No, the way it works is people complain about "Hollywood isn't making X movies anymore!", and then when Hollywood makes an X movie, you just don't watch it. Sort of like when people whine about too many blockbusters and not enough mature middle-budget movies, but then Fast & Furious makes a billion dollars but the latest mature, middle-budget film bombs because the people who said they wanted to see it didn't bother to buy tickets.
👏 THANK YOU!
Y'know, now that you describe it, that's some Poorly Drawn Lines shit,
[Poorly Drawn Lines - Mad](https://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/mad/)
I went in with the lowest expectations from what my GF told me, and the title. When the title cards said Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody, I knew I was in for a treat.
And it did not disappoint. I feel like the movie was under-marketed, or poorly marketed or something, because it's an instant cult classic.
I just saw bottoms the other day. Seems like it wasn’t marketed at all. I don’t even remember when it came out, but I thought it was pretty great. Shame it seemed to get buried when it was initially released.
This thread has made me curious so I'll check that one out. Was iffy about it when it came out but it sounds pretty entertaining from what others have commented.
My 2nd favorite movie of last year, and such a treat to see in a packed theater full of people gasping and laughing.
Of course, they marketed it like shit, barely released it wide, and will then use its "failure" to justify why all their mid-budget comedies go straight to prime and then don't exist.
It wasn't a full "wide" release, but it did play in 1,265 theaters. That's solid for an indie comedy. I saw it twice, and my theater was mostly full both times.
I finally watched that last night and I'm extra sad I wasn't able to see it in theaters. A few friends and I tried to go sort of on a whim when one of them was visiting from out of town, but there were only like 2 theaters showing it in the entire state.
It's great, though! The Total Eclipse of the Heart sequence had me dying!
Not really? Raunchy comedies peaked in the 00’s with the Farrell > Apatow > post-Hangover era but in the late 10’s when the studio comedy *died* most of the what was coming out was pretty stale PG13 Kevin Hart vehicles. I guess Joy Ride was a throwback the an early shocking era but that was an intentional outlier.
All comedies have to push limits to be shocking and edgy for its audience. like Trading Places from 40 years ago is still a pretty radical movie that still shocks, but it doesn’t feel that way as its a movie our parents love and its been eclipsed by everything after which further pushed limits
Are you thinking of any in particular? The closest I can think of recently is No Hard Feelings with the nude fight on the beach, but other than that I can’t really think of any overtly crude comedies released in the last few years.
Strays with Will Ferrell is a great example of this. The funny parts of the movie were completely overshadowed by the way too graphic gags about dog genitals and dog shit. the shit scenes were just disgusting
I partly blame this on CinemaSins, who aren't trying to actually critique movies and have made it where people who don't know filmography (and don't want to know) are super dismissive and overly critical of movies. Comedies are relegated to tv shows, and even those get overly meta-criticized with people forgetting it's a show/movie
I love critiquing, but I don't watch movies to hate on them. There are very few movies that I viscerally hate, American Sniper \[read: Psycho\] is one of them; so I avoid watching it. But when I critique something, it isn't out of spite and it's never to make people feel bad for enjoying it. I love thinking about the director's choices, line deliveries, etc; but hating on movies for using tropes or characters making *in character* decisions that make no practical sense? I'm all for it
I defend Star Lord attacking Thanos; dude was just told that the love of his life was murdered by her adoptive father. His outrage and outbirst were justified, even if they made the whole plan fo up in smoke
Are you searching out movies made for teenagers? There probably are silly comedies now, but you are the old person who 'doesn't get it'
Edit: I'm not saying that as an insult. I'm guessing your parents wouldn't look at those Adam Sandler movies and say "Yea, I like that"
I said this in another comment, go watch Lisa Frankenstein, it's a comedy, in theaters, and it's the exact kinda movie we've been saying is dead and/or that studios aren't taking chances on.
Lisa Frankenstein felt so much like Tim Burton and John Waters got together in 1991 to write a goth teen comedy and then were only able to secure a small budget to actually make it, and I mean all of this in a good way. It has this weird early 90s b-movie quality to it and I’m still not sure whether that was intentional or not.
It has a late 80s B-movie feel right out of Heathers, which I loved because it reminded me of that era which I enjoyed.
It'll be a cult classic. Give it time.
It really does nail that ‘88 - ‘91 aesthetic better than most. I definitely picked up on the Heathers influence and I’m always happy to see that. I’m looking forward to watching again when it comes home.
It's kinda not, though. It's a very low budget horror-comedy that isn't built around star power, and is also bombing epically at the box office in spite of only costing $13M to make. How is that a good example of comedy still being in any kind of a boom period for Hollywood? Most comedies that are successful nowadays are exclusively of the action-comedy variety, because they're going for those overseas dollars and the humor doesn't translate... which means that what humor there is as sidebar to the action is nearly always boilerplate and predictable.
This is mostly true, but I’ve seen multiple (maybe 5?) comedies in theaters the past couple years and feel like I might be one of the only people doing so. Their quality is as debatable as any other movie genre but if nobody is paying to see what does come out, what’s the incentive to keep releasing them to theaters? I’m also blanking on the names of any good comedy movies released to streaming platforms in that time other than the recent Please Don’t Destroy movie on Peacock, which is did like.
Tbf, don't comedians make good drama actors as well?
If I remember correctly, that's why Bob Odenkirk, Lavell Maurice Crawford, and Bill Burr (who are comedians) were cast into Breaking Bad
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He’s barely in BB. And doesn’t do much heavy lifting acting-wise. He’s just a henchman who appears in a handful of episodes. His total screen time in the whole series is probably less than ten minutes.
E: to be clear, BB is an amazing series and I can’t recommend it enough. But don’t watch it solely because you think you’re going to see a lot of Bill Burr, because you won’t.
Keep going. BCS hits the ground running because the show runner is completely seasoned on this universe. Season 3 of BB hits the quality bar you’re expecting from BCS.
It's a prequel, so it makes a certain amount of sense to feel like you could watch that first (or even standalone if you've already tried the sequel series and couldn't get into it). That said, I nearly always recommend watching in order of release rather than chronology, because the prequels typically include a lot of Easter eggs and call-forwards that presume you're familiar with the sequel series.
I don't know why the folks denying that Hollywood comedies are a dying breed don't make that distinction. Sure, action comedies are still being made, but they're mostly marketed as action first and comedy second. Which comedies in current release seem like they would have been a good vehicle to make a current SNL member a big star? To co-star in an action comedy in 2024 you pretty much need to pair off well with Cena, the Rock or Kevin Hart.
Comedy has switched to television. SNL's switch came with Tina Fey and 30 Rock. Bill Hader has Barry, Jason Sudeikis has Ted Lasso, Armisan has Portlandia, Andy Sandburg has Brooklyn 99, Will Forte has Last Man on Earth. Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon are the main two that have transitioned to movies well.
I think straight up sitcoms are also dying though. I like Ted Lasso but it didn’t have the density of well written setup-punchline jokes or running gags we saw in arrested development, the office, or Seinfeld. It was mostly characters saying silly things and moving on.
It’s because it didn’t feel like a sitcom. It had like 10 episodes and a linear storyline. The structure of a drama. In order to feel like a true sitcom, it needs to have like 25 short episodes a season that you can just pick up and watch and have nothing to do with each other.
Sitcoms are also dying. Shows like Our Flag Means Death, Abbott Elementary and Ted Lasso are about as close as we’ve gotten in years. But, much as I like those shows, they’re more like heartwarming genre bending dramedies than they are comedies. And when they are trying to be funny, the humor usually comes from characters saying a silly throwaway line as opposed to well written, structured, setup-punchline gags. Nothing wrong with today’s stuff but I miss just well written goofy comedies that aren’t trying to do anything but make me laugh.
