Brian doesn't think Andy Samberg is funny (and he doesn't like Will Ferrell's stuff)

An interesting perspective from Brian from Iowa. Check out the bold part:

Funnyman Ferrell may be tainting traditional narrative comedy

Non sequitur: a Latin phrase meaning "it does not follow." As in, "The average comedy churning out of Hollywood these days 'does not follow' any semblance of a coherent plot or narrative." And there's really only one man to blame for it: Will Ferrell.

Now, I'm not claiming he invented the non sequitur or even introduced it to the silver screen. Rather, like some overweight, obnoxiously hairy He-Man, only Ferrell has the power to craft an entire career out of improvising nonsensical one liners. He gets away with it because he's clever and his wit is faster than a Jamaican sprinter, but a shtick custom-tailored for Ferrell isn't nearly as effective when somebody else steps into his shoes.

That certainly doesn't stop people from trying, of course. Ferrell's movies may have a Midas touch at the box office, but in his wake, he leaves a slew of imitators clambering for the limelight. "Saturday Night Live" has devolved into a series of pop-culture references interspersed with the absurd ("Laser Cats," anyone?) and, what's worse, he's got them all believing they are funny enough to carry an entire movie on their shoulders alone. Sorry, Andy Samberg, you're barely tolerable in two-minute sketches; there's just no way I can stand you for two entire hours. You can't all be Tina Fey.

Let's not forget about that funny-killer Judd Apatow, either. After his work as a producer on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Apatow's been riding Will's coattails so hard he might as well be water skiing behind him. With his firm monopoly on the "average dudes who are just like you" demographic, Apatow managed to elevate the non sequitur formula to an art form.

Half of the dialogue exchanges in Apatow's movies are a series of improvised lines, each more outlandish than the last, all clumsily mashed together in post-production in the hope that the exchange forms something like a real conversation. Nobody hangs out with their friends just to tell what amounts to glorified "yo mama" jokes to each other, and they're funnier than Apatow and his dude army because of it.

It's not that non sequiturs can't be funny. They just have to be well-placed. This process of continual one-upmanship gets exponentially less funny and more tiring with every new movie Ferrell, Apatow, and the "Saturday Night Live" crew are involved in. Ultimately, it's up to the audience members to determine when they've had enough, and considering Step Brothers just grossed about as much as Anchorman in theaters, it's a trend that is unlikely to abate soon. It's nothing but bad news for those of us who are already exhausted with this new brand of comedy. If you need me, I'll be at home watching Monty Python reruns. And now for something completely different …

From:
http://media.www.dailyiowan.com/media/storage/paper599/news/2008/09/03/Artsmp3s/Funnyman.Ferrell.May.Be.Tainting.Traditional.Narrative.Comedy-3413290.shtml