E! Online has a nice little piece today on the two Saturday Night Live women who were dropped from the show for the upcoming season. One of them was Michaela Watkins who was basically promoted because Lorne Michaels is developing a show for her. The other person let go is Casey Wilson. Casey didn't get on the show much last season, but when she did she was very funny. I have seen Casey before in LA many times and she has been, and will always be funny.
E! suggests in their piece that Casey was dropped because she didn't lose 30 pounds which the producers said she needed to lose to remain on the show. E! then talks about how men have always been allowed to be fat on the show and that SNL has a double standard. I agree.
Casey isn't a size zero, but size zero doesn't make you funny. It has nothing to do with it at all. Saturday Night Live is about making people laugh (some seasons) and that is all. It is not a beauty competition. Casey is probably about a size 6-8. How skinny does she need to be? I hope she realized that and told the producers to f**k off when they told her to lose the weight. There will be lots of other opportunities for her and Lorne Michaels needs to stop hiring people he has dreams of f**king and instead hire people based solely on whether or not they can make someone laugh. With the exception of a very few number of people, women on SNL have always been treated like second class citizens. This just reinforces that reality.
Here is Casey Wilson from a Funny Or Die video. It is supposed to be funny and it is, but at the same time you definitely feel her pain. The video is her reading comments off her IMDB page.
SNL hasn't been funny in years. They need to focus on actually getting some humorous writers.
ReplyDeleteand then we sit here on these blogs looking down on show business types when they fall into the cocaine trap.....
ReplyDeleteSo watching Chris Farley abuse his body over and over (both overeating and the drugs of course) was funny, but she can't be on SNL and be a size 8?
ReplyDeleteI used to have some respect for Lorne Michaels. Now? Not so much.
I think she is bigger than an 8, but so what. She is funny and real.
ReplyDeleteEnt, thank you for calling them out on the size discrimination, which is absolutely wrong and disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an article where Tina Fey said she had to lose 50 pounds before they put her on the air.
I haven't watched SNL in years, but I will support Casey in her future endeavors.
no need to be pretty for being funny and in more she's really pretty !
ReplyDeleteI have watched SNL in all of it's various incarnations since it's inception in 1976, including the last few seasons. I had really high expectations for Casey Wilson because there has always been a bias...but I think Lorne made the right decision. Her skits, not funny. Her acting, passable at best. Her improv skills, awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Not everyone that is funny can do SNL. She did have some good moments, but I give it 30%, and I still can't name one character she's created that they can take from show to show (a la Rosanne Rosannadana, spastic hyper schoolgirl, Mary Katherine Gallagher) or think of one impression that she nailed.
ReplyDeleteIMO, they should have kept Michaela and fired Keenan.
I really like her, I think she is talented and funny, and as far as her size goes, I think she is perfect. I hope she doesn't stop eating carbs or some shit like that.
ReplyDeleteSNL hasn't been funny in years. They hire people who have no comedic talent. Basing a show on bad language and sex jokes-not entertaining for anyone over 15.
ReplyDeleteMad TV is much better. Some talented people there!
She wasn't let go because she's too heavy. She was let go because she didn't fit well with the skillset needed to perform on SNL, which is not necessarily the same skillset one needs to succeed at stage improv.
ReplyDeleteI've watched that show for decades, and have seen everyone come and go. Casey appears by all measures to have a very good personality, and I think she had a good reputation on the improv circuit. But her hiring -- which came when they needed to hire female players to cover for Amy Poehler's permanent maternity leave after the election -- was somewhat of a surprise to most, because she wasn't THAT established in the improv community.
Featured players, such as Casey and Michaela need to really establish at least one significant skill that fits with how SNL is actually written and performed -- improv skill alone isn't enough. Typically, that would either be an ability to do one or more impressions (i.e. how Bill Hader made his mark), develop IMMEDIATELY unique, repeatable characters (i.e. Fred Armisen), or just be completely and totally unafraid to commit to whatever the joke is (Ferrell, Will Forte). I never really saw Casey do any of those things. The closest she came was the "Cougars" sketches she participated in -- but ultimately, that was just funny voices. The women who succeed on that show -- Jan Hooks, Gilda Radner, et al. -- just did more.
