Anonymous
03/10/2026 21:10
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
My person. I agree 1,000%.
Jimmy Fallon was absolutely the WORST. He would “break” on the dumbest skits, giggling like a little girl when nothing remotely funny was going on, and then he’d sneak glances with the “cool kid” cast members (especially mean girls Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) as if they knew something you didn’t. It basically gaslit people into thinking the skits must be funny since these brilliant comedian are cracking up.
He employs the same strategy on his night show. Always cracking up to distract from the fact that he’s not that funny.
Who do you think was the worst when it came to breaking characters?
Jimmy Fallon or Pete Davidson?
I think the fact that Pete broke in 95% of his sketches made him even funnier as a comedian.
Fallon is a talentless hack and was the worst.
Davidson wasn't that much better but Fallon was couldn't get through a sketch to save his life.
I agree, it can be funny when they crack but when it's all the time like with Fallon, it's just not funny at all.
I notice a lot of the cast breaks character when they are in a skit with a live animal.
Cicely was always so funny in these.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 22:58
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
It found it annoying and not funny..I know everyone is saying it's charming bc it's Ryan Gosling but even the Passing Notes was basically unwatchable for me
Anonymous
03/09/2026 22:30
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Maybe middle-aged moms aren’t the audience for SNL. Ever think of that? My teens love it. I loved it when I was a teen in the early/mid-1990s (my parents didn’t get it - they thought it was so much funnier in the 1970s with Gilda Radner and John Belushi!).
It was!
Anonymous
03/09/2026 22:29
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
My person. I agree 1,000%.
Jimmy Fallon was absolutely the WORST. He would “break” on the dumbest skits, giggling like a little girl when nothing remotely funny was going on, and then he’d sneak glances with the “cool kid” cast members (especially mean girls Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) as if they knew something you didn’t. It basically gaslit people into thinking the skits must be funny since these brilliant comedian are cracking up.
He employs the same strategy on his night show. Always cracking up to distract from the fact that he’s not that funny.
Who do you think was the worst when it came to breaking characters?
Jimmy Fallon or Pete Davidson?
I think the fact that Pete broke in 95% of his sketches made him even funnier as a comedian.
Fallon is a talentless hack and was the worst.
Davidson wasn't that much better but Fallon was couldn't get through a sketch to save his life.
I agree, it can be funny when they crack but when it's all the time like with Fallon, it's just not funny at all.
Kenan Thompson seems to do the thing that Jerry Seinfeld used to do: always performs with a half smirk like he’s entertaining himself.
He notably was just about the only actor who stayed in character in a sketch the LAST time Ryan Gosling hosted the show.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 21:48
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
I used to do improv and sketch comedy. Most improve and sketch comedians are okay with breaking when it's organic (like the person really cannot control themselves and is fighting it) and when they usually keep it together and play the scene.
What Jimmy Fallon did when he was on SNL is universally despised in improve/sketch comedy and people will cite Fallon specifically when they tell people not to do this. Fallon broke on purpose because he was hoping it would get him a laugh. It was his bit, like "ah look at me, I can't help it! I'm laughing!" When that is the *main* way you get a lap, it's incredibly cheap. On a show like SNL where people are writing sketches constantly, there are dozens of sketches pitched every week that don't make it to air (they will be cutting sketches all the way up to dress rehearsal so you might work on a sketch all week, have costumes, and do it at dress, and then it gets cut), breaking for a cheap laugh is just lazy.
The breaking in the Ryan Gosling episode was probably absolutely hilarious in the room but I think it was only so-so on screen, at least for me. In several scenes, you'd hear the audience cracking up at someone breaking but it would be off camera, so as a TV audience member you weren't in on the joke. That's alienating. This was worst in the Cyclops sketch, though Ashley Padilla did a really good job bringing it back and keeping it funny. It still wasn't anywhere near as funny on TV as it probably was in person.
But you could tell that the cast was just having a good time, Gosling was really making them laugh with his takes on the sketches, and they couldn't help it. It was just a loose show.
I think the best is when you have one powerhouse comedian who NEVER breaks doing something totally insane and everyone around them is fighting really hard to keep it together but they are just 100% committed to the bit. That's a really fun dynamic to watch. All the greatest SNL cast members have had the ability to do this in the past -- Will Farrell, Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Belushi, Phil Hartman, Molly Shannon.
