Saoirse Ronan Appearance on Saturday Night Live

Billy86 · 05-12-2017 3:41pm

lawred2 wrote: »

But you see the difference is is that "I see you've played knifey-spoony before" is actually funny.

On a purely comedic level and all perceived sensitivities apart - the Simpsons in Australia was funny. That SNL sketch was not funny.

All in my opinion of course.

Maybe someone found the SNL sketch funny. But not me.

That's true, but the Simpsons years back had a few funny quips like "don't trust him Itchy, he's Irish!" that I've seen people get quite offended by for reasons completely lost on me. I do agree the SNL sketch was just poor, mind you... not so much in taste as execution.

SHOVELLER · 05-12-2017 4:54pm

I'm embarrassed and offended by it as it is lazy stereotyping again. As someone who lives here it's worse as the natives thought it was funny when it clearly isnt.

Also hypocritical of the writers to see us as a nation overrun by dogs when dogs here are treated better than humans and some call them their "dog babies". Saw a dog the other day with a dress on. Serious mental health issues here.

The whole thing is about as funny as Irish car bombs being advertised for "Patty's Day".

dok_golf · 05-12-2017 4:57pm

AmberGold wrote: »

A dismal attempt at Comedy.

https://youtu.be/9xCr6IQtYqk

& the Aer Lingus sketch is cringe-worthy.

https://youtu.be/tJIz-XNLEn8

Thought is was brilliant. Can't see any yank not laughing at that.

homerun_homer · 05-12-2017 5:55pm

C14N wrote: »

Because people going out of there way to talk about how unfunny something is is generally a sign that they're offended by it in some way.

Or maybe this thread exists because a popular Irish actress landed a big gig in hosting SNL for the first (and last?) time and didn't pull them aside to tell them "eh... no that sketch is shysh" or course correct them to try make a better sketch.

2ndcoming · 05-12-2017 6:28pm

S. Goodspeed wrote: »

The reaction to this sketch is more embarrassing than the sketch itself. The Indo are having a field day with it. The sketch isnt funny but most of the SNL stuff isnt these days. At the end of the day though its "comedy" and its not supposed to make sense or be rooted in accuracy.

Like many people I thought Borat was hilarious and that ruthlessly ripped the p*ss out of Kazakhstan so it would be very hypocritical to get offended by some bad irish accents and a lot of dog references (no idea what they were getting at there).

I have to admit I chuckled at the potato joke ("We've got fingerling potatoes. We've got purple potatoes, and we got salmon. Oh actually my mistake, the salmon is also potatoes."). You can either take this is a joke about the famine (which a lot of people always seem very eager to) or as a joke about the fact that we do eat a sh*t load of potatoes here (as an aside on my Christmas table there will be roast potatoes, creamed potatoes, boiled potatoes and chips...)

What kind of monster has chips with their Christmas dinner?

Odhinn · 05-12-2017 6:48pm

2ndcoming wrote: »

What kind of monster has chips with their Christmas dinner?

I like chips with me turkey. Yes, I am that classy, thank you.

milehip · 05-12-2017 7:13pm

brooke 2 wrote: »

I wonder if she will be flying home on Aer Lingus!

Hopefully she'll stay over there ta feck!

brooke 2 · 05-12-2017 9:50pm

goose2005 wrote: »

ao(i) is pronounced "ee" in southern dialects

Exactly!

_Dara_ · 06-12-2017 12:49am

goose2005 wrote: »

ao(i) is pronounced "ee" in southern dialects

Apparently not by all. If many people of a population pronounce it the "wrong" way, then it's not really wrong, is it? Language evolves.

TheIrishGrover · 06-12-2017 12:13pm

I have heard it being pronounced like Sorcha as well as the "ee" (In Tipp we would pronounce it with "ee")

2ndcoming · 06-12-2017 1:18pm

For what it's worth I think the i makes all the difference.

I would always pronounce saor like hare, mare, bear but I'd say Saoirse as Seershe.

Never really thought about it before.

Ash.J.Williams · 06-12-2017 1:25pm

Avatar MIA wrote: »

She could only work with the material she was given. I thought she did fine. The scripts were sub par. If par is funny.

I thought the news segments were funny, not Daily show funny, but decent.

