"Horn" was Benny's ace in the hole. Like the cheap jokes and the violin, it was a near-endless well to perpetuate material. AND they paid him to make the movie!

I thought Letterman was fantastic as well. The "Uma" "Oprah" thing
still makes me laugh, if only for displaying the futility and emptiness
of the entire ritual, while still making the joke the most important
part. It's just that all of the glittery beautiful people couldn't take
the nakedness of the whole thing. I…

Here's something else HILARIOUS - having to constantly RE-LOG IN for no reason! Can you guys PLEASE FIX THIS DAMN BUG IN YOUR SYSTEM??????

A lot of mixed emotions about his departure. Like the "cool grandpa" that so many of us NEVER HAD, or the cool uncle we did, Letterman cruised for years on some of his best bits, and slid by when the performance lacked, or when we let the memory of his vitality cloud the lower energy we see today. In so many ways he…

I will now come out. I find Vanessa Bayer ridiculously HOT. I find all women who are drop-dead funny to be extremely hot, no matter what they look like (within some limits). Like Emma Stone, who isn't really that traditionally "pretty" in a still photo, when people like this come to life, fully, in a character or…

JK was fantastic. Taraji kind of weirded me out - maybe it was her "sore winner" attitude about finally being famous after 20 years. Get in line, girl, I know people who've been at it for 30!

I think the Rock episode all hit us upside the head. Dwayne went full on 110% and it showed. The energy he brought to the show was the same kind a top shelf comedian brings (I recall Seinfeld on SNL in the late 80's) to shame the rest of the cast into notching up their game. We're not used to seeing our muscleheads…

JESSICA WILLIAMS, from the Daily Show. She'd fit in and at the same time could mix things up.

Wiig had some great characters. They were just overplayed - Lorne likes to please audiences too much.

Don't forget Sandler. He's the SNL template for "silly" vs "funny"

It's been that way for years. Maya and Tina and Amy and Kristin — against, really, Ferrell and Heder, and sometimes Armisen, but always blowing away the others. I've always loved it. You know they had to fight harder to get where they are/were - no sense of male "entitlement" to their humor. As countless articles…

I think Sasheer may be a comedy ACTRESS, but doesn't seem like a comedian (enne?). But we really haven't seen much to let us know either way. Placed into the show under what seems some kind of weird "affirmative action," she's either been denied her chance to break out, or else she just ain't got it. There's a long…

Killiam is solid, and often adds "very funny" to his perfunctory characters. A kind of Phil Hartman "lite."

We need more talk about how awesome Vanessa Bayer is. Unassuming and pretty/attractive in a Mad Men "plain secretary" kind of way, she's got danger and fire and lots of unconventional behavior beneath that exterior — a lot like Will Ferrell when everyone was trying to figure out why they like him as he became more…

The women are the best on the show.

band aids. But the wound is still gushing blood

Pete is Lorne's hope for a new Adam Sandler / Andy Samberg. Beck is a huge talent, just waiting to get the chance to unleash the weird kind of humor SNL needs as an IV. Jost is all surface, and underneath that is more surface. It worked for Seth, because he could be biting, but Jost is lacking that dark edge that…

As for Sasheer Zamata - it's taken me awhile to realize how damn stunning that woman is. But pretty isn't enough, and you're correct, she's in a damned if they do/damned if they don't position, but not having one character by now, it's kind of late. BTW, was I the only one taken aback for the "diversity scandal"…

More Beck Bennett. The guy is smart and funny. He can play the straight, old-hat crap that SNL seems to get off on (game show characters, impersonations of celebs) but his true strengths are in just how offbeat the guy is. He looks kind of like the guy who went to grad school and opted early for a job and a suit,…

Riblet only "works" because of the "unexpected" disconnect between Moynihan's character and then his straightforward vanilla news reading. But without its contract to Che's bumbling and different tone, Moynihan would fall flat if he were a regular update anchor instead. The Riblet bit is just a band-aid for the…