When actors are cracking up in SNL skits

Just a little editorial about this...



Jimmy Fallon and Norm Macdonald were the masters at cracking up and making a skit even funnier. I think I've even seen hosts and cast members giving Norm Macdonald dirty looks to stick to the script in a few skits.



A nice ironic contrast to that was when Norm Macdonald appeared in Man on the Moon (Jim Carrey's Andy Kaufman film - a true story) where Norm Macdonald played Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer from Seinfeld) on the Friday show (that competed with SNL, but it was on Fridays). So Norm (playing Richards) tossed the cue card at Jim Carrey (playing Kaufman) and told him to read the card. It's ironic because Norm is known for breaking out of character (like Andy Kaufman was doing). The key difference between Norm and Kaufman was that Kaufman did it 100% intentionally and strategically, just to mess with people (although Norm was messing with people when he did it too).



Also, currently on SNL, the cast tries to crack each other up during the Scared Straight skits. You can usually see this at the end of the skits, when Jason Sudeikis moves his bum, jumps on the desk, and uses his comedic timing and facial expressions to try to get Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and Bobby Moynihan to laugh.



And whenever a guest is on Weekend Update, they usually try to crack up Seth while staying in character. This backfired for Kristen Wiig when she was playing Tamara Banks the orga$m lady. She looked at Seth and ended up cracking up (pretty rare for Kristen).



In contrast, January Jones couldn't keep a straight face when she hosted, and it ruined a few skits. Still a little funny though.



- TAE