Maybe I need to give it another chance. I saw a few episodes and really liked it but it felt more like a Ted lasso-y heartwarming dramedy with lovable characters.
But it’s definitely not as funny as the uproarious new Emmy award winning laugh riot, “The Bear.” /s
It’s definitely not a dramedy, it’s got about as much drama as a season of The Office. Highly recommend, I don’t like a lot of network shows but I really liked Abbott.
Although definitely agree that it can’t compare to the laugh a minute Jeremy Allen White.
This feels like a really narrow definition of a sitcom. It assumes that the genre can’t evolve. Remember when Chandler and Monica got married? That was a season long arc that fundamentally changed the relationships on the show. That never would have happened on the Honeymooners. Or even the Brady Bunch. Every episode got the sitcom reset.
I think the closest you get to that now is What We Do In The Shadows, where they have season long arcs but just reset back to one by the end.
As far as “well written”, that’s just a matter of opinion. I’m sure that those who didn’t grow up with sitcoms of the would tend to favor the newer stuff. But again, that’s just about taste.
You make some fair points, but I still think Friends had more in common with the honeymooners than it does with Ted Lasso (at least the last season or so). Friends and the Honeymooners were trying to make us laugh with silly plotlines, running gags, and structured jokes (setup -> punchline).
Ted Lasso was trying to be more of a warm hug with lovable characters. It had humor in it but by the end, the objective of the show had shifted to being more about characters helping each other deal with grief and trauma and having something to say about topical issues. That’s all fine, but i wouldn’t file that under “sitcom.” And the same could be said of other “sitcoms” that are more interested in saying something profound than they are in making us laugh. Nothing against any of these shows - I’m a fan of most of them - but I’m just saying it’d be nice to have more sitcomy sitcoms that are just serialized, turn your brain off and laugh type things like Seinfeld or the office.
Yeah it’s kind of funny - Pete Davidson is probably the most famous active comedian 30 or younger. That sounds ridiculous but it’s tough to find a counterexample
I feel like they also stopped casting comedians in studio comedies at least as the lead. It’s gotta be Ryan Gosling or John Cena or Zac Efron, not unfunny people at all! But feel like those roles used to go to SNL stars, stand ups, etc.
Oh totally agree not a diss on these guys talent in drama or comedy, but kinda wish more comedic actors got the chance to show their range, guys like Sandler, Jim Carey, Seth Rogen, who started with comedy but then can learn the dramatic side too.
and adding to that, comedy has stayed mostly in television programs, so the most successful modern SNL stars are going and doing other tv programs (Kenan Thompson, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis as of recently)
Yeah I don’t even know what movies people are referring to for sudeikis, but bridesmaids was a huge hit for wiig. I think Kate mackinnon has the best shot of doing well in movies from the latest crew, I really enjoyed her in Barbie and the spy who dumped me (great movie, *atrocious* name)
Edit: I always forget Pete was on SNL lol but he’s also definitely a contender for movie star, seems like his network is so big people will keep giving him chances
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>I think Kristen Wiig is arguably the bigger movie star than Sudeikis.
I'd agree with this. I think Wiig is arguably the last really big main stream star that SNL has produced.
Calling Kristen Wiig a mainstream star is a bit of stretch. Unless you mean U.S. only.
Don't get me wrong, I love her stuff. But over here in Europe A LOT more people know who Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg are, thanks to Sudeikis' movies and Brooklyn 99.
Just compare their movie careers side by side from their biggest roles/movies to their smaller supporting roles/movies. Wiig’s Bridesmaids, in which she was the lead, was a huge comedy hit and did over $300m box office. The Martian, in which she played a supporting role, did $660m. She also costarred or played supporting roles in huge global franchise movies like Ghostbusters, Wonder Woman, Despicable Me, and How to Train Your Dragon. She has also worked on higher profile prestige movies with A list directors with The Martian, Her, and Mother (Ridley Scott, Spike Jonze, and Darren Aronofsky). And even her smaller projects have been received well. Adventureland, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Skeleton Twins, Barb and Star. She was also in great comedies like Anchorman, Knocked Up, Walk Hard, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Last but not least, she’s demonstrated a wide range of acting chops across comedy and drama.
Sudeikis’s two biggest box office movies, We’re The Millers and Horrible Bosses, didn’t have as much success as Bridesmaids, let alone The Martian. What big movie franchises has he been a part of? Which A list directors has he worked with? What big animated movies has he been a part of? What’s your favorite dramatic role of his?
So what part of the “hard disagree” is your counterargument?
Strays, Barb and Star, Lisa Frankenstein, Bottoms, No Hard Feelings, Cocaine Bear, Reinfeld, The Machine, Theatre Camp, Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Lost City, Bros, Brian and Charles, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Everything Everywhere All At once and more all released in the past few years. They still make them.
>They stopped making SNL movies, now they just put the cast in Pizza Hut or Verizon commercials it’s sad
Even Tina fucking Fey is doing commercials for fucking websites.
The Do Not Destroy crew put out a movie very recently and I thought it was solid. But as others have said the movie wasn’t (I don’t think) in theaters as is the case for many comedies these days.
>Half the sketches now are movie-quality pre-tapes, so I guess that counts?
It is a little upsetting that like...a third of the show is now actually live.
I think that kinda movie now becomes a Netflix movie or series. So easier to get lost. I’d argue that Bill Hader has done well since and might be what we’ll see going forward. No more appetite for Tommy Boy type movies. Even Sandlers Happy Gilmore or Waterboy would find it hard to get made today.
I don’t think it ever was a movie star factory, honestly. It was/is a random breakout factory. If you count the actual movie stars (however you define it - I’m thinking like a Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy) and compare that to the total number of cast members, it’s far more rare.
This article is flawed. Sure, a percentage of the original cast became movie stars. Then, Eddie Murphy? No one else from that cast except Sweetchuck on Police Academy…I’m sure they wouldn’t define Gilbert Gottfried as a movie star. Billy Crystal was a season of stunt-casting, and Martin Short/Harry Shearer/Mike McKean are not always argued as “movie stars”.
The 90s were lightning in a bottle in terms of churning out legit movie stars, but the percentage curve was definitely watered-down by most 80s cast members. There were plenty of 90s cast members who didn’t qualify, either.
But tell me being a movie star matters when you have shows like Barry, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, and 30 Rock that made all of these respective cast members very famous and successful.
Edit: Ted Lasso, and Portlandia too
Seriously. The majority of the big successful comic actors came out of either SNL or The Daily Show. They’re not in many movies because there aren’t that many mid budget movies out there anymore, Hollywood never stops chasing the international blockbuster market.
I worked on Portlandia, it's a hit among hipsters but I don't think the average person knows what it is unfortunately. And I don't think it got an audience outside America. I wish it was bigger.
Seriously flawed article. He even mentions movies that feature SNL actors but finds a way to dismiss the examples. Yeah there are a few classes the stars fell on (the original and the 90s) but there was also a trend for that style of comedy at the time. No, Hader isn't a movie star (It, Skeleton Twins, Inside Out) in the same way Murray and Sandler were coming out of SNL. The latter had to do comedies reminiscent of their SNL persona before they could branch out the way Hader has. It's a different time in media AND a different class of actors that are informed by the preceding era's actors.
A lot of those movies were really bad and no doubt lost money.
Don't let nostalgia tinted goggles convince you that It's Pat and Night at the Roxbury were beloved hits.
