill time with five minutes of some heinous one-note character that shouldn't have been used once, let alone a dozen times. I don't blame Wiig for crap like Gilly, I blame the writers and Lorne.
It made me teary. I couldn't stand Gilly and I never found the Target lady funny, or the singers who don't know their own lyrics, but she made me laugh in the one-off sketches. So. I will only sort-of miss her.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth they didn't cut the karaoke sketch or the Sharpton sketch for Catchphrase Comedy 3 eludes me. (Californians was worse than either of those, but for Wiig/Martin, they weren't going to cut it.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am a sucker but I thought the karaoke sketch was about the best thing they did last night.
ReplyDeleteHee. Every time I see Amy Poehler on SNL part of me wonders why this small-town Indiana city-government employee has a secret double life as part of comedy royalty in New York.
ReplyDeleteSudekis was barely keeping it together in the end.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's the video: http://www.buzzfeed.com/stacylambe/the-top-5-snl-departures
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