Jesse Eisenberg hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and the big moment came in the first few minutes when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on stage with the actor who portrayed him in The Social Network — as well as another impostor, Andy Samberg. I’m on the record as being against the “SNL” habit of real people confronting their imitators, but in this case I laughed in spite of myself (and despite Zuckerberg’s nervous overacting). What can I say, it was the best Bergfest since the Titanic sank.

If there was a downside to Zuckerberg’s appearance, it’s that it overshadowed one of the better monologues in recent memory (I liked Eisenberg joking about his confidence) and the asstastic luminosity of Nicki Minaj, who appeared in a digital short and a sketch in addition to her two musical performances. God, I love her. She’s like Lady Gaga, except way hotter and cooler and able to rap. (So… a black Lady Gaga.)

Highlights of the episode below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Obviously, today’s water cooler conversation is about last night’s Golden Globes, not this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow. But I have my habits, so I thought I’d post the relevant sketches from Saturday night. Besides, it’s a holiday. I owe it to the memory of Dr. King to not work very hard today. Wait, that came out wrong.

Anyway, even though Paltrow is a an annoying child of privilege, I still think she’s a talented actress who’s been in some films that I’ve enjoyed. That said, she ain’t funny. Her talent is best used by putting on a lot of eye makeup and making sad faces. The only time she makes me laugh is when her severed head ends up in a box. Watch the way she ruins this sketch:

Read the rest of this entry »

Robert De Niro was the host for Saturday Night Live this past weekend, which was fine except the fact that because he was only hosting to shill for Little Fockers, costar Ben Stiller was free to make multiple cameos throughout the broadcast. Nevertheless, it was about as tepidly funny as just about installment of SNL that isn’t the one episode per season where the writers stumble upon halfway memorable and ensure the SNL institution lives to barely amuse another day.

More often than not, those memorable moments happen in the Digital Shorts, where Andy Samberg is free to explore subject matter which usually involves a white person rapping about an everyday phenomenon. Rest assured, while that wasn’t the case here, Samberg was able to work in a skit about a white rapper being purposefully corny later in the show.

Instead, the Digital Short was a riff on Weekend at Bernie’s, with De Niro cast as the titular corpse. More movies should really call for a titular corpse. And not just because I’m both a necrophiliac and a breast man.

[Buzzfeed]

Read the rest of this entry »

Alec Baldwin hosted the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and as usual it was neither as good as we might have hoped or as bad as people are saying it was. Baldwin brought energy and enthusiasm to some otherwise lousy skits, Weekend Update rolled out some of its more popular characters, and Andy Samberg’s “Great Day” digital short (video below) was one of his best of the season.

But it’s never much fun to join the chorus of voices critiquing the show that just aired; I’d much rather list the changes I’d like to see made for next season:

• Fire Jenny Slate. Then push her into traffic.
• Hire a black female cast member.
• No sketches longer than five minutes. It’s unrealistic to expect every skit to be a winner, but a dud that goes on for six minutes is inexcusable.
• Outsource more decisions to Facebook. Even though we’re an overly critical rabble, the Internet has a better feel for what makes “SNL” good than Lorne Michaels does these days.
• Seriously, Jenny Slate has to go.

That’s about it. Here’s hoping Seth Meyers spends most of his summer coming up with funnier sketches than the family that makes out with each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jude Law hosted “Saturday Night Live” with musical guests Pearl Jam this weekend, and I suppose the cool Internet kids are talking about “Boombox,” the Lonely Island digital short featuring Julian Casablancas (see video below; international readers note that it’s YouTube, NOT Hulu). It doesn’t really light my comedy fire, but it does feature old people having sex and lots of fingerless gloves. And who doesn’t like fingerless gloves?

Personally, I thought the highlight of the show — other than Pearl Jam’s performances — was the spoof of Vicky Cristina Barcelona‘s initial restaurant encounter, featuring Law as a swarthy lothario eager to kill the pretty young Americans (Hulu video below). I guess I’m predictable that way. If there are two things I always find funny, it’s making fun of Woody Allen films and young women getting murdered.

Read the rest of this entry »