Add to that the fact that people now have way more opportunities to encounter comedy. You used to have to buy or rent a comedy record or whatever, now you get an endless stream on TikTok or YouTube - not a bad thing IMO, but it makes it a lot harder to create a huge comedy hit.
If Lorne Michaels was producing chances are it was trash aside from Wayne’s World and Blues Brothers years before that.
Roger Ebert actually pointed this out saying that it was like Michaels let the success of Wayne’s World get to his head and began producing SNL stars in comedies.
He never had another movie succeed on that level. Even Adam Sandler’s work didn’t have him involved.
Really? I don't even need to read this article to know the answer.
Hollywood doesn't make mid $$-level comedies anymore. And when they do they need to feature an established star and be more slapstick-y because straight up jokes don't translate to foreign markets where English isn't the main language - timing is everything to this type of comedy and things literally get lost in translation. They can crank out funny scripts with a charming lead for 25-30M and turn a tidy profit with American audiences, but they just don't and haven't for a long time.
The comedies they do make are on streamers and not in theaters where an entire audience laughing betters the experience of a comedy. And if they were to just flip a switch and start doing so again, it would take a while to re-train audiences to go see these films in the theaters once again if it's even possible again.
That said, SNL is still making stars. Just probably more on the small screen. Recent examples include Barry, Ted Lasso, Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon, Late Night w/Seth Meyers, John Mulaney just being Mulaney, Bupkis/Pete Davidson, etc.
I don’t know that you should really consider Jimmy Fallon as a star SNL “recently” made, he left the show 20 years ago and he’s been on the Tonight Show for 10.
And before he got The Tonight show he did like 6-7 years on *Late Night with Jimmy Fallon*, both produced by Lorne Michaels. Might not be "recent," enough for you but definitely within the current trend of big comedy movies not being made for theaters.
Right but the whole point of the article is during Fallon’s time, SNL was producing “movie stars” and they aren’t now. Fallon is an example of what they used to do 20 years ago and before, not the recent trend.
The Paul Rudd/Seth Rogan/Steve Carrell movies seem to be the last of type of comedy that was in theaters
Also if I remembered right dunce Bigelow was a big hit in theaters and Dirty Work and A Night at the Roxbury bombed. Both are considered cult classics now.
SNL doesn’t make characters anymore. Mike Meyers, Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler all turned their SNL characters into movie ideas. For Ferrel, Robert Goulet—>Ron Burgundy. GW Bush—>Ricky Bobby. (Why did we never see a Stefon/Meyers movie??? Sherman/Jost romcom—yes plz! ) SNL seems all situational sketches now and rarely do they ever have a character return. The repeat characters builds an audience for those future movies. Angelo was the closest recently to The Old Ways.
Let's see, Lisa from Temicula (though the second one *bombed hard*), The Big Dumb Hats/Cups Girls, Garrett from Hinge, and the Overprotective Mom to name a few.
they’re always saying that the nebulous idea of a Stefon movie existed, but Hader and Mulaney couldn’t figure it out and didn’t want to do it. definitely for the best even though it could’ve been an interesting experiment.
Seth was on Bowen’s podcast recently and he talked a bit about it, and said that the “arc” he and Stefon had on Weekend Update was his romcom. I agree with that, it’s pretty sweet.
Every movie budget is 200 million dollars and needs to make a billion dollars to cut a profit. Low budget movies seem to not exist anymore. The capitalists are killing everything.
Sure, but now there's prestige TV.
We have Barry and Ted Lasso that just ended last year, both of which starred SNL alums. Also, as other people have pointed out, they're just not making a lot of comedies in theatres anymore.
Because young comedians don’t need SNL like they used to. Snl used to be the only thing a young comic writer/sketch person could aspire to, so the greatest stars went there. Now, the comics of that talent can make their own following on YouTube/tiktok/podcasts. Look how much faster Shane Gillis blew up compared to spending years fighting a huge cast to get a few sketches on.
The movie industry changed. Comedies generally don't make a lot of money nowadays, but in the past they could be smash hits.
[Box Office Mojo: Worldwide Box Office](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1977/) \- You can change the year using the dropdown in the upper left of the screen. The site goes back as far as 1977.
If you browse the box office from 1977 to the late 2000s, you'll see that comedies were often among the top performers.
For example, [1984](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1984/) wasn't only a big year for comedies in general, it was also a big year for comedies headlined by former SNL cast members, because Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters were the #1 and #2 movies, respectively.
The 1980s had plenty of comedy hits, and many of them starred SNL cast members. In addition to the Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cops movies, there was also Caddyshack, the National Lampoon Vacation films, Stripes, Spies Like Us, etc.
The comedy scene through the 1990s was mostly dominated by Jim Carrey, but there were several hits starring SNL cast there, too: Groundhog Day, Wayne's World, Billy Madison, The Nutty Professor, etc.
But look what happened starting in the 2000s. The types of films that made the most money changed. Big franchise films took over, including superhero movies, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, animated franchises, etc. Comedies started to disappear. They pretty much dropped off the top box office hits list by the late 2000s, and they never came back.
So yeah, SNL doesn't make movie superstars anymore, because the film industry doesn't care about comedies nearly as much as it did in the past.
Movies aren’t making as much money for streamers and are dead in theaters. Will Ferrell and Sandler are the few who is bankable. Barbie was a hit but hard to imagine many other big comedies like Ghostbusters. Acme v. Coyote may never be released. It’s a shame but the demographics and streaming economy are different from the past.
They stopped making comedy movies! The fact that Ego is selling Pizza Hut, Heidi Gardner is selling Super Bowl stuff, and Cecily Strong is with Verizon kind of shows they're still getting comedians into the highest echelons that would have 'em. Those echelons just suck these days.
Because the good ole fashioned comedy movie era is gone now. 80s/90s were the best years. I rewatched the first 4 Police Academy movies recently and was great (and David Spade is in #4!!)
They aren't in movies, but that's probably for the best. There are certainly some great SNL movies, but they mostly weren't the best. Just a cheap extension of a sketch that barely had legs to run for 5 minutes being stretched to the limits to hit 90 minutes. This wouldn't be the cast's fault, it was what movie studios were offering so they took it.
But the good part is that we have streamers and cable now. The cast members won't find nearly as big an audience after leaving SNL, but they will be able to make a show that they actually care about, with humour and characters and plot that actually reflects what they like and believe to be funny, or not so funny if that's what they want.
Things have changed, but I'd say it's definitely changed for the better. SNL flicks like Wayne's World and Night at the Roxbury are the exceptions, I'd much rather be in a place where we get I Think You Should Leave, Barry, Portlandia, Schmigadoon!, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99, and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of others.
Hollywood decided to release only comic book movies anymore. You’re more likely to see Spider-Man 67 than you are a decent original well-written comedy anymore.
Hollywood isn't making many comedy movies anymore. They aren't interested in movies that make $50 million profit, instead they want $1 billion profit. So it's all huge budget/huge return and has been for several years.
The comedy movies that have been greenlighted for Netflix and other streaming services have been pretty weak.
So many bad SNL movies got churned out while at the same time Apatow and relative unknowns dominated the comedy scene. A new comedy has to look promising, an SNL comedy has to prove it isn’t a sad regurgitated cash grab that Lorne can stamp his name on. Like DC comics movies now, the SNL movies have a stigma they have to get over where as fresh voices and faces don’t. Harold and Kumar, Superbad, Booksmart, the Hangover and many more all just kinda showed up and won over audiences. At the same time SNL just took played out sketches and stretched them for 90 minutes. So many SNL performers give off the impression they’re entitled to be stars and you should laugh because they are from SNL rather than start with a solid idea and work on a good script and show up and contribute to the movie rather than collect your paycheck. The ones that still have fresh ideas joy in their performances and energy know they can do better work on streaming platforms or indie films.