I would have thought the daily show stopped being funny 2 years ago nó?

marieholmfan · 07-12-2017 9:18am

Hate to see the begrudgery towards a talented and beautiful young Irish actress who keeps her clothes on. True the Aer Lingus sketch was (to me) confusing. But obviously it is one for the comediscenti.

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 9:22am

marieholmfan wrote: »

Hate to see the begrudgery towards a talented and beautiful young Irish actress who keeps her clothes on. True the Aer Lingus sketch was (to me) confusing. But obviously it is one for the comediscenti.

Oh stop with the "begrudgery".

It's becoming so hackneyed a response now it's ridiculous. Do you even know it's meaning??

To resent the success of another.

I couldn't care less about her success other than good on her, one of ours dud well.

But the sketch was pathetic

marieholmfan · 07-12-2017 9:23am

PeterParker957 wrote: »

Oh stop with the "begrudgery".

It's becoming so hackneyed a response now it's ridiculous. Do you even know it's meaning??

To resent the success of another.

I couldn't care less about her success other than good on her, one of ours dud well.

But the sketch was pathetic

No you didn't get it.
Neither did I.
But I could hear the audience laughing and when they said the dog had the soul of Oscar Wilde I realised that it was probably just going over my head like Waiting for Godot.

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 9:26am

marieholmfan wrote: »

PeterParker957 wrote: »

Oh stop with the "begrudgery".

It's becoming so hackneyed a response now it's ridiculous. Do you even know it's meaning??

To resent the success of another.

I couldn't care less about her success other than good on her, one of ours dud well.

But the sketch was pathetic

No you didn't get it.
Neither did I.
But I could hear the audience laughing and when they said the dog had the soul of Oscar Wilde I realised that it was probably just going over my head like Waiting for Godot.

I got it alright. I've also seen Godot on stage and got that too.

marieholmfan · 07-12-2017 9:29am

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I got it alright. I've also seen Godot on stage and got that too.

What did you think about Pozzo's blindness?

sydthebeat · 07-12-2017 9:30am

It wasn't funny.

And it certainly wasn't some metaphysical master piece.

But at the end of the day I'm not the target audience so my opinion doesn't matter a feck.

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 9:33am

marieholmfan wrote: »

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I got it alright. I've also seen Godot on stage and got that too.

What did you think about Pozzo's blindness?

Could never decide if it was put on or not.

valoren · 07-12-2017 10:20am

She is getting rave reviews for Lady Bird and so there is Oscar buzz.
She wouldn't exactly be a household name in the US so appearing on SNL is all part of the campaigning I'd imagine.
Get your face out the nominations are in a few weeks time.

TheIrishGrover · 07-12-2017 11:00am

marieholmfan wrote: »

Hate to see the begrudgery towards a talented and beautiful young Irish actress who keeps her clothes on. True the Aer Lingus sketch was (to me) confusing. But obviously it is one for the comediscenti.

Did ANYONE begrudge her success here? No
Did ANYONE begrudge her talent here? No
Did ANYONE begrudge her general comic timing/comic talent here? No

As a matter of fact, most people here went out of their way to point out that they were not slagging off Saoirse Ronan herself but the quality of the sketches.

Everyone says that Ireland is a nation of begrudgers. I'm sick and tired of it. This is no more true than ANY country. Everyone says "Oh, not in America. They are always very happy when people do well and nobody is begrudging them their success". Bullsh*t. Try living there away from the tourist spots for a while and see that people are people everywhere. Some applaud people's success, some begrudge it.

It's... the... same... EVERYWHERE!!

But no, people bandy about "Begrudging" like a prejudice slur:

Oh, you are only saying that because she's a woman
You are only saying that because he's black
You are only saying that because he's gay
You are only saying that because she's successful.

Bullsh*t

Also... For someone who wants people not to judge people and to applaud their abilities it seems strange that you highlight her physical attributes. Ronan is a talented and successful actor irregardless of her gender or physical attractiveness

flaneur · 07-12-2017 11:40am

Another bad SNL airline sketch. They basically have a set of an airliner and they seem to feel they have to use it.

They sketch was more offensive to comedy than to Irish people.

