Posts Tagged SNL
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November 8, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Brigsby Bear: Film
Brigsby Bear Director: Dave McCary 3311 Productions/Sony Pictures Classics Brigsby Bear is one of the best films I’ve seen in years. Let’s start right there, like this. Because I don’t want to spoil the magic of the film – instead I want to talk about what it meant to me, how it made me feel, […]Archive
January 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Movies of My Life # 14: The Blues Brothers
I have had the double-pack DVD of The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000 on my shelf for quite a few years. I didn’t need Blues Brothers 2000 but it was cheaper to buy the double-pack than just the original movie… The Blues Brothers had a profound influence on me. It is possibly the movie […]Archive
April 27, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Steve Martin & Edie Brickell: So Familiar
Steve Martin & Edie Brickell So Familiar Rounder Here is the second collaborative album from Martin and Brickell, accurately named since the pair work so well together and here particularly it feels seamless – in fact Martin is essentially the sideman, could have gone unnamed; why then is it Steve Martin and Edie Brickell not […]Archive
January 9, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Sisters: Film
Sisters Director: Jason Moore Little Stranger/Everyman Pictures/Universal Pictures It would be easy, I’m sure, for someone to tell you that Sisters – a vehicle built entirely for the dazzling but effortless chemistry between and individual talents of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – was lazy, crude, cheap, silly. But it’s still fun – and importantly […]Archive
January 4, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
David Spade: Almost Interesting – The Memoir
Almost Interesting: The Memoir David Spade Dey Street Books/Harper Collins It’s an odd little book this, it almost works – or rather when it works it works well. Of course saying almost works and when it works it works well is not just platitudinous here, it could also describe David Spade, his work, his career… […]Archive
April 1, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
TV Shows That Meant The World To Me: # 6 – Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live – or SNL – meant the world to me before I’d even seen it. It never screened on New Zealand TV when I was growing up, in fact it’s only been the last few years. And these are lean years in the history of the show. Though I still – and always […]Archive
March 16, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Amy Poehler: Yes Please
Yes Please Amy Poehler Dey Street Books I’m a sucker for these sorts of books – the comic-memoir/the memoir by a comedian/comedienne. There are some that are laughably bad, others are far too earnest – some try to milk a thin-joke premise as far beyond breaking point as could ever be possible. Others are far […]Archive
March 8, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Obvious Child: DVD
Obvious Child Director: Gillian Robespierre Rooks Nest Entertainment/Sundial Pictures/Votiv Films Jenny Slate was often funny in her brief tenure on SNL – the requisite manic energy, ability to slip into several different characters, but she never had the chance to cement herself. Obvious Child is a good film anyway, but it stands out because Slate […]Archive
February 28, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 939
Steve Martin, A Wild And Crazy Guy (1978) I was talking, recently, about comedy on vinyl – a strange thing, a curious idea in this day and age. But I still like the chance, now and then, to sit down with some old comedy gem and listen to it – on vinyl. Meaning I’m not […]Archive
October 23, 2013 by Simon Sweetman
Portlandia: Series Two
Portlandia Series Two Umbrella Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (the great band Sleater-Kinney) hit on something kind of wonderful with Portlandia; a laidback-but-sharp spin on sketch comedy that pokes fun at contemporary hipster culture, that all but lines up the topics discussed in/on Stuff White People Like and shoehorns them into sketches and borderline non-sketches […]Archive
September 26, 2013 by Simon Sweetman