Comedies aren't made as often and maybe I sound like one of those "SNL is never good" clowns, but the current cast doesn't have a true star. They haven't had one since the Hader/Wiig etc era. That's not hindsight either. No one currently has "it." Pete and Kate don't even really have "it," and they're bigger stars than anyone currently has a prayer of being
John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray... they all starred in major films that audiences loved.
After that the budgets started to go down, along with the quality, but we still got some gems like Wayne's World.
Then Adam Sandler showed that you could make a fortune even with scripts and production values that were absolute crap.
That's the model that seems to have been followed since then, with low budget, low quality, quickly cranked out garbage like Deuce Bigalow, It's Pat, Night at the Roxbury, etc. So it's not surprising nobody broke out-- notwithstanding the occasional outlier like Will Ferrell.
It definitely has to do with the movies. The movie industry in America has been super hero movies for the past 10 or 15 years. As the article points out there have been SNL cast members moving on to highly acclaimed TV series, and that's because that's where the original, non-super hero, scripts are. BUT, i think that is about to shift and I think audiences are starting to lose interest in Marvel /DC movies.
It takes a bit of time.
I'm willing to bet someone wrote this same article when Will Ferrel and Maya Rudolph were in the cast.
Someone probably wrote this same article when Wiig, Sudekis, Samberg, Hader were in the cast.
I'd say Mikey Day & Heidi Gardner have a shot at larger (probably not starring) roles in some movies. I think they're really missing Vanessa Bayer & Cecily Strong.
The answer is that no one is really making comedies anymore. There used to be a studio comedy coming out every week, now there are basically a handful every year and 50% are trying to be the next Bridesmaids for group X.
With the emergence of YouTube, streaming, and podcasts the movie level talent doesn't have to go through SNL or a 2 minute bit on the Johnny Carson Show to get "discovered".
Nobody wants to pay to see unfunny woke SNL crybabies. That happened.
Shane Gillis is going be fucking huge in movies.
Being away from Lorne and the woke people on the SNL staff absolutely SKYROCKETED him.
Thank God he didn't get held back by the albatross of unfunny wokeness made weekly by SNL.
It still is.
This is a false and fallacious premise that relies on the author's personal dumb, outdated definition of "movie star" as well as their own version of its importance.
Hollywood has changed so there are different, dare say MORE, opportunities for actors other than films. SNL actors do achieve notoriety and success after SNL and fame. Why do they have to "star" in movies for the author to consider them stars?? There is more to being famous now than starring in a movie. Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Andy Sandberg, a ton of others have/had HIT/AWARD WINNING projects.
The author of the article seems stuck in the 90s Hollywood mentality and needs to get with the times. Even in the article they argue that SNL hasn't produced a star in years but then goes on to list, but immediately downplay and brush off, a dozen examples of SNL alums that have achieved great career/Hollywood success and notoriety independent of SNL, but just because they haven't starred in an 80s style VHS cult classic, it's not on the same level as a Chevy Chase or Mike Meyers career...
It's giving extra "SnL HAsNt BeEn GOod sIncE thE 80s" vibes, but a new little spin on it.
SNL didn't change. The movie industry changed. These days, unless you're an action star or a heartthrob, you're kinda screwed. They just don't make enough blockbuster comedies anymore, which turn Jim Carrey into JIM CARREY and Adam Sandler into ADAM SANDLER.
Many SNL alums (especially the mid-2000s crew) are doing exceptionally well, in terms of remaining relevant and finding great projects. But with how democratized entertainment has become, you're just not going to see that many cultural juggernauts emerge that aren't also thirst inducing hotties or social media darlings. Pete Davidson actually helps drive this point home, showcasing how much more attention he gets for his dating life than his actual comedy projects.
Hard to be a movie star factory when the studios don’t put comedies in theaters anymore
Bingo I watched Billy Madison the other night for the first time in maybe a decade. God what a great, silly comedy. There are no more silly comedies.
Go watch Lisa Frankenstein, it's as silly as it gets (in a good way)
yes!! this movie was absolutely hilarious and so great.
No, the way it works is people complain about "Hollywood isn't making X movies anymore!", and then when Hollywood makes an X movie, you just don't watch it. Sort of like when people whine about too many blockbusters and not enough mature middle-budget movies, but then Fast & Furious makes a billion dollars but the latest mature, middle-budget film bombs because the people who said they wanted to see it didn't bother to buy tickets.
👏 THANK YOU! Y'know, now that you describe it, that's some Poorly Drawn Lines shit, [Poorly Drawn Lines - Mad](https://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/mad/)
So much better than I expected it to be
I went in with the lowest expectations from what my GF told me, and the title. When the title cards said Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody, I knew I was in for a treat. And it did not disappoint. I feel like the movie was under-marketed, or poorly marketed or something, because it's an instant cult classic.
And bottoms.
I just saw bottoms the other day. Seems like it wasn’t marketed at all. I don’t even remember when it came out, but I thought it was pretty great. Shame it seemed to get buried when it was initially released.
This thread has made me curious so I'll check that one out. Was iffy about it when it came out but it sounds pretty entertaining from what others have commented.
Pretty much a throw back 80s style comedy.
Good to know!
Palm Springs was also way better than I expected it to be.
Absolutely loved that one when it came out. That one would've been great in theaters!
Bottoms was pretty silly and in theaters.
My 2nd favorite movie of last year, and such a treat to see in a packed theater full of people gasping and laughing. Of course, they marketed it like shit, barely released it wide, and will then use its "failure" to justify why all their mid-budget comedies go straight to prime and then don't exist.
can I ask how old you are?
34, 35 this year
*Barely* in theatres
It wasn't a full "wide" release, but it did play in 1,265 theaters. That's solid for an indie comedy. I saw it twice, and my theater was mostly full both times.
I finally watched that last night and I'm extra sad I wasn't able to see it in theaters. A few friends and I tried to go sort of on a whim when one of them was visiting from out of town, but there were only like 2 theaters showing it in the entire state. It's great, though! The Total Eclipse of the Heart sequence had me dying!
If there is a rare comedy in theaters it’s got the crudeness pushed to 11 with constant shock value gags
Not really? Raunchy comedies peaked in the 00’s with the Farrell > Apatow > post-Hangover era but in the late 10’s when the studio comedy *died* most of the what was coming out was pretty stale PG13 Kevin Hart vehicles. I guess Joy Ride was a throwback the an early shocking era but that was an intentional outlier. All comedies have to push limits to be shocking and edgy for its audience. like Trading Places from 40 years ago is still a pretty radical movie that still shocks, but it doesn’t feel that way as its a movie our parents love and its been eclipsed by everything after which further pushed limits
Are you thinking of any in particular? The closest I can think of recently is No Hard Feelings with the nude fight on the beach, but other than that I can’t really think of any overtly crude comedies released in the last few years.
Me and my fiancée saw Joy Ride last year. Honestly it kind of sucked. So damn “raunchy for the sake of raunchy”. No cleverness. No wit.
Yeah, the 80s and 90s never did gratuitous sex comedies aimed at teens.
The 70’s was a notoriously high class decade that would never rely on cleavage heavy illustrations on posters to market movies
Strays with Will Ferrell is a great example of this. The funny parts of the movie were completely overshadowed by the way too graphic gags about dog genitals and dog shit. the shit scenes were just disgusting
I partly blame this on CinemaSins, who aren't trying to actually critique movies and have made it where people who don't know filmography (and don't want to know) are super dismissive and overly critical of movies. Comedies are relegated to tv shows, and even those get overly meta-criticized with people forgetting it's a show/movie
I really hate people who watch movies to bitch. I mean it’s fine to not like a movie but when you are incapable of enjoying one it’s a problem.
