Saturday Night Live: The Best of Molly Shannon (review)

We knew Saturday Night Live had been long in decline, and now the evidence has been neatly packaged for us as compilations of clips highlighting the individual work of some of the current, excruciatingly unfunny cast. They're like catalogs of shame, and here it's Molly Shannon with egg on her face. We start out with an extended sketch featuring her claim to fame -- the armpit-sniffing, undie-flashing Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine -- and though this may seem like rockbottom, Shannon (and the SNL writers) find whole new realms of "downhill" from there: an obvious impersonation of Courtney Love, a "joyologist" who does little but scream "I love it!" at 2-second intervals. But wait, it gets worse: the disc includes outtakes and scenes cut after the early-Saturday-evening dress rehearsals -- that is, the stuff that wasn't considered good enough for the actual show. They say comedy ain't easy, and here's your proof.