1.Funnyman Jason Sudeikis plays slightly against type in "Tumbledown," a romantic comedy-drama that just had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. “For example, he taught me that you don’t need to restrict a urinal to just No. “I learned so much from Steve,” Short gleefully said. During their extended monologue, the pair traded jabs, ending their time on SNL’s main stage by reading eulogies they’d written for each other’s future funeral. The episode also missed the chance to showcase what Martin and Short-friends for 36 years-do so beautifully: play. Last night, the cast’s vibrancy felt blunted: Even the cold open, addressing the mounting exhaustion people feel from the world’s never-ending problems in yet another way, felt tepid and repetitive. So much of the show depends on a comedic energy that stems from the chemistry both among cast members and between comedians and the audience. Still, that tactic doesn’t always pay off. But he seems to be leaning heavily on big names, such as Amy Schumer and Dave Chappelle, to host this season, trusting that their talent might make up for the shortcomings elsewhere. Today, Michaels isn’t packing the cast with stars. “here was a tremendous concern that the show had become a star vehicle, and that without stars, the show would falter,” Short said in the 2002 book Live From New York. Absent the cast’s talents-and popularity-the show’s future felt uncertain. Dick Ebersol had taken over for Michaels and tried to stuff the cast with bankable stars after the original cast left en masse. Short may remember a similar problem from his brief stint on SNL’s cast: In 1984, he joined the series for one season. The mass exodus ahead of SNL’s 48th season was a flurry following a period of relative (and unusual) stability for the show, and a new order has yet to materialize. The hosts gamely tried to keep the energy going, but even they couldn’t overcome a season where so much is in flux. It was a flash of what might have been had more sketches played to their strengths. Later, in a sketch built more specifically for his talent, Short tapped his seemingly limitless energy playing the cantankerously feisty Sprinkles the Elf, who refused to put up with children and their endless wishes for Martin’s Santa. The children (played by Cecily Strong and Mikey Day) stole the spotlight-as they tend to do in the recurring sketch-while Martin and Short were left to deliver setups and an increasing level of exasperation. As a result, even “Steve and Marty” couldn’t save SNL from the struggles that continue to impact what the executive producer Lorne Michaels has called a “transition year.”Ī spoof about a fictional PBS series called Science Room inhibited Martin and Short by making them play straight men to the clueless junior volunteers they were there to educate. Yet the episode hampered their efforts, placing the consummate vaudevillians in sketch after sketch that restricted their talents. Martin and Short felt like veteran substitute teachers called in to steady a school where most of the experienced faculty had left. Last night’s episode, therefore, had every reason to be not just funny but riotous-the kind of impish return Will Forte delivered last season. Steve Martin and Martin Short had even previously shared the SNL stage in 1986, when they hosted alongside Chevy Chase to promote their film Three Amigos. The plan was relatively straightforward: Take two comedic legends, each with a rich history on Saturday Night Live and a working partnership spanning decades, and invite them to co-host.
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