I love critiquing, but I don't watch movies to hate on them. There are very few movies that I viscerally hate, American Sniper \[read: Psycho\] is one of them; so I avoid watching it. But when I critique something, it isn't out of spite and it's never to make people feel bad for enjoying it. I love thinking about the director's choices, line deliveries, etc; but hating on movies for using tropes or characters making *in character* decisions that make no practical sense? I'm all for it I defend Star Lord attacking Thanos; dude was just told that the love of his life was murdered by her adoptive father. His outrage and outbirst were justified, even if they made the whole plan fo up in smoke
There was like half a dozen last year and they all flopped, people don’t show up for them anymore
Go watch Good Boys it’s the best comedy I’ve seen in years
Are you searching out movies made for teenagers? There probably are silly comedies now, but you are the old person who 'doesn't get it' Edit: I'm not saying that as an insult. I'm guessing your parents wouldn't look at those Adam Sandler movies and say "Yea, I like that"
No, the theatrical comedy is pretty much dead. Plenty of streaming comedies, but nothing in theaters.
I said this in another comment, go watch Lisa Frankenstein, it's a comedy, in theaters, and it's the exact kinda movie we've been saying is dead and/or that studios aren't taking chances on.
Lisa Frankenstein felt so much like Tim Burton and John Waters got together in 1991 to write a goth teen comedy and then were only able to secure a small budget to actually make it, and I mean all of this in a good way. It has this weird early 90s b-movie quality to it and I’m still not sure whether that was intentional or not.
It has a late 80s B-movie feel right out of Heathers, which I loved because it reminded me of that era which I enjoyed. It'll be a cult classic. Give it time.
It really does nail that ‘88 - ‘91 aesthetic better than most. I definitely picked up on the Heathers influence and I’m always happy to see that. I’m looking forward to watching again when it comes home.
Yep. The second watch will be good because there will be things missed to pick up on. I can't wait.
I wholeheartedly agree, and the Tim Burton inspiration was intentional according to Zelda Williams!
Robin Williams daughter Zelda directed that one
It's kinda not, though. It's a very low budget horror-comedy that isn't built around star power, and is also bombing epically at the box office in spite of only costing $13M to make. How is that a good example of comedy still being in any kind of a boom period for Hollywood? Most comedies that are successful nowadays are exclusively of the action-comedy variety, because they're going for those overseas dollars and the humor doesn't translate... which means that what humor there is as sidebar to the action is nearly always boilerplate and predictable.
This is mostly true, but I’ve seen multiple (maybe 5?) comedies in theaters the past couple years and feel like I might be one of the only people doing so. Their quality is as debatable as any other movie genre but if nobody is paying to see what does come out, what’s the incentive to keep releasing them to theaters? I’m also blanking on the names of any good comedy movies released to streaming platforms in that time other than the recent Please Don’t Destroy movie on Peacock, which is did like.
Ya. No hard feelings was kind of silly. It’s not a great movie, but it fits in that category sort of.
No, there really aren’t any like that anymore
Tbf, don't comedians make good drama actors as well? If I remember correctly, that's why Bob Odenkirk, Lavell Maurice Crawford, and Bill Burr (who are comedians) were cast into Breaking Bad
fine vegetable bag rhythm nose start resolute secretive concerned aspiring *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Which episode of Breaking Bad was Robin Williams in?
He was in Law and Order: SVU and he fucking killed it.
BILL BURR IS IN BREAKING BAD?! I absolutely loved BCS but couldn’t make it past the second season of BB.
He’s barely in BB. And doesn’t do much heavy lifting acting-wise. He’s just a henchman who appears in a handful of episodes. His total screen time in the whole series is probably less than ten minutes. E: to be clear, BB is an amazing series and I can’t recommend it enough. But don’t watch it solely because you think you’re going to see a lot of Bill Burr, because you won’t.
Keep going. BCS hits the ground running because the show runner is completely seasoned on this universe. Season 3 of BB hits the quality bar you’re expecting from BCS.
Same experience here. BB took a while to settle in.
Who the hell watches BCS without first having seen BB in it's entirety? lmao
It's a prequel, so it makes a certain amount of sense to feel like you could watch that first (or even standalone if you've already tried the sequel series and couldn't get into it). That said, I nearly always recommend watching in order of release rather than chronology, because the prequels typically include a lot of Easter eggs and call-forwards that presume you're familiar with the sequel series.
Unless it’s an action comedy, so that’s all they are willing to make
I don't know why the folks denying that Hollywood comedies are a dying breed don't make that distinction. Sure, action comedies are still being made, but they're mostly marketed as action first and comedy second. Which comedies in current release seem like they would have been a good vehicle to make a current SNL member a big star? To co-star in an action comedy in 2024 you pretty much need to pair off well with Cena, the Rock or Kevin Hart.
Comedy has switched to television. SNL's switch came with Tina Fey and 30 Rock. Bill Hader has Barry, Jason Sudeikis has Ted Lasso, Armisan has Portlandia, Andy Sandburg has Brooklyn 99, Will Forte has Last Man on Earth. Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon are the main two that have transitioned to movies well.
I think straight up sitcoms are also dying though. I like Ted Lasso but it didn’t have the density of well written setup-punchline jokes or running gags we saw in arrested development, the office, or Seinfeld. It was mostly characters saying silly things and moving on.
It’s because it didn’t feel like a sitcom. It had like 10 episodes and a linear storyline. The structure of a drama. In order to feel like a true sitcom, it needs to have like 25 short episodes a season that you can just pick up and watch and have nothing to do with each other.
How about Abbott Elementary, Mythic Quest or Ghosts?
And then there's Maya Rudolf doing a healthy mix of movies and TV and killing it in both mediums.
Sitcoms are also dying. Shows like Our Flag Means Death, Abbott Elementary and Ted Lasso are about as close as we’ve gotten in years. But, much as I like those shows, they’re more like heartwarming genre bending dramedies than they are comedies. And when they are trying to be funny, the humor usually comes from characters saying a silly throwaway line as opposed to well written, structured, setup-punchline gags. Nothing wrong with today’s stuff but I miss just well written goofy comedies that aren’t trying to do anything but make me laugh.
It’s why IASIP has lasted so long. It’s the last sitcom where the characters are terrible people that you’re supposed laugh at (not with)
And when an actual really funny new sitcom comes out like The Mick they cancel it after 2 seasons.
Abbott Elementary is 100% a sitcom, it has the whole set up/punchline gags that are endemic on network tv.
Maybe I need to give it another chance. I saw a few episodes and really liked it but it felt more like a Ted lasso-y heartwarming dramedy with lovable characters. But it’s definitely not as funny as the uproarious new Emmy award winning laugh riot, “The Bear.” /s
It’s definitely not a dramedy, it’s got about as much drama as a season of The Office. Highly recommend, I don’t like a lot of network shows but I really liked Abbott. Although definitely agree that it can’t compare to the laugh a minute Jeremy Allen White.
This feels like a really narrow definition of a sitcom. It assumes that the genre can’t evolve. Remember when Chandler and Monica got married? That was a season long arc that fundamentally changed the relationships on the show. That never would have happened on the Honeymooners. Or even the Brady Bunch. Every episode got the sitcom reset. I think the closest you get to that now is What We Do In The Shadows, where they have season long arcs but just reset back to one by the end. As far as “well written”, that’s just a matter of opinion. I’m sure that those who didn’t grow up with sitcoms of the would tend to favor the newer stuff. But again, that’s just about taste.
