Dirty Mary Crazy Larry?

Amen. He is my favorite (very close w/ Hader) of the current male cast members, and his range and general under-ratedness reminds me of another one of my all-time favorites, Phil Hartman.

I like your analogy.   In the non-spoiler thread, I said the same thing, comparing him to a cheap knock-off, like an imitation luxury brand or something: looks like
the real thing, feels like the real thing, but after closer inspection
(like a second viewing),  it just falls apart.

"Keith Urban is a much better Bones than Quinto is Spock. He needs more screen time."

Don't you get it, man? It's the biggest, baddest 'Star Trek' of them all!

Super 8's intentions practically defy definition. It was a hacky but loving homage to a simpler era of cheap nostalgia in film.

The other terrible thing about Spock's "KHAN" yell is that is was like a reference to all the pop culture references, not to the thing in the movie Star Trek II itself.

And after Dwight had listed off those things, like his search history, Kevin: "Is that all?"

Great episode this week.  My favorite parts were Helberg's Michael Jackson story, and, of course, jokes:
"Catherine Zeta-Jones says she is bipolar. Half the time she's deliriously happy, the other half the time she has to suck an old man's cock."
and, "More great work from the University of Bob Seger."

What qualifies as a pretentious lubricant? Like if you use caviar or something?

I get surprised that horse racing is still a thing that actually exists.

@avclub-3bca94e353e508c1a49bf984fc5c346d:disqus Ernest Borgnine / Shelley Winters. Sparks fly on the set of "The Poseidon Adventure"!

I never thought of that before, but you're right about Real Time - New Rules is the direct descendent of that section where Miller did jokes based on pictures in the news.

One of the greatest standup bits ever. My favorite part is his realization that maybe the Earth created us so that we could in turn create plastic: "It may even be the answer to the age-old question of 'Why are we here?' 'PLASTIC…ASSHOLES.'"

I'm confused, did you write it?  I was talking about the writer of the article. I didn't have a problem with disagreeing with the merit of the book, that's just where you/he lost me, personally. Not everyone has to agree.

I was with the author on that one, until he included "Pulphead" as part of the decline.  One of the best books I've read in the last few years, period. And it has nothing to do with any "reality tv" or meta aspect - just damn good writing. And who is the author to say that the world would be better served if John…

@avclub-6ee934260c80f2e2f9098dcd3e44c032:disqus  Exactly. The Duke brothers are laughing it up from the back seat of their limo as we speak, ready to make a bundle by trading NBC for a bunch of orange juice futures.

A thought I had, one hundred percent seriously, while watching this
episode: Kristen Wiig is definitely talented in some form, but she owes
a lot of her success on SNL to whoever makes those fantastically terrible
"Mom hair" wigs for her.

They may not be known for having a lot of gore-based sketches, but they definitely pioneered it way back in the original cast era. First thing I thought of when I saw this sketch was "they've updated the Julia Child sketch for the modern era!"

Wow… Thursday is very hard to look at.