Although Walken was clearly staying glued to the teleprompter he is still funny as hell. In cases where it worked for the sketch like the googly-eye plant thing, he is flawless. He is 65 now, perhaps his eyesight isn't what he used to be and he's afraid if he looks away he'll get lost when he looks back. He used to do it alot less.
trivia: my dad was in a play with his older brother, Chris' name back then was "Ronnie" and my dad sorta babysat him one day.
They probably can no longer do the Continental skits because Walken can't look into the camera. He has to look off stage at cue cards. THe skit wouldn't work without him looking into the camera.
Love Walken but he's getting worse about no eye contact with his scene mates. Rewrites happen up til the last minute, but that doesn't generally mean every line is brand new. It's no excuse for literally standing there and reading and not even looking at Jason Sudeikis during a scene where he's supposed to be essentially stalking him.
Thought the plant guy was funny, tho and the Walken family reunion was great. Says a lot for someone to have fun with that kind of self deprication.
Walken will always get a pass from me due in large part to Colonel Angus, and in film as an Army officer explaining the importance of the watch in Pulp Fiction.
I think it was out of respect for the original Continental writer. They brought him back whenever Walken hosted to write that sketch, but due to budget restraints, SNL has almost completely cut down on bringing back veterans and freelance contributors.
Yeah, Walken's reliance on the cue cards was grating, and especially during the "goodbye party/stalker" sketch, but I'm always willing to cut him a lot of slack because he makes up for it with his unusual delivery.
I thought the "Walken Family Reunion" sketch was a bit overdone and just used as an excuse for the cast to show off their "Walken Mimicry Skills" (no one does it better than Kevin Spacey and Jay Mohr, as past seasons have shown, IMHO). However, the "reunion" sketch made me come to the realization that Walken has quite a Noo Yawk accent underneath that oddball delivery.
I can't believe no one's mentioned his "questions from the audience" monologue, which set the tone for the whole evening. I was ROLLING...
Kristin Wiig's nervous fast talking during "Weekend Update" was nothing short of phenomenal. She has a real talent for "nervous" characters. Following that up with Fred Armisen's "comedian" who "comments on current newspaper articles with his own 'unique skew'" was a brilliant stroke.
The "Cougars" sketch affected me in ways I am not ready to deal with. I haven't been that turned on by Cameron Diaz since "The Mask" (which was pretty much the ONLY other time she did it for me).
I did catch an error -- she says, "It's par for the course. I don't know what that means. Just kidding, it's from golf. Just kidding, it's from tennis."
The sports should be transposed to make sense. I re-watched the bit four or five times before I noticed it. I agree that it was a remarkable feat to pull off live, and yes, I'm just being nit-picky.
I wondered if the Cougars sketch was written for Demi but she didn't want to do it. It makes more sense that way.
The first Death by Chocolate stabbing was disturbingly realistic.
The first half of the show really seemed to have an "older woman" theme, starting with the Cougar Den (which creeped me out while it made me laugh) and continuing with Activia.