That piece was unbelievably badly written and just made no sense. They had one joke that Aer Lingus rhymes with something and that they clearly find Irish accents hilarious.. Otherwise it was a very poor sketch about dogs in an aircraft.

I was like extremely bad improv.

Also do supposedly intelligent American satirists not comprehend that the potato as a mocking term about Irish people is nothing but an ignorant reference to a rather horrific famine in the 19th century.

I don’t really see much difference between that and making jokes about any other nation or ethnic group’s historical tragedies. It wasn’t THAT offensive it was just very ignorant.

If it wasn’t for Trump providing them with own goals and tons of material, it’s a dated, unfunny sketch show.

Billy86 · 07-12-2017 11:50am

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I got it alright. I've also seen Godot on stage and got that too.

Isn't Waiting for Godot quite infamous in that nobody truly 'gets it', with Beckett essentially fobbing off every interpretation of it put to him?

splinter65 · 07-12-2017 12:38pm

The Independent Facebook page was open to comments on an article in which they had admonished Ms Ronan for her appearance on the show.
A girl who appears to be a very close relative posted to defend Saoirse in the “stop attacking my loved one I’m finding it very upsetting” style.
Someone calmly told her that if she can’t cope with simple criticism then she needs to avoid social media as opposed to trying to censor the public.
The Ronan family seem to be quite stung about this which is surprising as I thought her father was in the business and would know that you must take the rough with the smooth.

Ash.J.Williams · 07-12-2017 12:48pm

Billy86 wrote: »

Isn't Waiting for Godot quite infamous in that nobody truly 'gets it', with Beckett essentially fobbing off every interpretation of it put to him?

there's a major nod to godot in the disaster artist...currently on screens nationwide

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 1:48pm

Billy86 wrote: »

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I got it alright. I've also seen Godot on stage and got that too.

Isn't Waiting for Godot quite infamous in that nobody truly 'gets it', with Beckett essentially fobbing off every interpretation of it put to him?

Sort of. I just enjoyed it tbh!!!!

But then the person I saw it with was studying and got very intense!!!

Always thought it was about religion myself. Or possibly waiting in for an Argos delivery.

07-12-2017 1:51pm

Great advertising for Aer Lingus, though.

henryporter · 07-12-2017 2:06pm

Billy86 wrote: »

Isn't Waiting for Godot quite infamous in that nobody truly 'gets it', with Beckett essentially fobbing off every interpretation of it put to him?

It's more infamous for the fact that anyone who hasn't seen it or doesn't get it says it's infamous in that nobody truly gets it

. A bit like Ulysses...

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 2:51pm

henryporter wrote: »

It's more infamous for the fact that anyone who hasn't seen it or doesn't get it says it's infamous in that nobody truly gets it . A bit like Ulysses...

I've read Ulysses.

Well, over the years I've started it. A lot.

Got drunk in Leopold Bloom's bar on the Ulysses ferry a few times - does that count ???

marieholmfan · 07-12-2017 2:52pm

flaneur wrote: »

Another bad SNL airline sketch. They basically have a set of an airliner and they seem to feel they have to use it.

That explains quite alot.

Rory28 · 07-12-2017 3:15pm

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I've read Ulysses.

Well, over the years I've started it. A lot.

Got drunk in Leopold Bloom's bar on the Ulysses ferry a few times - does that count ???

I do believe that makes you an authority on the subject. There are no perks to this only paperwork.

PeterParker957 · 07-12-2017 3:16pm

Rory28 wrote: »

PeterParker957 wrote: »

I've read Ulysses.

Well, over the years I've started it. A lot.

Got drunk in Leopold Bloom's bar on the Ulysses ferry a few times - does that count ???

I do believe that makes you an authority on the subject. There are no perks to this only paperwork.

FML!!!

thesandeman · 07-12-2017 3:22pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Great advertising for Aer Lingus, though.

Don't know about that. Some Americans are so naive they'll believe that's how Aer Lingus operates and be afraid to fly with them.

JP Liz V1 · 07-12-2017 4:02pm

valoren wrote: »

She is getting rave reviews for Lady Bird and so there is Oscar buzz.
She wouldn't exactly be a household name in the US so appearing on SNL is all part of the campaigning I'd imagine.
Get your face out the nominations are in a few weeks time.

