[Peter000]

I laughed a lot during this episode. It's almost like they were treating Walken's whole appearance as a parody of itself. Especially during the Walken family reunion skit.

And the cue-card thing only bothered me in a couple of spots. It totally worked in the gardener skit and worked there because they were able to hold them right under the camera, and he was talking to the audience there rather than another cast member.

Walken sure is getting old though.

I really liked Kristin Wiig's "Surprise Party" skit. Totally obvious joke, but Wiig really sold it for me, and I laughed hard when she went out the window. Twice.

 

[jgerry]

I found it funny, at least for the first few skits. I loved the high school drama production of Grease. But the blatant cue card reading was just far too distracting. If he could have delivered his lines with the same weird cadence like he was reading, but actually look at the other actors, it would have been fine.

Did I miss a cowbell skit? Or did they just not go there? I also remember I used to like "The Continental" skits he used to do. They didn't reprise that one either.

 

[alpacaboy]

i actually liked the walken family reunion sketch maybe it was an obvious thing that everyone did a christopher walken impression but I still thought it was fun and funny it cracked me up anyway i think it was on an actors studio or something where one of the things walken says he does when reading a script is that he first goes and removes all punctuation and just kind of lets the phrasing happen

 

[gchance]

I agree, he was awful, and I never even heard of him. Why was an old guy like that with no acting ability selected? He sure is not good looking either. I would think plenty of stars would want the SNL exposure, they really hit bottom with him. I turned it off after first 20 mins, yuck.

Yeahhhhh, I remember when I had my first beer.

Greg

 

[scooterboy]

The only thing missing from the Reunion sketch was a walk-on by Jay Mohr.

He did the best Walken impression of anyone. "Skittles" is a classic.

 

[IndyJones1023]

i actually liked the walken family reunion sketch maybe it was an obvious thing that everyone did a christopher walken impression but I still thought it was fun and funny it cracked me up anyway i think it was on an actors studio or something where one of the things walken says he does when reading a script is that he first goes and removes all punctuation and just kind of lets the phrasing happen

Did you take Annuale?

 

[jmoak]

I agree, he was awful, and I never even heard of him. Why was an old guy like that ...

I've got to ask how old you are. I mean no offense and I'm not trying to insult, ...

I must admit, when I read your post, visionary, I asked the same question.

So.... still in high school, eh? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but....


no offense intended, just a burning curiosity.

I know there must be a salve or cream for that, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

 

[visionary]

OK, so how old am I? I'm so old, I remember sitting in front of TV watching JFK being nominated, saw speeches by Eisenhower, I saw the first man in space go up, I watched the very first episode of Star Trek when it came on, saw the first color programs, but in all that, no memory of this C-list actor.

I did look at those "100 movies" and most were shoddy sequels/remakes I never watched, because I'd seen the real one. For instance I loved Hairspray, but the real one with the big girl winning love, not the sickly transvestite 2007 version remake he was in, I have no desire to ever see that one. That is why I'd never heard of this old bit actor.

Even if he has fans, when they saw how poor an actor he is today, they should not have used him. He could have had bit parts with a real actor host on SNL, that is more his style anyway. No, I don't watch many new SNL's after seeing the great ones when it began either. I do like Amy and Tiny Fay and that is about it today. I have liked the political sketches lately, is why I tuned in. So there is all your answers, guys.

 

[alpacaboy]

Did you take Annuale?

No, if I had, it would have been all caps.

 

[IndyJones1023]

No, if I had, it would have been all caps.

But you had no periods.

 

[JDHutt25]

I missed the show. My cable box turned off on it's own (damn you Cablevision) and I got 90 minutes of black screen.

 

[wendiness1]

As I recall Walken has relied on cue cards during every appearance.

I'll cut him some slack though. They change the dialogue right up to the live performance and I'm sure it gets pretty confusing.

 

[DeDondeEs]

With Walken's blatent que card reading it is so bad it is funny, I mean you can even see his eyes scanning back and forth while reading. The scared plant guy was hilarious, I was laughing so hard, it was so stupid yet funny at the same time. I liked the Top Chef spoof too. Especially where she said "Anyone with a Faux-hawk is disqualified" I never knew what that haircut was called. I think this is one of the rare cases where the part of the show after the news was funnier than the part before the news.

 

[IndyJones1023]

Speaking of the Top Chef sketch, they really need to parody popular culture.

 

[unicorngoddess]

I forgot to TiVo it. Did they reprise any cowbell stuff?

They revisited the cowbell last time Will Ferrell was guest hosting to promote that basketball movie.

 

[getreal]

I think his blatant cue card reading is part of his shtick.

Also, the Walken family reunion and the Gardening Tips were freaking hilarious. What show are you all watching?

I agree with the sketches you mentioned being funny -- they were the only funny parts of the show.

But his blatant cue card reading and complete LACK of eye contact was not funny, if it was indeed intended to be so. It was during the gardening tips sketch where I started to think that maybe -- just MAYBE -- the lack of eye contact throughout the rest of the show was a joke because the POINT of the gardening tips sketch was how critical it is to always make direct eye to eye contact.

It would've been funnier to me if they had the cue card person IN the scene holding only Chris' cards close to him while everybody else's cue cards remained off-camera.

It was just too distracting. At least the rest of the cast was making an effort to scan the cue card and then try to act their parts using eye contact.

:down: Chris. Sorry.

Would've loved to see another of his Apartment Lothario character trying to seduce the camera.

 

[getreal]

I really liked Kristin Wiig's "Surprise Party" skit. Totally obvious joke, but Wiig really sold it for me, and I laughed hard when she went out the window. Twice.

:up::up: to Kristin! Amy Poehler and Kristin Wiig are the stand-out stars of the show, IMHO.

 

[TAsunder]

Walken ALWAYS reads the cue cards and almost NEVER makes eye contact. I might go so far as to say those are his trademarks. He does seem to make "eye" contact during "The Continental" though.

 

[mattack]

For instance I loved Hairspray, but the real one with the big girl winning love, not the sickly transvestite 2007 version remake he was in, I have no desire to ever see that one.

Umm, dude, the original one was a transvestite version too.

 

[mattack]

I found it funny, at least for the first few skits. I loved the high school drama production of Grease.

Ok, I may deserve a <whoosh> on this one, but were any of the "original" lyrics real?

I could imagine some of the original lyrics really being used on stage, but I'm not sure..
(...and if they were, it makes the original co-writer's appearance on that reality show where they chose new leads funnier, since he kept talking about how (paraphrase) "sweet" it was.)