Author: charisselpree
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S51 E00: PREGAME

Charisse, Luvell, and Chuck get together before the premiere of SNL Season 50 to talk about hopes, dreams, and fears for the new season.
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S50 E20: Scarlett Johansson

We talk about the power of news parody with Local News Stories and Press Junket, as well as the complexity of humorous gaze with Couples at the Bar and food Ethics in Victorian Ladies Who Lunch. We also discuss Mike Myers Elevator Ride and Joke Swap.
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S50 E19: Walton Goggins

We discuss the construction of slapstick with A Guy Who Just Walked into a Spiderweb on Trump’s Tariffs and the complexity of racial representation in The Movie Guy on Upcoming Summer Blockbusters, as well as the humor potential of revealing intimate spaces in Boss’s Bathroom, A Dan Bulla Short.
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S50 E18: Quinta Brunson

We discuss the inside humor of racial epithets on Weekend Update: Two Applebee’s Barflies Duke and Darlene, the complicated experience of laughing at oneself in Two Bitches vs. a Gorilla and Forever 31, and the racial politics of time in Will and Todd’s Radical Experience.
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S50 E17: Jon Hamm

We discuss satirizing socioeconomic inequality in Check to Check Business News, civil disobedience with Emil Wakim on American Patriotism, and the complexity of roasting and comedy writing via Guess! The Correct! Answer!, Gay Parents, and The White Potus.
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S50 E16: Jack Black

We discuss the implications of the call-and-response-gone-wrong in Ego Nwodim on the WHCD, ethical non-monogamy in Making Love, the potential of framing to disrupt collective memory in Times Square Kiss, and The First Play through multiple lens.
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S50 E15: Mikey Madison

We discuss punching down and missed opportunities as well as the art of waiting in Big Dumb Line, reboot culture in Please Don’t Destroy – Mikey Madison is Squidward, and the dynamics of inside jokes with Devon Walker Shares His Morning Routine.
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S50 E14: Lady Gaga

We discuss the power of satire in the Trump, Musk and Rubio Meeting Cold Open, satirizing masculinity and power in Weekend Update: Lord Gaga on His Unwavering Support for His Wife Lady Gaga, the manic pixie dream girl and commodity feminism in Mascara Commercial, and language and power in No More Slay.
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S50 E13: Shane Gillis

We discuss how to satirize stereotypes in the Stand Up Monologue and Mid-Day News 2, the difficulty in satirizing Trump in the Cold Open, the trolley problem in Jane Wickline Gives Dating Advice, and the absurdity of direct to consumer drug ads in CouplaBeers.
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SNL50: The Anniversary Special

We talk about the show’s role in establishing comedy across the 20th and 21st centuries from Word Association to Black Jeopardy, its complicated relationship with representing Blackness and Black humor exemplified in the In Memoriam montage, and how this epic oeuvre can be used to foster conversations in the classroom.