Yes I would even say she is best actress Oscar front runner, well done to her, great actress

Laois_Man · 07-12-2017 4:08pm

valoren wrote: »

She is getting rave reviews for Lady Bird and so there is Oscar buzz.
She wouldn't exactly be a household name in the US so appearing on SNL is all part of the campaigning I'd imagine.
Get your face out the nominations are in a few weeks time.

It's not an election. It doesn't matter if the public don't know her (which they do). They don't decide.

flaneur · 11-12-2017 12:20am

I think the only thing that it shows me is that SNL is long, long last its best before date.

The writing was absolutely abysmal and they just rolled out their airlines set. They have used that for weird sketches about Virgin Atlantic launching robotic stewardesses and plenty of others.

SNL hits the odd home run, particularly with political satire but they're as funny as a bad panto sometimes. A lot of their sketches are bad and rely on national stereotypes - see pretty much any sketch they do about any non-american. The whole joke is usually "they have a silly accent". It's pretty bad for 2017.

The sketch made no sense at all and it has nothing to do with anything about the guest or Aer Lingus. It was just "let's put on silly Irish accents and talk about potatoes".

It's no reflection on Saoirse. SNL just wasted an opportunity with someone who is a great guest.

Saoirse Ronan is a serious actress. She's not a standup comedian and I think to be honest, I think they treated her quite poorly.

Do they bring on French actresses and hand them a berret and a baguette and have a load of people doing silly French accents ?!

weldoninhio · 11-12-2017 10:31am

_Dara_ wrote: »

Probably depends which area of the country you're taking the pronunciation from, seeing as there can be big differences in pronunciation between the different provinces.

Like Saorview - I'd pronounce that SEER-view. And I've never heard anyone pronounce it 'SAYR-view actually. Saor was always pronounced SEER in my schools. I'm from the West of Ireland.

In any of the adverts for it, it is pronounced Sayr-view. You're pronouncing it wrong.

flaneur · 11-12-2017 11:38am

Anyone trying to pronounce something that is not written in the language they're speaking will have problems with "proximate phoneme substitution" - your brain has a stock of basic sounds called phonemes that make up your language (English typically has between 40 and up to 46 depending on which version you're talking about).

After a certain age, most of us stop hearing the ones that are not in our particular library and we will automatically swap the nearest one we know to one that we hear.

Standard American English typically has more simplification of sounds (and fewer phonemes) and they struggle a quite badly more with unusual phonemes.

Hiberno-English has fairly standard, but still quite unique phonetics and also throws in quite a bit of borrowed phonetics for Irish words. So, a name like Saoirse poses no problems here, but it will cause Americans to be really confused. They either don't hear the sound as different, or they hear it but cannot process and return the same sound (unless they've a very good ear / mimicking / language ability)

However, that being said, people can learn these things and get on with it. I mean, we all somehow survive being unable to correctly pronounce Peugeot, Citroën, Croissant, Mercedes, etc etc. as per their correct original pronunciations.

Peugeot for example is often pronounced with a strange intrusive R in England because they 'hear' an "R" between the "Peu" and "geo" sounds in French which is not there.

So you get : Peu-jo in Ireland and "Pehr-jo" in England neither of which is quite right and I would actually argue (as a French speaker) the Irish one is often closer.

In England, you're likely to get something like "Sehhh - sha" or ever "Sehhh -sheR" as they have an intrusive R that pops in where vowels stop and don't fit their phonetic system. "Brenda" comes out as as "Brendar" etc etc.

I think we should just get over the fact that Americans probably can't pronounce Saoirse because their brains simply don't have the correct software and they don't like trying too hard.

And we can't get too uppidy about it either, Irish people cannot pronounce Chicago !

It's "Chic-ago" not "Chick -Car - Go"

In general though, I find where people find accents that they're unfamiliar with 'utterly hilarious', they're just ignorant.

P. Breathnach · 11-12-2017 12:48pm

flaneur wrote: »

...
Hiberno-English has fairly standard, but still quite unique phonetics and also throws in quite a bit of borrowed phonetics for Irish words. So, a name like Saoirse poses no problems here...

Good post, flaneur, but I would quibble about this part. It seems to me that our Hiberno-English set of phonics has been changing through my lifetime, and is we are less good at approximating Gaelic phonemes than we were in the past.