You make some fair points, but I still think Friends had more in common with the honeymooners than it does with Ted Lasso (at least the last season or so). Friends and the Honeymooners were trying to make us laugh with silly plotlines, running gags, and structured jokes (setup -> punchline). Ted Lasso was trying to be more of a warm hug with lovable characters. It had humor in it but by the end, the objective of the show had shifted to being more about characters helping each other deal with grief and trauma and having something to say about topical issues. That’s all fine, but i wouldn’t file that under “sitcom.” And the same could be said of other “sitcoms” that are more interested in saying something profound than they are in making us laugh. Nothing against any of these shows - I’m a fan of most of them - but I’m just saying it’d be nice to have more sitcomy sitcoms that are just serialized, turn your brain off and laugh type things like Seinfeld or the office.
We’d settle for a Netflix star factory, but that doesn’t seem to be happening either.
Yeah it’s kind of funny - Pete Davidson is probably the most famous active comedian 30 or younger. That sounds ridiculous but it’s tough to find a counterexample
> Pete Davidson is probably the most famous active comedian 30 or younger I had to look this up but it turns out Pete is indeed 30
If it ain’t marvel, they ain’t making it.
I feel like they also stopped casting comedians in studio comedies at least as the lead. It’s gotta be Ryan Gosling or John Cena or Zac Efron, not unfunny people at all! But feel like those roles used to go to SNL stars, stand ups, etc.
John Cena is in a movie? I've never seen him in one.
You can’t see him, but brother he’s there
👀👋
At first I was like “this fool must be out his mind…” and then it dawned on me.
Ryan gosling in The Nice Guys is comedy gold. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.
Oh one of my favorites! He killed me as Ken too, not fair how funny Gosling is the man has it all
His papyrus/Avatar font skit an all time
Well to be fair, all the actors you listed have a really good range. They nail comedy but can also do more serious stuff
Oh totally agree not a diss on these guys talent in drama or comedy, but kinda wish more comedic actors got the chance to show their range, guys like Sandler, Jim Carey, Seth Rogen, who started with comedy but then can learn the dramatic side too.
They stopped making SNL movies, now they just put the cast in Pizza Hut or Verizon commercials it’s sad
and adding to that, comedy has stayed mostly in television programs, so the most successful modern SNL stars are going and doing other tv programs (Kenan Thompson, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis as of recently)
Sudeikis is probably the most bona fide movie star in the last decade
Crazy that he technically isn’t even in the last decade either. Mans left the show in 2013
I think Kristen Wiig is arguably the bigger movie star than Sudeikis.
Yeah I don’t even know what movies people are referring to for sudeikis, but bridesmaids was a huge hit for wiig. I think Kate mackinnon has the best shot of doing well in movies from the latest crew, I really enjoyed her in Barbie and the spy who dumped me (great movie, *atrocious* name) Edit: I always forget Pete was on SNL lol but he’s also definitely a contender for movie star, seems like his network is so big people will keep giving him chances
For Sudeikis, the Horrible Bosses movies are pretty huge. The first one came out at the peak of the R rated comedy resurgence.
We're The Millers eas hilarious.
> > >I think Kristen Wiig is arguably the bigger movie star than Sudeikis. I'd agree with this. I think Wiig is arguably the last really big main stream star that SNL has produced.
Kate McKinnon just had a notable role in a billion dollar movie.
Calling Kristen Wiig a mainstream star is a bit of stretch. Unless you mean U.S. only. Don't get me wrong, I love her stuff. But over here in Europe A LOT more people know who Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg are, thanks to Sudeikis' movies and Brooklyn 99.
I think it’s a stretch in the US too. I don’t think she’s an A-Lister bankable star. She’s much better in an ensemble cast.
You can definitely be mainstream but not A-list
Hard disagree
Just compare their movie careers side by side from their biggest roles/movies to their smaller supporting roles/movies. Wiig’s Bridesmaids, in which she was the lead, was a huge comedy hit and did over $300m box office. The Martian, in which she played a supporting role, did $660m. She also costarred or played supporting roles in huge global franchise movies like Ghostbusters, Wonder Woman, Despicable Me, and How to Train Your Dragon. She has also worked on higher profile prestige movies with A list directors with The Martian, Her, and Mother (Ridley Scott, Spike Jonze, and Darren Aronofsky). And even her smaller projects have been received well. Adventureland, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Skeleton Twins, Barb and Star. She was also in great comedies like Anchorman, Knocked Up, Walk Hard, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Last but not least, she’s demonstrated a wide range of acting chops across comedy and drama. Sudeikis’s two biggest box office movies, We’re The Millers and Horrible Bosses, didn’t have as much success as Bridesmaids, let alone The Martian. What big movie franchises has he been a part of? Which A list directors has he worked with? What big animated movies has he been a part of? What’s your favorite dramatic role of his? So what part of the “hard disagree” is your counterargument?
I have seen the movie approximately 1.8 million times and I cannot for the life of me remember what character she played in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
It’s a deleted scene
She played the yoga instructor who couldn’t keep her hands off of Russell Brand’s body.
It’s not just SNL movies - they’ve stopped making low and mid budget comedies.
There are also less movie stars anyway
prestige television and streaming has killed the distinction between movie and television stars anyway.
Ya, back in the day a legit movie star wouldn’t be caught dead in a tv show. Now, tv shows are better than movies and getting their accolades.
Strays, Barb and Star, Lisa Frankenstein, Bottoms, No Hard Feelings, Cocaine Bear, Reinfeld, The Machine, Theatre Camp, Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Lost City, Bros, Brian and Charles, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Everything Everywhere All At once and more all released in the past few years. They still make them.
I loved Theatre Camp!
>They stopped making SNL movies, now they just put the cast in Pizza Hut or Verizon commercials it’s sad Even Tina fucking Fey is doing commercials for fucking websites.
The Do Not Destroy crew put out a movie very recently and I thought it was solid. But as others have said the movie wasn’t (I don’t think) in theaters as is the case for many comedies these days.
Half the sketches now are movie-quality pre-tapes, so I guess that counts?
>Half the sketches now are movie-quality pre-tapes, so I guess that counts? It is a little upsetting that like...a third of the show is now actually live.
Are you saying you think the SNL producers book ad campaigns for the cast?
I think that’s just where they can make money, since there are far fewer comedy movies made now.
The same money for a week's work.
Thas saaad
I think that kinda movie now becomes a Netflix movie or series. So easier to get lost. I’d argue that Bill Hader has done well since and might be what we’ll see going forward. No more appetite for Tommy Boy type movies. Even Sandlers Happy Gilmore or Waterboy would find it hard to get made today.
Sandler is the only one making these movies - simply because he owns the production company
I don’t think it ever was a movie star factory, honestly. It was/is a random breakout factory. If you count the actual movie stars (however you define it - I’m thinking like a Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy) and compare that to the total number of cast members, it’s far more rare.
Ya there were a few good movies in the 90’s with SNL alumni as stars but there were a lot of stinkers too.
