Saturday Night Live is an institution and like anything on NBC, it is constantly under fire. It has become a punching bag for critics everywhere who alternately complain that the show isn't funny enough, the sketches are too weird, the hosts aren't being used to their full advantage, etc. Every episode seems to divide the audience, with half thinking it was a great hour and a half of television and the rest dismissing it as junk. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as Bill Hader stays on a cast member, I will keep tuning in week after week. Just in the hope that this might be the week that his character Stefon appears on Weekend Update.
Stefon is a weird and wacky character, well-suited to join the pantheon of equally bizarre characters that have appeared on SNL over its 37-year run. His official title is City Correspondent for New York City and he gets called out by Seth Meyers whenever the holidays are coming up and Seth wants to give tourists advice on family-friendly locations to visit around the city. You think he would have learned by now that Stefon is not the man to provide this advice.
A nervous and extremely twitchy gay man who cannot stop touching his face, Stefon will unerringly begin his bit with the word's, "New York's hottest club is..." and launch into a description of the most absurd and disturbing location imaginable. Seth will interrupt with pleas for more family-friendly fare, to which Stefon will nod wisely, say he understands now what Seth is asking for, and then proceed with his next recommendation, which invariably is, "New York's hottest club is..." These clubs are populated with characters like "Furkels" (Fat Urkels), screaming babies in Mozart wigs, sherpas, hobos, kite enthusiasts, and a never-ending supply of midgets.
What makes me love Stefon so much is the fact that Bill Hader seems utterly incapable of going through a Stefon routine without starting to laugh. This partly stems from the fact that the club descriptions are constantly being revised and updated over the course of the week and even during dress rehearsal, so often Hader is reading off descriptions that he is seeing for the very first time during the live show. Who wouldn't crack up if they had to describe what a human bathmat was? (If you're wondering, it's that thing when midgets have dreadlocks and they lay face down on the floor.) Below is a video from a hilarious interview Hader did on Letterman where he described how he created this character with SNL writer John Mulaney and it amuses me greatly that Hader can't even talk about this character without giggling:
Last Saturday night, Stefon kept me in stitches and reminded me just what it is I love about SNL. Say what you want about the show, but it's this kind of absurdist over-the-top humor that makes for great television when you're looking for some cheer on a Saturday night. You can watch the segment on Hulu and trust me, you won't be able to resist a smile.
Stefon is a weird and wacky character, well-suited to join the pantheon of equally bizarre characters that have appeared on SNL over its 37-year run. His official title is City Correspondent for New York City and he gets called out by Seth Meyers whenever the holidays are coming up and Seth wants to give tourists advice on family-friendly locations to visit around the city. You think he would have learned by now that Stefon is not the man to provide this advice.
A nervous and extremely twitchy gay man who cannot stop touching his face, Stefon will unerringly begin his bit with the word's, "New York's hottest club is..." and launch into a description of the most absurd and disturbing location imaginable. Seth will interrupt with pleas for more family-friendly fare, to which Stefon will nod wisely, say he understands now what Seth is asking for, and then proceed with his next recommendation, which invariably is, "New York's hottest club is..." These clubs are populated with characters like "Furkels" (Fat Urkels), screaming babies in Mozart wigs, sherpas, hobos, kite enthusiasts, and a never-ending supply of midgets.
What makes me love Stefon so much is the fact that Bill Hader seems utterly incapable of going through a Stefon routine without starting to laugh. This partly stems from the fact that the club descriptions are constantly being revised and updated over the course of the week and even during dress rehearsal, so often Hader is reading off descriptions that he is seeing for the very first time during the live show. Who wouldn't crack up if they had to describe what a human bathmat was? (If you're wondering, it's that thing when midgets have dreadlocks and they lay face down on the floor.) Below is a video from a hilarious interview Hader did on Letterman where he described how he created this character with SNL writer John Mulaney and it amuses me greatly that Hader can't even talk about this character without giggling:
Last Saturday night, Stefon kept me in stitches and reminded me just what it is I love about SNL. Say what you want about the show, but it's this kind of absurdist over-the-top humor that makes for great television when you're looking for some cheer on a Saturday night. You can watch the segment on Hulu and trust me, you won't be able to resist a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment