Saturday Night Live

[tragabigzanda]

Seven years is a weirdly broad way to define "flash in the pan". I have no doubt her profile will diminish in that time, but that's just the nature of pop stardom. She's already had a pretty impressive career

He is really funny, but she is especially talented. They'll both be here in seven years, unless they are dead

SNL contracts are typically seven years. Davidson already had two years under his belt, so that gives
him five more, then two years out in the wild before he realizes his best days are past.

i don't think he's very funny, and i'm confidant that those who do are younger than me. He's not funny enough for his current millennial fan base to follow him into a post-SNL career for long. Argue all you want Argo, i'll bet you $100 that in seven years he won't be doing anything on-camera of significance.

Arianna Grande is completely plain and disposable. She doesn't write her own tracks. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of girls who sing just like her. Once her body starts to go, she'll try her hand at serious acting (probably sooner, if she's getting good advice, and recall that she started as a Nickelodeon actress). She's smart enough to get into development of other works.

I've no doubt they'll both continue to be successful in entertainment, but the clock is already ticking on their on-camera days.

[The Argonaut]

Who can know? I'm rooting for them both

[Strat]

I couldn’t name one Ariana grande song

[The Argonaut]

That's a you problem, not an ariana grande problem

[Strat]

That's a you problem, not an ariana grande problem

I never suggested otherwise.

Also you are oddly defensive of these two

[The Argonaut]

I don't feel that I've said anything over the top. He makes me laugh and I like her voice. I think they're both talented, that's all

[Jorge]

I don't know anything about Pete Davidson, I just think "flash in the pan" doesn't fit Ariana Grande's career. Maybe if she had a couple of hits and then flopped, but she's had a pretty impressive run. Yeah pop music is a young person's game and her current level of ubiquity is unsustainable; it will probably naturally fade out within the next half decade. That's just the arc of a pop star's career, with few exceptions. It's more or less what's happened to Katy Perry, and I would also not call her a "flash in the pan". As a sidenote, it doesn't matter to me that she doesn't write her own tracks; I think Dangerous Woman is full of bangers, and I like "No Tears Left to Cry" and "Get Well Soon" from the new one.

[tragabigzanda]

the difference is that Katy Perry had way more success crossing over into older and atypical audiences. My mom knows Katy Perry songs. Strat and my mom can't name one Arianna Grande song.

Her not being able to write her own music matters insofar as it demonstrates a lack of vision; her career is entirely reliant on other people to bring tracks to her. In a few years she'll stop getting the best tracks from producers and A&R. She'll get second tier, then third, then none. I doubt she'll go the Gaga route of embracing the work of songwriting and branching out beyond in vogue sounds to develop work that will hold up years later. Grande's music, already tailor made and marketed for a specific age set at a specific time, will sound like dated dogshit in ten years.

[Jorge]

Alexa, set a reminder for October 15 2037: "check the accuracy of grumpy-grampa Trag's predictions re:Ariana Grande"

[tragabigzanda]

i'm not even remotely grumpy about this, just very confident

[tragabigzanda]

I don't know anything about Pete Davidson

Really young dude who got an early start in standup. He was raised on Staten Island by a poor single mom, after his father was killed in 9/11. He was picked on a lot by his peers. He smoked a ton of weed, plays a lot of videogames, and enjoys hiphop music. He has Crohns Disease and mental illness.

I know all this not because I follow him closely, but because all of his comedy is based on himself. And unless he either forges a more interesting or unique path in his life, or starts writing comedy about things/people other than himself, there's just not enough interesting material there to sustain a longer career.

[The Argonaut]

All of his comedy isn't even about himself, and personal comedy is some of the best, most worthwhile stuff anyway, so I disagree with you there. Louis didn't become successful until he started telling personal stories. It almost sounds like your main problem with him is that he is young. It is OK to just think the guy is unfunny, you don't need to make up new rules of what makes a successful comedy career.

[tragabigzanda]

All of his comedy isn't even about himself, and personal comedy is some of the best, most worthwhile stuff anyway, so I disagree with you there.

This is a mess of a sentence. Are you saying that some of his jokes are about topics other than himself? But that his jokes about himself are the best material he has? He occasionally jokes about non-Pete Davidson topics, like when he went after Kanye last week. I agree personal comedy is some of the best work a comedian can do, when it's funny. But apart from the mental illness stuff, Pete's self-referential material is entirely mundane.

Louis didn't become successful until he started telling personal stories.

Right, but he did it in such a way that was alternately absurd, philosophical, existential, and silly. Pete's self-referential jokes are always told with the same smirk, the same delivery that says to me "aren't I funny?" He makes himself the punchline all the time. Louis made parenting, and marriage, and conflict the punchline, using his personal experiences to convey his points. Big difference.

It almost sounds like your main problem with him is that he is young. It is OK to just think the guy is unfunny, you don't need to make up new rules of what makes a successful comedy career.

wtf? I love SNL, it's almost entirely performed by "young" people. Abby Elliott and Jay Pharoah were both about the same age as Pete when they started, and they were totally funny (Elliott) and talented (Pharoah).

Worth mentioning that I do really enjoy Pete's "Chad" skits, but otherwise his sketch (non-Update) appearances are Jimmy Fallon levels of bad, with him barely keeping it together.

[verb_to_trust]

Argonaut sure has strong feelings about SNL cast members

[wease]

That was the best thing about Fallon.

[verb_to_trust]

Nothing is worse than someone who laughs at their own jokes.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

Nothing is worse than someone who laughs at their own jokes.

totes lol

[E.H. Ruddock]

lenny is the Pete Davidson of RM

[lennytheweedwhacker]

lenny is the Pete Davidson of RM

that hurts

[E.H. Ruddock]

lenny is the Pete Davidson of RM

that hurts

Nah, he's funny and was dating a 17 year old for a while