Ben Affleck Doing Olbermann and Countdown on SNL Now.

[Hissyspit]

Wow, really awful so far.

[FLAprogressive]

1. It's not funny. n/t

[Hissyspit]

3. It's terrible.

[FLAprogressive]

5. yeah. n/t

[DesertRat]

2. Not everyone lives in the Eastern time zone.

Just saying.

[Hissyspit]

4. It sucks big time.

I wouldn't waste time watching it.

[plaintiff]

6. Count your blessings.

Please.

[deminks]

7. You could skip it, I wish I had. nt

[arthritisR_US]

23. ditto! n/t

[2Design]

8. keith is going to get him back for that impresson LOL n/t

[Lex]

9. Even the audience is mostly cringing.

Yikes.

[MadrasT]

10. From HuffPo

October 31, 2008
Categories: MSNBC
Olbermann crashes "SNL" set

Ben Affleck, who’s hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week, was rehearsing a skit this afternoon mocking Keith Olbermann when Olbermann himself got past security to watch, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.

A source described the skit as “savage,” in portraying Olbermann as a deranged person living at home with his mother. Affleck, said a source, became uneasy with Olbermann in attendance at the 3 p.m., closed-set rehearsal.

But Olbermann, through a spokesman, was complimentary of his first time being mocked on "SNL" — a position his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews has been in over the years.

“I’m not Sarah Palin,” Olbermann said. “I know how valuable it is to me. And it’s funny."

John McCain is expected to be on tomorrow night, but there’s no word whether he’s involved at all in this skit.

An "SNL" representative declined to comment.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1008/Olbermann_crashes_SNL_set_.html

I actually think it's kinda funny. And I'm a HUGE Olbermann admirer... :shrug:

[2Design]

15. I thought it was funny - it did the extremes of keith but in a funny

way and of course Ben not being able to contain his laugh while doing it made it funnier - I liked it but I enjoy Keith and his over reacting at times - which is always a good lead into Rachel - having Ben and McCain on the same time is a whole lot of irony -

[olshak]

28. Ditto n/t

[nadine_mn]

11. Well KO mentioned it and he approved

so I am sure he will laugh it off

[Hissyspit]

12. It got a little funny toward the end. I liked the Mitt Romney joke.

[2Design]

18. I did not hear a joke about mitt but saw the picture - what was it? n/t

[Hissyspit]

21. During the Special Comment parody, Keith was listing a litany of horrific oppressive events:

- The U.S.'s treatment of japanese-Americans during WWII
- Pol Pot's slaughter in Cambodia
- Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union
- Mitt Romney's adminstration in Massachusetts

[Wickerman]

13. Well, its pretty much confirmed

Ben can't act.

Some of it was mildly funny, but without the makeup it wasn't clear who he was trying to be.

[2Design]

16. I like Ben Afleck - he has a boyish off handish way of doing what he

does and it pulls it off

[Wickerman]

26. Yep, I guess that's why there are 120+ channels

on my cable TV. Some folks have taste, and well, then there is me.

:hi:

[TexasObserver]

14. Ben Affleck has the range of a Daisy air rifle

[Fuzz]

17. Olbermann said he helped him with the impression.

It's fine to poke fun at yourself. Keith will find it funny, I will guarantee it.

C'mon folks. Have a sense of humor about yourself.

[rebel with a cause]

19. I found it extremely unfunny and grating on my nerves.

I finally muted it and went back to the DU threads for my entertainment.

Yes, Ben is not an actor.

[Sorceress]

20. Eww, it started off terribly. It did get better towards the end. I liked how they played the

different angles, especially when the went to the overhead cam shot. Most of the jokes were over the top and not funny.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

22. I thought it was terrific

He had all the head turns, affectations, puffed-up outrage, overwrought language down cold. He really nailed it, and I expect KO got a hell of a kick out of it. There are times when I thought KO's nostrils would explode during one of his Special Comments.

If you can't laugh at yourself (or at an imitation of yourself), you're lost. Given KO's touting of the skit on "Countdown" the other night, I think he can laugh at himself, and good for him.

[Hissyspit]

24. I have no problem laughing at myself or Keith Olbermann. It just wasn't very funny.

It got a little better toward the end. And Ben Affleck, who I find a perfectly nice person, is not a very good actor and never has been.

[Berry Cool]

25. Same here. Doesn't have anything to do with not being able to laugh at self or Keith.

Or with how much Keith can laugh at himself. (If he found this funny, I don't know what happened to his sense of humor. Well, he kinda had to pretend he found it funny, anyway, didn't he?--otherwise he'd look like a bad sport who couldn't take a joke on himself.)

I just didn't think it was that grounded in reality. It was like the guys from the Fox Half-Hour Comedy Hour did it. And like it was written by people who didn't know anything about Keith other than:

1. he has a huge ego
2. he's a liberal
3. he's easily outraged
4. he uses lots of camera angles on a Special Comment.

The Eric Blair part, the calls for resignation--those were funny. Oh, and the Mitt Romney reference. That was it for me.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. Acting?

SNL doesn't do "acting." Those spoofs are meant to be parodies, and, as such, aren't meant to convince any watcher that they're being transported. If you want acting, you'll need to patronized serious theater, or other vehicles for thespians.

Your standards are higher than mine, I guess. I thought he did a great job, but I found myself feeling sorry for McCain, who simply embarrassed himself. Whoever wrote that "QVC" skit must hate him, that's all I could think.

[Mike Daniels]

37. I thought it captured all of KO in his pompous arrogance

and I laughed my ass off through most of the skit.

[APL Productions]

27. It was just like the last few seasons of the show...

Horrendously awful. Then again, I started losing interest when Phil Hartman left.

Of course, SNL has Fred Armisen portraying Obama. It's almost as bad as when Chevy Chase portrayed Jerry Ford...

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/ford-on-the-phone/229148/

[Indi Guy]

29. I thought it was funny...

...KO liked it.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. His "Alec Baldwin" was better, the skit was not that bad, but it went on too long. n/t

[otohara]

34. I Thought It Was Hysterical

didn't start out funny - but in the end, it was pretty damn funny.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

30. I found the material subpar but the impression itself very funny

I thought Affleck captured a lot of his mannerisms. The Special Comment was very silly and I like silliness.

Armisen's Richard Wolffe was just awful.

[TexasObserver]

32. Ben Affleck is a terrible actor and he isn't funny.

He's a sidekick. Unless Kevin Smith and/or Matt Damon are carrying him, he's got nothing.

[hisownpetard]

35. I never even came close to cracking a smile. Awful impersonation, unfunny script.

Didn't come close to capturing any personal characteristics or behavior of KO.

Ugh.

[question everything]

36. He was very good

Would you have said the same had Olbermann not been deified on these pages but was, say, on Fox?

[DS1]

38. sure is a lot of whining here, which comes as no surprise

The Special Comment was priceles