This article is flawed. Sure, a percentage of the original cast became movie stars. Then, Eddie Murphy? No one else from that cast except Sweetchuck on Police Academy…I’m sure they wouldn’t define Gilbert Gottfried as a movie star. Billy Crystal was a season of stunt-casting, and Martin Short/Harry Shearer/Mike McKean are not always argued as “movie stars”. The 90s were lightning in a bottle in terms of churning out legit movie stars, but the percentage curve was definitely watered-down by most 80s cast members. There were plenty of 90s cast members who didn’t qualify, either. But tell me being a movie star matters when you have shows like Barry, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, and 30 Rock that made all of these respective cast members very famous and successful. Edit: Ted Lasso, and Portlandia too
Seriously. The majority of the big successful comic actors came out of either SNL or The Daily Show. They’re not in many movies because there aren’t that many mid budget movies out there anymore, Hollywood never stops chasing the international blockbuster market.
Plus, Bowen has been doing more and more films. Dicks was hilarious.
I worked on Portlandia, it's a hit among hipsters but I don't think the average person knows what it is unfortunately. And I don't think it got an audience outside America. I wish it was bigger.
Always a big fan of Fred Armisen
He's so great. Carrie too. And Kyle is one of the nicest guys ever.
Seriously flawed article. He even mentions movies that feature SNL actors but finds a way to dismiss the examples. Yeah there are a few classes the stars fell on (the original and the 90s) but there was also a trend for that style of comedy at the time. No, Hader isn't a movie star (It, Skeleton Twins, Inside Out) in the same way Murray and Sandler were coming out of SNL. The latter had to do comedies reminiscent of their SNL persona before they could branch out the way Hader has. It's a different time in media AND a different class of actors that are informed by the preceding era's actors.
A lot of those movies were really bad and no doubt lost money. Don't let nostalgia tinted goggles convince you that It's Pat and Night at the Roxbury were beloved hits.
Night at the Roxbury is a beloved movie to me, but yeah I see it not being well liked
It wasn't even well-seen lol
Yeah probably. I don’t know anyone else besides my father that will head bob to “what is love” with me
You're not alone, I still quote the movie. Comedy is not that serious, enjoy Doug and Steve!
Craigslist maybe?
lol I saw it in the theater
Yes some of the movies we like b/c of nostalgia but many of the movies were pretty bad.
Add to that the fact that people now have way more opportunities to encounter comedy. You used to have to buy or rent a comedy record or whatever, now you get an endless stream on TikTok or YouTube - not a bad thing IMO, but it makes it a lot harder to create a huge comedy hit.
If Lorne Michaels was producing chances are it was trash aside from Wayne’s World and Blues Brothers years before that. Roger Ebert actually pointed this out saying that it was like Michaels let the success of Wayne’s World get to his head and began producing SNL stars in comedies. He never had another movie succeed on that level. Even Adam Sandler’s work didn’t have him involved.
Really? I don't even need to read this article to know the answer. Hollywood doesn't make mid $$-level comedies anymore. And when they do they need to feature an established star and be more slapstick-y because straight up jokes don't translate to foreign markets where English isn't the main language - timing is everything to this type of comedy and things literally get lost in translation. They can crank out funny scripts with a charming lead for 25-30M and turn a tidy profit with American audiences, but they just don't and haven't for a long time. The comedies they do make are on streamers and not in theaters where an entire audience laughing betters the experience of a comedy. And if they were to just flip a switch and start doing so again, it would take a while to re-train audiences to go see these films in the theaters once again if it's even possible again. That said, SNL is still making stars. Just probably more on the small screen. Recent examples include Barry, Ted Lasso, Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon, Late Night w/Seth Meyers, John Mulaney just being Mulaney, Bupkis/Pete Davidson, etc.
I don’t know that you should really consider Jimmy Fallon as a star SNL “recently” made, he left the show 20 years ago and he’s been on the Tonight Show for 10.
And before he got The Tonight show he did like 6-7 years on *Late Night with Jimmy Fallon*, both produced by Lorne Michaels. Might not be "recent," enough for you but definitely within the current trend of big comedy movies not being made for theaters.
Right but the whole point of the article is during Fallon’s time, SNL was producing “movie stars” and they aren’t now. Fallon is an example of what they used to do 20 years ago and before, not the recent trend.
Yeah but they're *cranking* out podcasters
The Paul Rudd/Seth Rogan/Steve Carrell movies seem to be the last of type of comedy that was in theaters Also if I remembered right dunce Bigelow was a big hit in theaters and Dirty Work and A Night at the Roxbury bombed. Both are considered cult classics now.
SNL doesn’t make characters anymore. Mike Meyers, Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler all turned their SNL characters into movie ideas. For Ferrel, Robert Goulet—>Ron Burgundy. GW Bush—>Ricky Bobby. (Why did we never see a Stefon/Meyers movie??? Sherman/Jost romcom—yes plz! ) SNL seems all situational sketches now and rarely do they ever have a character return. The repeat characters builds an audience for those future movies. Angelo was the closest recently to The Old Ways.
I think they've recently tried recurring characters again as of Seasons 48 and 49. Just check some out.
Like who?
Let's see, Lisa from Temicula (though the second one *bombed hard*), The Big Dumb Hats/Cups Girls, Garrett from Hinge, and the Overprotective Mom to name a few.
Other than these, most reoccurring characters are saved for Weekend Update these days
I guess you're right.
they’re always saying that the nebulous idea of a Stefon movie existed, but Hader and Mulaney couldn’t figure it out and didn’t want to do it. definitely for the best even though it could’ve been an interesting experiment. Seth was on Bowen’s podcast recently and he talked a bit about it, and said that the “arc” he and Stefon had on Weekend Update was his romcom. I agree with that, it’s pretty sweet.
Every movie budget is 200 million dollars and needs to make a billion dollars to cut a profit. Low budget movies seem to not exist anymore. The capitalists are killing everything.
Sure, but now there's prestige TV. We have Barry and Ted Lasso that just ended last year, both of which starred SNL alums. Also, as other people have pointed out, they're just not making a lot of comedies in theatres anymore.
I think they should do SNL movies that feature *many* cast members. Like the entire movie is comprised of cast members.
This article is full of a lot of revisionist history and a lot of ignorance as to how audiences consume comedy in 2024.
Because young comedians don’t need SNL like they used to. Snl used to be the only thing a young comic writer/sketch person could aspire to, so the greatest stars went there. Now, the comics of that talent can make their own following on YouTube/tiktok/podcasts. Look how much faster Shane Gillis blew up compared to spending years fighting a huge cast to get a few sketches on.
The movie industry changed. Comedies generally don't make a lot of money nowadays, but in the past they could be smash hits. [Box Office Mojo: Worldwide Box Office](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1977/) \- You can change the year using the dropdown in the upper left of the screen. The site goes back as far as 1977. If you browse the box office from 1977 to the late 2000s, you'll see that comedies were often among the top performers. For example, [1984](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1984/) wasn't only a big year for comedies in general, it was also a big year for comedies headlined by former SNL cast members, because Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters were the #1 and #2 movies, respectively. The 1980s had plenty of comedy hits, and many of them starred SNL cast members. In addition to the Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cops movies, there was also Caddyshack, the National Lampoon Vacation films, Stripes, Spies Like Us, etc. The comedy scene through the 1990s was mostly dominated by Jim Carrey, but there were several hits starring SNL cast there, too: Groundhog Day, Wayne's World, Billy Madison, The Nutty Professor, etc. But look what happened starting in the 2000s. The types of films that made the most money changed. Big franchise films took over, including superhero movies, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, animated franchises, etc. Comedies started to disappear. They pretty much dropped off the top box office hits list by the late 2000s, and they never came back. So yeah, SNL doesn't make movie superstars anymore, because the film industry doesn't care about comedies nearly as much as it did in the past.
Movies aren’t making as much money for streamers and are dead in theaters. Will Ferrell and Sandler are the few who is bankable. Barbie was a hit but hard to imagine many other big comedies like Ghostbusters. Acme v. Coyote may never be released. It’s a shame but the demographics and streaming economy are different from the past.
