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Gilly and Keeves (Skit Humor)

Started by MortSahlFan, July 23, 2022, 02:47:38 AM

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MortSahlFan

 I just found this, and it's actually very funny!

Trump Speed Dating




Uncle Daycare



ISIS Toyota

The Mollusk

Really weak material, especially considering it's little over a year old. A sketch about an ISIS name misunderstanding, that's seriously the whole idea? In 2021?

The Trump sketch was a particularly base example of how these comedians somehow still think cramming misogyny and/or racism into a bit is excusable if it's occasionally punctuated with a "whoa dude that's not okay!" or "is it because he's black?!" Intelligent humour is fast moving away from relying on hideous stereotypes to get laughs so long as they also cast non white/males and slip in the occasional apologetic "haha you can't say this stuff any more!" In this day and age if you're making jokes like this then to some degree you're effectively still pandering to the mindset of people who really think that way. There's no room for this level of duhhh irony in comedy any more.

Also in addition to the above the sketches were not funny at all.

Noodle Lizard

Nick Mullen has a writing credit on this one, which makes sense:


But yeah, not very strong stuff in general. A lot of people I know rate it/Shane Gillis highly, though, so I gave it a fair shot.

The Mollusk

I didn't get much out of that one either. Knowing Mullen was involved got me to thinking it would have maybe worked better as a Cum Town riff? But even still it's not particularly imaginative. The joke is basically "you thought OnlyFans was just for younger more attractive people and we're subverting that" with a thin family values twist at the end. Pretty dull

stephenjwz

I watched these a while back. they're a weak but I expected worse somehow? I guess because when I've heard people advocate for gillis' comedy on podcasts etc they seem to be doing so as a point of principle over the SNL thing rather than because the comedy is so good. I remain of the opinion that most of SNL is middling to shit and being considered for it isn't a badge of honour any more than being dropped from it should be. I wouldn't seek sketches like these out if they did more, but I can see how they'd have an audience. I kind of liked the 'tires' pilot he did slightly more, and his youtube special slightly less.

MortSahlFan

Quote from: stephenjwz on July 23, 2022, 09:22:52 AMI watched these a while back. they're a weak but I expected worse somehow? I guess because when I've heard people advocate for gillis' comedy on podcasts etc they seem to be doing so as a point of principle over the SNL thing rather than because the comedy is so good. I remain of the opinion that most of SNL is middling to shit and being considered for it isn't a badge of honour any more than being dropped from it should be. I wouldn't seek sketches like these out if they did more, but I can see how they'd have an audience. I kind of liked the 'tires' pilot he did slightly more, and his youtube special slightly less.

Seems like it's more profitable and liberating to be fired, then getting enough cache from the "controversy" to start your own thing.

Old Nehamkin

#6
I liked the Uncle Daycare one the most out of those three. Not a mind-blowingly original idea or anything but it felt the most refined and fleshed-out of the bunch and it got a few good laughs from me. The Trump speed dating tickled me a little just for how straightforwardly daft a premise it was. The ISIS car dealership thing was a bit nothingy.

It's all still comfortably funnier than anything that's aired on Saturday Night Live for the last decade or so and there are definite germs of potential there, but it feels like these guys are maybe being stunted by the time and effort it must take to produce these things independently.

I think Gillis definitely has talent and 15-20 years ago it would be easy to imagine him getting on MAD TV or something (or even on SNL without being immediately fired) and being able to properly develop as a writer-performer amidst the grind of having to actually fill up a show with sketches week on week. Even 10 years ago it doesn't seem too unrealistic to imagine him and his crew getting their own gig on Comedy Central, IFC or Adult Swim.

Not to imply that Gillis is uniquely deserving or entitled to a TV/streaming career, it just feels like a shame that the sketch comedy landscape is so barren these days that doing the scrappy self-produced youtube thing where you put out one sketch every three months is now the most viable avenue even for a comedian with a pretty sizeable fanbase.

ProvanFan


up_the_hampipe

I really like Gillis' stand-up, but yeah these sketches can be a little saggy.

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on July 23, 2022, 12:30:07 PMIt's all still comfortably funnier than anything that's aired on Saturday Night Live for the last decade or so

SNL has been hit-and-miss since it first started. There's still good and occasionally great sketches that pop up, but the structure of the show has always made it extremely inconsistent. The whole "SNL sucks now" thing has never made sense to me.

The Mollusk

Even from its early days my problem with a lot of SNL sketches is that they have no idea how to end them. There's seemingly no confidence in using surreal or absurd methods to wrapping them up and it ends up being like "this is literally the joke we're doing!" or "that was crazy wasn't it guys?" explaining themselves unnecesarily. And that's not even getting into when they completely run a great single idea into the ground with sketches that repeat the exact same format over and over. The amazing Matt Foley sketch was ruined by this but not before it was already dampened by the saggy ending where it just sort of dribbles off a bit. There's very few SNL bits I ever want to revisit because despite the joy I experienced for the first 2/3 of them, I can't escape the knowing that they'll never be perfect and I'll be feeling somewhat disappointed at the end.

ProvanFan

Youtube is desperate for me to watch more of this. I think it's going to cry.