No one on the current cast does this for me right now. I actually think Connor Storrie was better at committing to the bit than much of the current cast last week. He's a real pro, it's actually a shame his career went the way it did because he would have made a good cast member.
What Jimmy Fallon did when he was on SNL is universally despised in improve/sketch comedy and people will cite Fallon specifically when they tell people not to do this. Fallon broke on purpose because he was hoping it would get him a laugh. It was his bit, like "ah look at me, I can't help it! I'm laughing!" When that is the *main* way you get a lap, it's incredibly cheap. On a show like SNL where people are writing sketches constantly, there are dozens of sketches pitched every week that don't make it to air (they will be cutting sketches all the way up to dress rehearsal so you might work on a sketch all week, have costumes, and do it at dress, and then it gets cut), breaking for a cheap laugh is just lazy.
The breaking in the Ryan Gosling episode was probably absolutely hilarious in the room but I think it was only so-so on screen, at least for me. In several scenes, you'd hear the audience cracking up at someone breaking but it would be off camera, so as a TV audience member you weren't in on the joke. That's alienating. This was worst in the Cyclops sketch, though Ashley Padilla did a really good job bringing it back and keeping it funny. It still wasn't anywhere near as funny on TV as it probably was in person.
But you could tell that the cast was just having a good time, Gosling was really making them laugh with his takes on the sketches, and they couldn't help it. It was just a loose show.
I think the best is when you have one powerhouse comedian who NEVER breaks doing something totally insane and everyone around them is fighting really hard to keep it together but they are just 100% committed to the bit. That's a really fun dynamic to watch. All the greatest SNL cast members have had the ability to do this in the past -- Will Farrell, Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Belushi, Phil Hartman, Molly Shannon.
No one on the current cast does this for me right now. I actually think Connor Storrie was better at committing to the bit than much of the current cast last week. He's a real pro, it's actually a shame his career went the way it did because he would have made a good cast member.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 21:44
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Maybe middle-aged moms aren’t the audience for SNL. Ever think of that? My teens love it. I loved it when I was a teen in the early/mid-1990s (my parents didn’t get it - they thought it was so much funnier in the 1970s with Gilda Radner and John Belushi!).
Anonymous
03/09/2026 21:25
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
My person. I agree 1,000%.
Jimmy Fallon was absolutely the WORST. He would “break” on the dumbest skits, giggling like a little girl when nothing remotely funny was going on, and then he’d sneak glances with the “cool kid” cast members (especially mean girls Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) as if they knew something you didn’t. It basically gaslit people into thinking the skits must be funny since these brilliant comedian are cracking up.
He employs the same strategy on his night show. Always cracking up to distract from the fact that he’s not that funny.
Who do you think was the worst when it came to breaking characters?
Jimmy Fallon or Pete Davidson?
I think the fact that Pete broke in 95% of his sketches made him even funnier as a comedian.
Fallon is a talentless hack and was the worst.
Davidson wasn't that much better but Fallon was couldn't get through a sketch to save his life.
I agree, it can be funny when they crack but when it's all the time like with Fallon, it's just not funny at all.
Kenan Thompson seems to do the thing that Jerry Seinfeld used to do: always performs with a half smirk like he’s entertaining himself.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 13:10
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I like it when it’s once in a while like the old Debbie downer sketch at Disney world.
I feel like last night’s with Ryan gosling was every single sketch.
Even Mikey Day, who used to keep it pretty together, has been breaking in every scene lately.
It’s just too often, and it becomes unfunny. The writing is already pretty mid, so when they break it doesn’t add to it, it just reminds me that they’re laughing at some inside joke that isn’t actually funny.
Agree. It's one thing when the content and fellow performances are truly funny and they break. When neither are that great, it's just annoying.
I haven't seen a brilliant sketch in some time, but maybe I am pining for the old days (late 90s/early 00s) like a crotchety old lady....
Every generation pines for the SNL of their youth. Mostly it’s you that has changed, the show was always kind of daft.
We got rid of cable but my husband likes to keep the tv on, so we tune in to the weird free channels that come with our tv. One of the channels in our regular rotation is just old SNL skits 24/7.
And I’ve been forced to admit that many of the classics I remember fondly from the 80s and 90s, and the ones I’m now discovering from the 70s greats, often really weren’t all that funny. There was a lot of relying on catchphrases repeated over and over. The 70s stuff was still rough around the edges and coasted quite a bit on a sense of “look at us, aren’t we naughty.”
I stopped watching regularly somewhere in the 90s, and I’ve been surprised at how funny much of the humor since the 2000s has been. Sure, they’re only showing the best recent bits. But I imagine that’s true for all of the decades.
That is the saddest channel of all time.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 12:07
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
The breaking is often funnier than the entire skit!
Yeah ... for you.
Um, SNL hasn't been funny in years but you do you boo!
It’s impossible to take seriously a 12-year old Valley Girl who starts her post with “Um.”
Boo.
Valley Girl? Oh ok Grandma
As if!
Anonymous
03/09/2026 09:54
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Passing Notes and Goo Goo Man sketches were hilarious. I thought Conor Storrie was pretty good last week but Gosling was incredible.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 09:42
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
My person. I agree 1,000%.
Jimmy Fallon was absolutely the WORST. He would “break” on the dumbest skits, giggling like a little girl when nothing remotely funny was going on, and then he’d sneak glances with the “cool kid” cast members (especially mean girls Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) as if they knew something you didn’t. It basically gaslit people into thinking the skits must be funny since these brilliant comedian are cracking up.
He employs the same strategy on his night show. Always cracking up to distract from the fact that he’s not that funny.
Who do you think was the worst when it came to breaking characters?
Jimmy Fallon or Pete Davidson?
I think the fact that Pete broke in 95% of his sketches made him even funnier as a comedian.
Fallon is a talentless hack and was the worst.
Davidson wasn't that much better but Fallon was couldn't get through a sketch to save his life.
I agree, it can be funny when they crack but when it's all the time like with Fallon, it's just not funny at all.
+1
Anonymous
03/09/2026 08:31
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
My person. I agree 1,000%.
Jimmy Fallon was absolutely the WORST. He would “break” on the dumbest skits, giggling like a little girl when nothing remotely funny was going on, and then he’d sneak glances with the “cool kid” cast members (especially mean girls Amy Poehler and Tina Fey) as if they knew something you didn’t. It basically gaslit people into thinking the skits must be funny since these brilliant comedian are cracking up.
He employs the same strategy on his night show. Always cracking up to distract from the fact that he’s not that funny.
Who do you think was the worst when it came to breaking characters?
Jimmy Fallon or Pete Davidson?
I think the fact that Pete broke in 95% of his sketches made him even funnier as a comedian.
Fallon is a talentless hack and was the worst.
Davidson wasn't that much better but Fallon was couldn't get through a sketch to save his life.
I agree, it can be funny when they crack but when it's all the time like with Fallon, it's just not funny at all.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 07:36
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
The breaking is often funnier than the entire skit!
Yeah ... for you.
Um, SNL hasn't been funny in years but you do you boo!
It’s impossible to take seriously a 12-year old Valley Girl who starts her post with “Um.”
Boo.
Valley Girl? Oh ok Grandma
DP. It does make you look dumb.
Lol, it's an anon board - who f-ing cares?? You need to lighten up!
Anonymous
03/09/2026 03:10
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WHY is breaking annoying?
What are we expecting?
It can be very, very annoying to other cast members and writers.
Imagine this: You are a relatively new SNL cast member. One of the writers finally wrote a skit you were perfect for. Some really funny amazing stuff happens at the end. But before that stuff happens, another cast member (oh, let's say Jimmy Fallon, because he was notorious for this), starts "breaking" ... and the audience roars in response to his un-contained laughter. They find it adorable. They find it funny. They love it. The amusing thing is now Jimmy Fallon "breaking," and the the hilarious end of the skit all but disappears in it. The writers' hard work? Doesn't shine. The new cast member? Fades into obscurity.
We actors call it upstaging. Chewing on the scenery. It's not appreciated.
The breaking is often funnier than the entire skit!
Yeah ... for you.
Um, SNL hasn't been funny in years but you do you boo!
It’s impossible to take seriously a 12-year old Valley Girl who starts her post with “Um.”
Boo.
Valley Girl? Oh ok Grandma
DP. It does make you look dumb.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 02:47
Subject: When they laugh on SNL
I swear, it seems that 8th graders write for this show. Skits are not funny.