Anonymous wrote:I thought Bowen was one-dimensional and unfunny for a long time. Thought the same thing about Leslie Jones. Figured they were both just diversity hires. I'm glad I like Troy Iwata from the Daily Show so much, so at least I know I'm not prejudiced against gay Asian men, and A Black Lady Sketch show too, for the same reason.

But I've been reading the Internet about Bowen tonight and I've learned that some people really do find him hilarious, and some people gave pretty good reasons for it. One reason they gave is that he gets modern fame better than anyone else: "the absolute need to make everything a performance for attention and the subtle grift behind it all" (from Reddit post on Bowen). So I re-watched the Iceberg from the Titanic bit, which many people said was his best, and seeing it through the eyes of fans, I can see that it really is quite good. The writing is stellar, and Bowen takes it to town, even if he is doing the same character he always does with the same catty attitude.

And I find myself on the other side quite often too, with people I love on SNL being very strongly disliked by a lot of people. For example, Sarah Sherman, who some people above have slagged, but who is one of my favorites. She doesn't always shine at character work, but her persona as herself is hilarious, especially when bouncing off Colin. She just fearlessly and shamelessly goes places nobody else does, and I love that. (People have pointed out that Mikey Day has one character too, but again, I think that character is amazing, and I think he's a genius. (He co-conceived and co-wrote Nate Bargatze's George Washington sketches.)) And a shoutout to Jane Wickline, also slagged above. She destroyed in the Couple That Doesn't Make Sense bit on Weekend Update. Such an authentic and original character, pulled off to near perfection. And I haven't seen anyone say anything bad about Ashley Padilla yet, but she's low-key and so you might not have noticed she has some of the best all-around sketch chops of anybody who's been hired recently. Her character work is both deep and wide.

So what I learned tonight is how subjective comedy really is. I genuinely could see nothing of exceptional SNL-worthy value in Bowen Yang on my own, but was able to come around to it with help from fans. I can tell that some people react to Bowen Yang's persona the same way I react to Sarah Sherman's or Kyle Mooney's. I just see so much depth and originality in them.

(btw, Leslie Jones grew on me, the way Bowen is, and she was quite good on some of the pre-tapes. Part of the problem is she didn't have the skills or self-possession to be on a live show. Chris Redd had the same problem, but he was genius in the pre-tape sketches where he played the variation on the incompetent gangster. Melissa Villasenor and Jay Pharaoah were both great impressionists, but did lack a bit in bringing depth to the characters, Pharaoh more than Villasenor. I felt Melissa had her two best characters just before she left the show, the Pico talk show host and Colin's limo driver trying standup comedy.)

Anonymous wrote:I thought Bowen was one-dimensional and unfunny for a long time. Thought the same thing about Leslie Jones. Figured they were both just diversity hires. I'm glad I like Troy Iwata from the Daily Show so much, so at least I know I'm not prejudiced against gay Asian men, and A Black Lady Sketch show too, for the same reason.

But I've been reading the Internet about Bowen tonight and I've learned that some people really do find him hilarious, and some people gave pretty good reasons for it. One reason they gave is that he gets modern fame better than anyone else: "the absolute need to make everything a performance for attention and the subtle grift behind it all" (from Reddit post on Bowen). So I re-watched the Iceberg from the Titanic bit, which many people said was his best, and seeing it through the eyes of fans, I can see that it really is quite good. The writing is stellar, and Bowen takes it to town, even if he is doing the same character he always does with the same catty attitude.

And I find myself on the other side quite often too, with people I love on SNL being very strongly disliked by a lot of people. For example, Sarah Sherman, who some people above have slagged, but who is one of my favorites. She doesn't always shine at character work, but her persona as herself is hilarious, especially when bouncing off Colin. She just fearlessly and shamelessly goes places nobody else does, and I love that. (People have pointed out that Mikey Day has one character too, but again, I think that character is amazing, and I think he's a genius. (He co-conceived and co-wrote Nate Bargatze's George Washington sketches.)) And a shoutout to Jane Wickline, also slagged above. She destroyed in the Couple That Doesn't Make Sense bit on Weekend Update. Such an authentic and original character, pulled off to near perfection. And I haven't seen anyone say anything bad about Ashley Padilla yet, but she's low-key and so you might not have noticed she has some of the best all-around sketch chops of anybody who's been hired recently. Her character work is both deep and wide.

So what I learned tonight is how subjective comedy really is. I genuinely could see nothing of exceptional SNL-worthy value in Bowen Yang on my own, but was able to come around to it with help from fans. I can tell that some people react to Bowen Yang's persona the same way I react to Sarah Sherman's or Kyle Mooney's. I just see so much depth and originality in them.

(btw, Leslie Jones grew on me, the way Bowen is, and she was quite good on some of the pre-tapes. Part of the problem is she didn't have the skills or self-possession to be on a live show. Chris Redd had the same problem, but he was genius in the pre-tape sketches where he played the variation on the incompetent gangster. Melissa Villasenor and Jay Pharaoah were both great impressionists, but did lack a bit in bringing depth to the characters, Pharaoh more than Villasenor. I felt Melissa had her two best characters just before she left the show, the Pico talk show host and Colin's limo driver trying standup comedy.)