Mel’s SNL Rant #45: KRISTEN WIIG IS NOT FUNNY
So I’m going about my everyday business, engaging my SNL nerdery in full bore. When I come across an article from April 2011 which was on MSN. In this article, Lorne Michaels is talking about Kristen Wiig. I guess there was an article about Wiig in the New York Times, which okay, all well and good. I assume “Oh he’ll just say some nice stuff, like how she’s talented or whatever” which while I do not agree with, I will at least humor it. But then, I read this line…
Asked to rank Wiig among the show’s top performers, Michaels did not hesitate. “Top three or four,” he says (lest anyone need reminding, the group’s alums include John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Will Ferrell, Mike Myers and Dan Aykroyd).
And well…needless to say, I am NOT HAPPY with this assessment from Lorne. At all.
I understand he’s the big kahuna, its his opinion, and I’m merely just a peon who nerds on SNL a little more than most people should. That being said, this only just erupted me into a complete and utter rage. I looked around online, wondering perhaps that the years of drug use have caused Lorne’s brain to translate humor differently. But then, I see people online saying all these different things like “OMG She’s soooo funny!!1”, “She’s so talented!”, “She’s the best cast member ever” or my particular favorite “She’s this generation’s Lucille Ball”. And now I’m wondering if I’m just not seeing it…but then I watched a few sketches and quite honestly….I’m pretty sure that this entire world has gone completely insane.
Let me just say it: KRISTEN WIIG IS NOT FUNNY!!
She is a fucking hack of a comic who merely just mugs for the camera and plays the SAME FUCKING CHARACTER EVERY FUCKING TIME!!! Look at all of her characters and you will see the same linking aspects of awkward and overreacting bullcrap. It’s just the same thing and like…she’s got this Dane Cook vibe about her where she thinks if she yells out loudly enough or if she says it as many times, it’ll eventually end up funny. Yeah, sometimes it can be, but for fuck’s sake, don’t use it all the fucking time!! WHY DO PEOPLE THINK SHE’S FUNNY?! WHAT AM I MISSING HERE!!
And for Lorne to say something like THAT?! I can’t help but feel like that’s a personal fucking insult. I know I shouldn’t feel that way but like…honestly…really?! She’s one of your top 3-4 of all time?! HER?! First off, the funniest and best cast member of all time is Phil Hartman. Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Dana Carvey are not too far behind. As a fan of these cast members, I am just flat out in complete rage for Michaels to actually compare her to those awesome fellas. Second off, she’s not even the funniest and best WOMAN cast member of all time! I can name 5 female cast members miles more funny that she could ever hope to be — Jan Hooks, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Ana Gasteyer, Tina Fey….those five women are MILES upon MILES funnier…and there’s even more but I’m naming off the top of my head. (for the record, while I regard Gilda as the best, Hooks and Curtin are probably my favorites). And as for this cast? There’s others I like a LOT more than Wiig like Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, Taran Killam, Nasim Pedrad, Jason Sudeikis, and Jay Pharaoh are amongst those folks.
I’d put Seth Meyers on the current cast members list but I’m really getting frustrated with him since he’s the head writer and that’s partially to blame. The writing is fucking lazy and they just fall back on the same characters and when someone’s repertoire of characters is so fucking low and seems to be favored by Lorne, it turns out to be a disaster. I mean I understand that you need to have those back pocket characters for those instances where the host wants to do a sketch with them or they’re being a douchebag of a host or can’t act for shit. However, they do it for everybody. And they rip off sketches too! Shit, in the last Jon Hamm hosted episode, I saw TWO sketches they ripped off from the late 90s. The Back to the Future anniversary DVD thing? Yeah, the late 90s cast (whom I did not care for at all) did it with Star Wars (which included a hilarious impression of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau by Kevin Spacey). I can forgive this one since it’s a good outlet to do impressions with (and we were treated to Hader’s amazing Alan Alda impression and Jon Hamm doing a damn good Robin Williams). Then later on in the night, Wiig and Hamm did a sketch that was pretty much like the Culps…like almost exactly. It was ridiculous. I mean, shit don’t be the Dane Cook/Carlos Mencia of SNL seasons, guys. Come up with some original material, sheesh. I mean some of the best sketches of all time were standalones.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is that when I think of a great cast member, I think of someone whose able to do it all. They’re a team player who will fall by the wayside to let others shine. They’re someone who can fill in any role, hold the sketches and the show together, and just are kind of a leader in a way. They’re someone who can play the straight man, the impressionist, the ham, the snark, the satire, the physical comedian…they can do it all basically hell even with the drop of a hat. Wiig is a ham, a mild impressionist, and does some decent physical stuff. However…those other things? She cannot do. I mean, shit, have we EVER seen her do a straight man role? And while I’m aware that some cast members are one dimensional, they at least do their dimension well and they craft it to damn near perfection so they can mostly get away with it. Wiig, I believe, is unable to.
[BALEETED: upon realization that I am kind of a dick and I stupidly attacked people who actually think she’s funny, it was uncalled for and kind of harsh. So I have since baleeted this part. Why? Because overgeneralizing is douchey and if I wanna give an opinion about something, I should actually bring up good points and not just attack others. Tha’ts not cool]
She doesn’t seem to be so bad outside of SNL supposedly. Some folks found her acting job in Bridesmaids hilarious and she was a lot more subdued. Perhaps she was, I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t judge…I know that her cameo in Knocked Up REALLY bothered me. It was the same shit. So perhaps I am just overreacting…then again, that’s something I normally do.
So to finally bring this roundabout rant home, the conclusion here is that I don’t find Kristen Wiig funny and am insulted for Lorne to say such a thing as calling her one of the 3-4 best all time.