SNL has always been, and always will be, focused around immediate, borderline-slapsticky comedy: sight gags, catchphrases, and obtuse situations. I just think there's a much smaller pool of female comedians who are good at that kind of performance. I don't think this is a gender bias thing -- I think it's more that women comedians typically approach comedy from a different direction than this, whereas this approach is often the PRIMARY approach of the typical male. Hence, you don't see a lot of women "succeeding" on SNL.
Michaela Watkins is REALLY talented -- but her comedy is way too subtle for SNL. I think Lorne recognized that. Casey, on the other hand, just didn't leave a mark. That doesn't mean she's a bad comedienne -- it means she's not right for SNL. And I think Lorne saw THAT, too.
For some reason, Casey reminds me a lot of Bonnie Hunt. And I think she'd be best served following a similar career path -- transitioning into sitcom/movie character work. Given time to develop a character on screen, I think she'd do fine. But she just isn't adept at functioning in the immediacy of an SNL-type show. (I don't think Bonnie would thrive in that situation, either.)
I think the weight thing is just an upset person lashing out at a perceived injustice. But I, who actually think she's quite cute, have seen every second of every performance she delivered on that show -- and I probably would have let her go, too. The quality just wasn't there. But I do hope she lands on her feet.
I think she is gorgeous. I enjoyed her on SNL and think perhaps she didn't have the same opportunities to show herself. I'm disappointed both she and Michaela are gone.
ReplyDeleteOr, what Majik said....
ReplyDeleteI really don't think it is true. She just wasn't funny on the show. She was just a role player. She may be funny in other venues, but not on SNL.
ReplyDelete...I like how you said it much better DaveR!!!
ReplyDeleteNo way is that girl a size 6 or 8. Puh-leeze. Her size has nothing to do with her talent but c'mon let's be real.
ReplyDeleteAnd another real thing is, she wasn't funny. As others have said perhaps in another veue or medium she works well but on SNL she wasn't funny or memorable. I wish her well though.
Gotta agree that there is no way that she is a 6 or 8. Looks to be more of a 12 but WGAS. That has nothing to do with bringing the funny. I saw practically every show this past season and while I recognize her, I don't remember her. She neither blew my skirt up nor made me puke, she was just there.
ReplyDeleteI watched SNL with her this season and whenever she was in a skit, she didn't get alot of laughs. It was really uncomfortable to watch. I thought she was funny, but I guess others don't feel the same. Maybe she needed time to warm up and find her groove in the show or maybe SNL's type of comedy just isn't her niche. I hope she finds success in another area of comedy, it's a shame she didn't get more time on SNL to leave an impression.
ReplyDeleteAnd I never thought she was fat, where the heck did the weight issue come in?
I also heard somewhere that michaela watkins is going to get her own show. True?
I agree with everything A Pimp Named DavidR said. They brought her in when they lost Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler. Those women were funny and not afraid to commit to the joke. The only time Casey Wilson was funny was as a cougar when she'd say, "Facebook break," but like what was said, it was the voice that was funny.
ReplyDeleteThey were both not good on the show. Maybe they're funny elsewhere but not on SNL.
As for the fat thing, isn't that something they automatically jump to whenever anyone bigger than a size 2 gets fired. Just like if someone were gay and got fired, that rumour would come up. It was expected. She should enjoy people hearing her name because I can't see a reason to ever hear from her again.
As to the question above about Watkins getting her own show, she said Lorne told her she should have her own show.
If the size of one cast member on the show is a make it or break it moment for SNL, they have much bigger issues to deal with and firing her wasn't the best step.
