Live, from New York!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have the tendency to obsess over things, which are usually television, theatre, film, or literature related. Lately, thanks to Netflix, Hulu, and VH1 reruns, I've watched more Saturday Night Live in the past month than I have my whole life.

As a writer who wants desperately to be funny, I've been trying to watch and study as much sketch comedy as possible. Sketch comedy is a wild and wonderful art in which the performer and the writer have only a few minutes to set up a scene and hit a punchline. That being said, I have only admiration of the highest degree for those who write and perform sketch comedy. I mean, comedy is hard. Seriously. The majority of people in this world are incredibly stingy with their laughter, and being able to make that laughter happen is no easy feat.

My current SNL obsession began innocently enough, receiving The Best of Amy Poehler in the mail from Netflix (which I still have yet to send back), and then discovering the wide range Netflix's instant play library, which includes lots of classic SNL, Best Ofs, etc.

I'll just work on ma stick work!

SNL's Best of Amy Poehler has got to be one of the best compilations of SNL sketches and Update bits that I have ever seen. It kicks off with Amy and Tina as Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, and goes through a list of Amy's other great characters. Highlights (for me):

• Bronx Beat with Betty Caruso and Jodi Dietz (“What are ya, ya Chippewa? Ya Sioux? Ya got Sioux in you?”)
• Kaitlin! (“Chazz, one time I was on my trampoline with my roller skates on, and I tried the back flip and I flew up in the air and I thought I was a goner. And time stood still, and I made eye contact with a bird, and the bird was looking at me like "you have not mentally prepared enough for this back flip, I will guide you safely back to earth" And then I landed but I was still so scared and I ran inside and was like "take me to Taco Bell, Rick! I need a tostada to calm my nerves! I need to make a run for the border! Yo quiero Taco Bell!!" Remember that?! Rick! Rick! Rick! Rick!”)
• The Dakota Fanning Show! (“In my defense, when I read that script I saw it as a metaphor for ethnic violence in central Africa! But, apparently, it was about a cat in a hat!”)
• Awesomeawesome Update montage! (“Hey, that seat is 50 Cent’s!” “I only have a dollar!” “Naw, naw, naw, that seat is 50 Cent’s!” “Do you have change?”)
• I'm No Angel perfume ad (In which Amy is incredibly pregnant. And Will Forte plays the old, weird Greg Allman.)
• One-Legged Amber - ("Yeah, I farted! JEALOUS?")
• Weekend Update rehearsal bloopers and two rehearsal sketches

In conclusion to the most unorganized blog post in the history of my blog, I love comedy, I love writing, I love funny people. Also, this is a terrible post. I just needed to get something down to get out of my blog rut. Hopefully this fixes it.

In related news, I miss New York City so much today it makes my heart ache a little. Too much SNL and 30 Rock (gasp! no such thing!) make for a sad/awesome mood that is difficult to describe.

ALSO! Tina Fey recently received the Mark Twain Prize for Comedy! Further proof that she is the single most awesome lady on the planet.

EDIT: ALSO ALSO Happy birthday Lorne Michaels, creator of SNL and executive producer of 30 Rock!

Emily's Emmy picks!

The nominations are in, and awards season is a glint on the horizon. In a little over a month, we'll find out who (according to Emmy voters) in television is among the best of the best. Usually the voters in question have a slightly different opinion than I do as to who exactly is the best of the best, so here are my picks:

It occurs to me that the only drama I consistently follow is Lost, but now I don't even have that, making my picks for any of the drama categories slightly biased. The Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category has me torn between two of the best actors on Lost, in my opinion. Michael Emerson always made me cringe (in a good way, a good cringe) as the awesomely creepy Benjamin Linus, and Terry O'Quinn showed us a different side of John Locke at the end of the series as Anti-Locke. Lead Actor is going to have to go to Matthew Fox (even though I really, really do not like Jack. Okay, I hated him less at the beginning and the end.). The only Lead Actress nominee I've seen in action is Law and Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay, who has only snagged one Emmy out of her six nominations, which was back in 2006, so maybe she's due another. I'm going to root for Mad Men's Christina Hendricks for Supporting Actress, based solely on her performance in Firefly.

I follow far more comedies, which makes it a little easier to be balanced. Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series will most likely go to Jane Lynch as her hilariously awful Sue Sylvester in Glee, which I could support, though it would also be great for Kristen Wiig to finally get her due for SNL, or Jane Krakowski for 30 Rock, but if I were a betting woman, it would be Jane Lynch all the way. My Supporting Actor pick has not changed for the past few years, and after four noms, I want to see a win. I will root for Neil Patrick Harris as How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson until he finally gets the award he deserves. For Lead Actress, I'm torn between my undying love of Tina Fey's Liz Lemon and my relative new love for Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope. So I'd rather not go there, thankyouverymuch.

I now move on to another paragraph for the bloodbath that is the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. I feel like I need to first apologize to both Steve Carell and Alec Baldwin for this, but I have to go with Jim Parsons as everyone's favorite neurotic physicist Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. He's kind of how I picture myself, if I were male, lacked social skills, was good at science, and had a degree or two.

Outstanding Drama Series is kind of a given, considering my prior comments--I'm not even going to insult your intelligence by naming my choice for the award. For Outstanding Comedy, however, I'm a little bit torn. I have to go with 30 Rock. I love The Office and Glee, but 30 Rock has been able to consistently make me laugh more than any of the others nominated.

Miscellaneous Awesome -

Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics

How I Met Your Mother - "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" - Girls Vs. Suits - Carter Bays and Craig Thomas

Outstanding Music Direction for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)

Lost - The End - Michael Giacchino, Composer

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Hamlet (Great Performances) -

Patrick Stewart as Ghost / Claudius

Outstanding Guest Actor In A

Comedy Series

Glee - Dream On -

Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan

Outstanding Guest Actress In A

Drama Series

Lost - The End -

Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

Outstanding Reality Program

Mythbusters

Outstanding Writing for a Drama

Series

Lost - The End

Damon Lindelof, Writer

Carlton Cuse, Writer

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy

Series

30 Rock - Anna Howard Shaw Day

Matt Hubbard, Writer

I'm sure you all have noticed that I seem to be slightly ignoring Glee's 19 Emmy nominations. I'm not ignoring them, by any stretch. I love Glee, I really do, but to me it's sort of like a cool new friend at school. You like hanging out with this person, and think he/she is interesting, but you still have a core group of close friends that you would drop everything for. Glee and I are still in the first stages of our relationship, and I would feel a little like I was betraying my other sitcoms if I chose Glee over them.

Something that frustrated me a little bit is the total snubbery toward one of NBC's best new shows, Community. I got in on Community a tad late in the game, (like, two weeks ago) and fell in love with it.