"SEER-shah" is a near-miss of the best pronunciation of the Gaelic word, because the effect of the "ao" has been jettisoned. It might be represented by "SaEER-shah"

21Savage · 11-12-2017 1:30pm

murpho999 wrote: »

Really disagree with this.

It was just not funny and it was baffling.

It was disappointing that they would use old stereotypes and resort to potato and accent jokes.

This does not mean I was offended. Just wish Americans would stop portraying the Darby O'Gill image of Ireland and modernise. Plenty of stuff to take the p1ss out of in Ireland weather it's our weather, Northern Ireland issues, politics, economic management, drinking (which is almost true and deserves to be ridiculed).

People are also surprised that an Irish celebrity would take part in this.

Your Donald Trump comparison is poor as he was the subject of the jokes so had a very personal impact on him.

Most of those have absolutely no resonance in America, they might get a laugh on a German chat show at a push but those stereotypes mean nothing to Americans.

Basically all Irish jokes in America revolve around the fact we are pale red haired Northern white Europeans who are Catholic. I don't think I've ever seen any funny skit about Ireland on British or American TV. Conan's trip to Ireland was kinda funny.

Laois_Man · 11-12-2017 2:12pm

Bit baffeled by Saoirse's comments on The Late Late Show.....going on about not being anti Aer Lingus.

I didn't think anyone accused her of being anti Aer Lingus!

I was never anti Aer Lingus - until I flew to Atlanta and back on Delta and they absolutely stuffed me with grub. Very decent stuff too. Now I'm anti Aer Lingus!

flaneur · 11-12-2017 2:39pm

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Good post, flaneur, but I would quibble about this part. It seems to me that our Hiberno-English set of phonics has been changing through my lifetime, and is we are less good at approximating Gaelic phonemes than we were in the past.

"SEER-shah" is a near-miss of the best pronunciation of the Gaelic word, because the effect of the "ao" has been jettisoned. It might be represented by "SaEER-shah"

Depends on where and who you're talking to. Phonetics change and also they're not entirely uniform across Ireland (by a long shot).

_Dara_ · 11-12-2017 4:00pm

weldoninhio wrote: »

In any of the adverts for it, it is pronounced Sayr-view. You're pronouncing it wrong.

Well if an ad said it, it MUST be true! As we have learned from this thread, it can be pronounced two ways. Sayr seems more common in Dublin. It makes sense then that sayr will most likely be the pronunciation used in the ad. Another part of the country, it would most likely be seer. :cool:

I’ve been studiously avoiding both ads and RTÉ as much as possible for at least five or six years. I never saw ads for it. Therefore I pronounced it the way I was taught to pronounce saor in school. And I’m far from the only one. Anyone who ever taught me Irish would say seerview. But, sure, what would they know?

flaneur · 11-12-2017 10:35pm

Saorview is an odd kludge of a portmanteau anyway.

The one that I find causes issues abroad is Eir. Very few people will pronounce that "Air".

I've had people call or "Ear" and "Err"

ArtSmart · 11-12-2017 10:52pm

Laois_Man wrote: »

Bit baffeled by Saoirse's comments on The Late Late Show.....going on about not being anti Aer Lingus.

I didn't think anyone accused her of being anti Aer Lingus!

I was never anti Aer Lingus - until I flew to Atlanta and back on Delta and they absolutely stuffed me with grub. Very decent stuff too. Now I'm anti Aer Lingus!

I just think it wasn't something she'd given a lot of thought about, logically enough (what wit Oscar stuff etc)

Re Sketch: Could only watch it in fast fwd mode. Very weak and sloppy direction, hit n miss script. The dog thing is more England that Ireland. Couple of good concept elements (hinting double entendre then stating the obvious, but only ONCE, not twice, which they did. Writers on this one, nope, fail.)

Re Monologue. Meh. Overall, nothing of consequence bad wise.

But in terms of Irish exposure, pretty good. Great to see it, even if it was wobbly.

marieholmfan · 12-12-2017 10:46am

Great little Ambassadress for Ireland. Highly regarded as an actress. Eff the begrudgers!

Saoirse Ronan Appearance on Saturday Night Live

Comments