Some other things I forgot to mention about SNL--we watched the show that night after we got home from the rehearsal, and it is surprising how different the two shows can be--details big and small, which skits make it into the show and which don't--it's interesting. I found that the first show, the rehearsal, was funnier--for whatever reasons, with this particular show and cast, the second time around the lines weren't delivered as freshly--they were more rehearsed, more pat, if that's the word for it, and things that got a laugh the first time around fell flat during round two because they just weren't delivered the same way--it's really fascinating. I admired Annette and the entire cast--they would do their best and just move on--it takes a thick skin to do that. The show wasn't terribly funny--I think the cast is very talented--from what I saw, I'd guess that there is more of a writing drought going on right now than a lack of comedic ability on the part of the cast. I think Bening is amazing, and I have been impressed with every role I have seen her in, but if you watched her SNL show, she didn't seem to connect with the cast--she was acting to the camera, rather than them, and it seems that on that show, you have to do both. But what the hell do I know.

I also learned that the adage about TV adding pounds is visciously true--it's really startling when you are able to see this phenomenon for yourself--when you are able to watch people perform live, and then again on tape, this very shocking difference really comes home to you.

The way the SNL stage and studio looks so much bigger on TV than in real life, well, unfortunately, that applies to people as well. Gwen Stefanie looked fabulous in person, especially for just having had a baby--she was ever so slightly larger than usual, simply because of her pregnancy, but there are few women in North America who wouldn't be thrilled to look as good as she does post-baby at any time in their lives. When I saw the show later that night on TV, Gwen didn't look fat, but she did look larger than she really is--I guess a little puffy would be the best way to describe it. That is so unfair--it wasn't what she looked like at all in person--no wonder women in show business get complexes about their weight and go to extremes--having seen it for myself, it really is enough to drive even the most level-headed person at least a little crazy, especially women, who are held to different standards than men anyway. It's a very cruel fact of life--TV can take a perfectly nice ass and make it a wide load. Even Bill Hader, a male SNL cast member, looked a little chubby in a tight t-shirt in a skit with Annette Bening--but only on TV, not when I was watching it in person. Perhaps we need to apply our technological meddle to eliminating this video distortion-we could save a lot of psyches that way.