“The premise is good, but that’s pretty much the beginning and end.
The difference between a good SNL sketch and a bad one: A bad one is a premise. The premise is repeated over and over, but not really expanded on, altered as it goes. The funniest part is the setup, and it ends there.
A good SNL sketch…let’s look at Chris Farley as Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker.
The premise is that two parents bring a motivational speaker into their home to talk to their kids. That’s the setup, but in order to explain why it’s funny, you almost have to repeat everything from the sketch. The premise is the launching point, but it goes way beyond the premise.
Manfried feels like all premise to me. And once you get used to “Cats are basically like humans. And their pets are little naked men,” you don’t get a lot of expansion.
So it’s fun, it’s a funny idea, but once the idea is clear, you’ve read it. “