Is heaping praise on the already much loved Kristen Wiig so obvs as to be not worth doing? I. DON'T. CARE.
This Saturday, at the invitation of our friend Connie Klein, me and JMZZ got to sit in the pit at a SNL taping. Connie (she's a writer for the show) set aside a pair of tickets for us because she knows what a big Anna Faris fan I am, but good as Faris was, Wiig was even better. Not only was she a star or featured player in virtually every skit, she also warmed up the crowd by singing a persuasively sexy and rocking rendition of "Hanging on the Telephone!" That's like tied with 11:59 as my fave Blondie song!
I even have a SCOOP from the set! As Kristen Wiig performed her Judy Grimes skit on Weekend Update I overheard someone affiliated with the show talking about how amazing she is, and how she is clearly the heir to Amy Poehler's title of Reigning Queen of SNL. Wait, what? Everybody knows that that's how Wiig is perceived both inside and outside SNL? Oh. And also, I didn't really see the guy who said it, so for all I know he might have been a grip. Come to think, he may've just been an audience member.
But still: reportage! My first ever!
For more Wiig analysis and a totally not exclusive Wiig clip from last night's SNL, click on the pressy!
This Saturday, at the invitation of our friend Connie Klein, me and JMZZ got to sit in the pit at a SNL taping. Connie (she's a writer for the show) set aside a pair of tickets for us because she knows what a big Anna Faris fan I am, but good as Faris was, Wiig was even better. Not only was she a star or featured player in virtually every skit, she also warmed up the crowd by singing a persuasively sexy and rocking rendition of "Hanging on the Telephone!" That's like tied with 11:59 as my fave Blondie song!
I even have a SCOOP from the set! As Kristen Wiig performed her Judy Grimes skit on Weekend Update I overheard someone affiliated with the show talking about how amazing she is, and how she is clearly the heir to Amy Poehler's title of Reigning Queen of SNL. Wait, what? Everybody knows that that's how Wiig is perceived both inside and outside SNL? Oh. And also, I didn't really see the guy who said it, so for all I know he might have been a grip. Come to think, he may've just been an audience member.
But still: reportage! My first ever!
For more Wiig analysis and a totally not exclusive Wiig clip from last night's SNL, click on the pressy!
Back to Wiig. She's obviously great at impressions (her Suze Orman is to die, as is her Pelosi) but her real specialty is playing
characters ruled by single, overriding neurotic compulsions: competitive confabulations
in Penelope's case; anxiously insecure self-effacement in the case of the "just kidding"-addicted Grimes; or, in the case of her producer from Knocked Up, jealousy-driven and ridiculously overt professional undermining.
All of these characters are grounded by Wiig's knack for close psychological portraiture. Though they are primarily funny and weird, they also carry real intimations of desperate unhappiness: Competitive Penelope isn't just annoying; if you choose to think of her as a real person, she's also truly miserable. When you watch her more nerves-ridden characters, you can practically smell their anxious urine. And with that intensity, Kristen Wiig singlehandedly redeems SNL's sometimes stale "[CHARACTER NAME], the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]" formula for recurring-character sketches.
Okay, I think I've done enough anonymous, from-afar toadying for one day. Here's Wiig's "Judy Grimes" skit from this weekend. This isn't quite one of her best, but it was pretty electrifying to see live; I couldn't get over how well Wiig...oops, guess I wasn't quite done after all!
All of these characters are grounded by Wiig's knack for close psychological portraiture. Though they are primarily funny and weird, they also carry real intimations of desperate unhappiness: Competitive Penelope isn't just annoying; if you choose to think of her as a real person, she's also truly miserable. When you watch her more nerves-ridden characters, you can practically smell their anxious urine. And with that intensity, Kristen Wiig singlehandedly redeems SNL's sometimes stale "[CHARACTER NAME], the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]" formula for recurring-character sketches.
Okay, I think I've done enough anonymous, from-afar toadying for one day. Here's Wiig's "Judy Grimes" skit from this weekend. This isn't quite one of her best, but it was pretty electrifying to see live; I couldn't get over how well Wiig...oops, guess I wasn't quite done after all!
Isn't Kristen the best? Although her Nancy Pelosi is weirdly subpar, her Suze Orman is so brilliant that it alone should make her queen of SNL! And then there was that skit where she was playing Bjork interviewing Charles Barkley on "Iconoclasts." "Charles BAR-kley, do you think humans are just trees with skeeen?"
And thank god, with Poehler hitting the road, SNL needed SOMEONE to save the show. And it wasn't gonna be Will Forte!
Which brings up a more salient and intelligent point: isn't it interesting that we live in a world were Christopher Hitchens can claim women "aren't funny" and yet SNL, since at least the mid-90s, and possibly forever (hey, I'm big Jane Curtin fan!) has always had funnier women than men?
Isn't it interesting that we live in world where Christopher Hitchens can do anything? I loved his Slate piece last week, where he floated the idea that Obama was the new Dukakis...within hours, McCain had torpedoed his own chances and Obama's poll numbers completely rebounded.
I bet that article alone earned him another year at the Hoover (!) Institute.
I agree about the ladies of SNL, although I think it has been especially the case in the past five years. Also, I like Wiig's Pelosi, but I know I'm in the minority there.
Well, a minor defense of the Hitch: he's kinda right about Dukakis! Okay, so maybe the better comparison isn't to Dukakis but to the other guy in that race. In 1988, by all rights, George Bush should've waltzed into the White House. But he almost lost, managing to win only because Dukakis's campaign totally imploded.
And here we are, looking at a 2008 election in which Obama should be sweeping the floor with the Republicans. But his recent poll-surge is entirely attributable to McCain's total implosion. And even that hasn't (yet) turned the tide decisively in Obama's favor. So it's not entirely unreasonable to wonder what happened?
Anyway that was totally off-topic! I just don't think that Wiig really "gets" Pelosi. She doesn't even make an attempt at Pelosi's gravelly voice, for instance. And she seems entirely too fixated on Pelosi's habit of widening her eyes and staring fixedly at someone. While this is a key to a good Pelosi impression, it always seems a little forced with Wiig, while it's just awkward with my girl Pelosi.
Whatever Kristen does - it's always BELIEVABLE. Her Drew Barrymore, Megan Mullaly (unbeatable), Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland - and her countless characters... she owns them all. She's 200% in them during their moments. Her delivery is always effortless and typically flawless. Her best talent is her ability to be chameleon like - you can never see 'Kristen Wiig' in any of her impressions or characters. Ever. Rock on funny woman!