ReplyDeleteAs far as her size, I only started watching the program when I saw her on it. I was flipping through and saw that gorgeous smile and kept watching. I think she is stunning and personally is my ideal type (beautful face, dark hair, stunning smile and sexy curves). The problem with thin is a) its visually uninteresting and b) its a cylinder look with no curves and no real sex appeal.
I'm really disappointed by this news. I've been watching SNL from the beginning, minus much of the Julia Louis Dreyfus/Anthony Michael Hall (now there's an unfunny human being) "era".
ReplyDeleteWas Casey a great performer? No, but I really enjoyed the time she was on. I think she was underutilized. I don't find she was worse than a lot of other players on there.
I'm sorry Kristen Wiig will be the only woman on there. She's really getting on my nerves. I'm not a fan of most of her characterizations and when there's one I like, she overdoes it.
Michaela is funny, too, but I had to go on imdb to remember her. Casey stuck with me more.
She just wasn't good on SNL. Every skit she was in came to a screeching halt when it came her turn to speak. It got to the point where my hubby and I would just fast forward through a skit if she was one of the main characters.
ReplyDeleteKristen Wiig is really good. We liked Michaela. We would like to see more Abby Elliott-she was pretty good too. I really don't think this was a weight issue. Aside from Casey this has been the strongest groups (not individual) of women in a long time on SNL.
Oh, and I agree with the "get rid of Kenan" comments.
I'm gonna join the dogpile on Casey, but just say: Pimp Named Daver said it best, and I have nothing else to add.
ReplyDeleteI did like Michaela though, and thought she did a great job.
I love you TFLive! lol
ReplyDeleteI'm calling out the people who are squealing that oh no, of course it couldn't have anything to do with weight, (pull out bullshit excuse, sorry but every excuse here is 100% bullshit, from back pocket). SNL has a long-standing and well-known reputation for hiring women based on their looks and pressuring them (to the point of suggesting they take drugs) to be as skeletal as possible. This is partly because LM thinks skeletal is sexy, but it's also because SNL is written for men and only for men, and most men desperately, desperately don't want women to be funny, because funny women aren't sexy. Sexy women just stand there and look stupid; they certainly don't try to be funny, which means they'd be smart and threatening.
ReplyDeleteGilda Radner developed an eating disorder while working for SNL. Laraine Newman became addicted to cocaine while working for SNL, and she started taking it to lose weight. Almost every comedienne who has been on SNL has been put under enormous pressure to be not fit but ultra-skeletal, even if getting that way kills them.
I'm mostly shocked that people still watch SNL. The show has been completely dull and unfunny for years now. The few times I've actually tuned in recently, it was nothing but lame sixth-grade dick and fart jokes. There is no one left on the cast who is truly funny, imo.
ReplyDeleteShe looks great to me, I would have told them to shove it, and I hope she did too.
ReplyDeleteShe should start filming webisodes and just wait for the offers to come in.
She's funny and beautiful, and if they can't recognize that then screw them.
SNL blows. I don't even know who anyone is on that show. Every year I try to watch an episode to see if it became funny again and I found out, that it didn't. LM did this Casey chick a favor. The only benefit to being on the piece of shit show would be that it pays the NYC rent and lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather watch Jon and Kate while Taylor Momsen cuts me and the Jolie-Pitt kids force feed me junk food.
Congrats, Casey.
"I'd rather watch Jon and Kate while Taylor Momsen cuts me and the Jolie-Pitt kids force feed me junk food."
ReplyDeleteLMAO!!!!
Team Charlene all the way! And team Casey too while I'm at it. Anyone knows that if one is constantly being called out for not being under a certain weight or size, it leads one to develop a massive insecurity complex, and if one develops a massive insecurity complex one simply cannot be funny. And shame on anyone who thinks that Casey looks "fat" or "overweight", or who are so blinded by their own fuckwittedness that they can't see that this poor girl didn't stand a chance on the ageing wanker's "comedy" cavalcade.
ReplyDelete