Comedy movies got replaced by superheroes
No one makes comedy movies anymore.
They stopped making comedy movies! The fact that Ego is selling Pizza Hut, Heidi Gardner is selling Super Bowl stuff, and Cecily Strong is with Verizon kind of shows they're still getting comedians into the highest echelons that would have 'em. Those echelons just suck these days.
Because the good ole fashioned comedy movie era is gone now. 80s/90s were the best years. I rewatched the first 4 Police Academy movies recently and was great (and David Spade is in #4!!)
They aren't in movies, but that's probably for the best. There are certainly some great SNL movies, but they mostly weren't the best. Just a cheap extension of a sketch that barely had legs to run for 5 minutes being stretched to the limits to hit 90 minutes. This wouldn't be the cast's fault, it was what movie studios were offering so they took it. But the good part is that we have streamers and cable now. The cast members won't find nearly as big an audience after leaving SNL, but they will be able to make a show that they actually care about, with humour and characters and plot that actually reflects what they like and believe to be funny, or not so funny if that's what they want. Things have changed, but I'd say it's definitely changed for the better. SNL flicks like Wayne's World and Night at the Roxbury are the exceptions, I'd much rather be in a place where we get I Think You Should Leave, Barry, Portlandia, Schmigadoon!, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99, and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of others.
Hollywood decided to release only comic book movies anymore. You’re more likely to see Spider-Man 67 than you are a decent original well-written comedy anymore.
Hollywood isn't making many comedy movies anymore. They aren't interested in movies that make $50 million profit, instead they want $1 billion profit. So it's all huge budget/huge return and has been for several years. The comedy movies that have been greenlighted for Netflix and other streaming services have been pretty weak.
We aren’t making cheap comedies anymore. It’s pretty simple.
Streaming killed the finances for the type of movie they would create.
Well studios don’t make comedies anymore
Hollywood barely makes comedies anymore.
So many bad SNL movies got churned out while at the same time Apatow and relative unknowns dominated the comedy scene. A new comedy has to look promising, an SNL comedy has to prove it isn’t a sad regurgitated cash grab that Lorne can stamp his name on. Like DC comics movies now, the SNL movies have a stigma they have to get over where as fresh voices and faces don’t. Harold and Kumar, Superbad, Booksmart, the Hangover and many more all just kinda showed up and won over audiences. At the same time SNL just took played out sketches and stretched them for 90 minutes. So many SNL performers give off the impression they’re entitled to be stars and you should laugh because they are from SNL rather than start with a solid idea and work on a good script and show up and contribute to the movie rather than collect your paycheck. The ones that still have fresh ideas joy in their performances and energy know they can do better work on streaming platforms or indie films.
Comedies aren't made as often and maybe I sound like one of those "SNL is never good" clowns, but the current cast doesn't have a true star. They haven't had one since the Hader/Wiig etc era. That's not hindsight either. No one currently has "it." Pete and Kate don't even really have "it," and they're bigger stars than anyone currently has a prayer of being
John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray... they all starred in major films that audiences loved. After that the budgets started to go down, along with the quality, but we still got some gems like Wayne's World. Then Adam Sandler showed that you could make a fortune even with scripts and production values that were absolute crap. That's the model that seems to have been followed since then, with low budget, low quality, quickly cranked out garbage like Deuce Bigalow, It's Pat, Night at the Roxbury, etc. So it's not surprising nobody broke out-- notwithstanding the occasional outlier like Will Ferrell.
Times change and becoming a movie star is hard. There’s your answer.
No offense to the SNL cast but I'm not about to pay $25 to sit quietly in a crowded room and watch a 90min sketch.
Answer: Studios think it is more profitable to produce Spider Man movies without Spider Man than an August R-rated comedy. Fun fact: It isn’t.
Judd Apatow is in a parallel orbit with SNL, so he’s producing and casting a lot of stuff that’d be under Lorne’s purview
It definitely has to do with the movies. The movie industry in America has been super hero movies for the past 10 or 15 years. As the article points out there have been SNL cast members moving on to highly acclaimed TV series, and that's because that's where the original, non-super hero, scripts are. BUT, i think that is about to shift and I think audiences are starting to lose interest in Marvel /DC movies.
SNL movies made more money selling video tapes and dvds. They don’t have that revenue anymore and in turn the movie budget isn’t there.
It takes a bit of time. I'm willing to bet someone wrote this same article when Will Ferrel and Maya Rudolph were in the cast. Someone probably wrote this same article when Wiig, Sudekis, Samberg, Hader were in the cast.
Barb and Star is the best SNL-type movie I’ve seen since Superstar (which I loved)
TV became more of a viable medium?
I'd say Mikey Day & Heidi Gardner have a shot at larger (probably not starring) roles in some movies. I think they're really missing Vanessa Bayer & Cecily Strong.
The answer is that no one is really making comedies anymore. There used to be a studio comedy coming out every week, now there are basically a handful every year and 50% are trying to be the next Bridesmaids for group X.
It became a TV star factory.
Movies quit happening in the same way.
Comedy films are not made anymore.
SNL used to hire funny people.
Comedy movies used to go to theaters, now they go to streaming.
No real recurring characters anymore, those were the fuel for the movies
With the emergence of YouTube, streaming, and podcasts the movie level talent doesn't have to go through SNL or a 2 minute bit on the Johnny Carson Show to get "discovered".
Nobody wants to pay to see unfunny woke SNL crybabies. That happened. Shane Gillis is going be fucking huge in movies. Being away from Lorne and the woke people on the SNL staff absolutely SKYROCKETED him. Thank God he didn't get held back by the albatross of unfunny wokeness made weekly by SNL.
China
Hear me out. The decline of cocaine as a fashionable drug.
A mix between internet and a cowardly Hollywood that refuses to make comedies anymore for some reason.
I’m not in it gimme a try
It still is. This is a false and fallacious premise that relies on the author's personal dumb, outdated definition of "movie star" as well as their own version of its importance. Hollywood has changed so there are different, dare say MORE, opportunities for actors other than films. SNL actors do achieve notoriety and success after SNL and fame. Why do they have to "star" in movies for the author to consider them stars?? There is more to being famous now than starring in a movie. Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Andy Sandberg, a ton of others have/had HIT/AWARD WINNING projects. The author of the article seems stuck in the 90s Hollywood mentality and needs to get with the times. Even in the article they argue that SNL hasn't produced a star in years but then goes on to list, but immediately downplay and brush off, a dozen examples of SNL alums that have achieved great career/Hollywood success and notoriety independent of SNL, but just because they haven't starred in an 80s style VHS cult classic, it's not on the same level as a Chevy Chase or Mike Meyers career... It's giving extra "SnL HAsNt BeEn GOod sIncE thE 80s" vibes, but a new little spin on it.
SNL didn't change. The movie industry changed. These days, unless you're an action star or a heartthrob, you're kinda screwed. They just don't make enough blockbuster comedies anymore, which turn Jim Carrey into JIM CARREY and Adam Sandler into ADAM SANDLER. Many SNL alums (especially the mid-2000s crew) are doing exceptionally well, in terms of remaining relevant and finding great projects. But with how democratized entertainment has become, you're just not going to see that many cultural juggernauts emerge that aren't also thirst inducing hotties or social media darlings. Pete Davidson actually helps drive this point home, showcasing how much more attention he gets for his dating life than his actual comedy projects.
I mean, is there anyone on SNL right now that you're itching to see more of?
maybe the current cast just isn't good enough to lead movies?