Considering I thought the Steve Buscemi-hosted episode of "SNL" was going to feature an appearance from Buscemi's friend, Adam Sandler, who would perform "Hanukkah Song #456," complete with a verse parodying the recent failure of Jack & Jill, I was pleasantly surprised with what actually aired. It wasn't as good as the Jason Segel or Melissa McCarthy episodes, but it had one extremely funny sketch, a bunch of OK ones, and a few "meh"'s thrown in there for good measure, too. In other words, it was a B, B- episode of "SNL."
Buscemi was clearly reading off the cue cards for most of the night (it was really obvious in that awful Sue sketch), and though he was most often relegated to side character duty, he did an admirable job. It was a little odd, though, that the only mention of "Boardwalk Empire" came during the monologue — it seems like it'd be an easy show to parody, and I would have loved to have seen Bill Hader as Richard and Kristen Wiig as Lucy.
Clips and commentary — and Colin Quinn's fake Twitter bitching about a sketch — of some of the episode's specific segments on the following pages.
Whenever I see Fred Armisen on the show, I think to myself, "What's the guy from "Portlandia" doing...oh yeah, right." Fun fact: if you replace "NFL" with "Leonard Woodcock" in the photo below, you'd get Josh's Enemies List. Diplomatic relations with China?! What's next, us eating their food?
What everyone has said about "SNL" over the past forever, in a single sketch: good premise hampered by its too-long running length. Though Kenan's Magical Negro is pretty great.
I love Hader's impressions, and therefore, I loved this one, where he played "Dateline"'s Keith Morrison.
When I saw the high school setting, I was prepared for the worst: "SNL"'s Sandusky skit. But the writers found a clever twist on the story: a school district being surprised that a high school gym teacher isn't a pedophile. Colin Quinn, though, not a fan (even if he was just pulling one of his fake-rage stunts):
I didn't think it was possible for me to not laugh at someone throwing themselves out a window. I was wrong.
For the guys:
For the ladies:
My favorite sketch of the night. The perfect mix of Christmas sentimentality and Buscemi's patented weirdness, with a bit of "Kristen Wiig wearing a blonde wig" to boot. Between this and Jason Segel's Andre the Giant and Charlie Day's "Seinfeld" cop near-closers, the last five minutes of "SNL" have been owning this season.
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I really hope you guys do an article on what happened on Boardwalk Empire last night because: my god.
Fred Armisen is probably the least funny person in existence. I see him and I just know not to laugh, he even ruins everyone else around him.
That Colin Quinn boy is an ounce of chutzpah with a dash of “I don’t give a care.”
According to IMDB, Donald Glover auditioned for the Obama role and lost out to Arminsen. That sentence makes me wanna cry and punch someone at the same time.
I always suffer through all the bad SNL skits and never FF, until the Surprised Sue skit.
I’m guessing I’m going to have to avoid WG until tonight when I catch up on Boardwalk?
The ornament sketch was just perfect. I also liked the Digital Short, but Bale Batman voice is always funny.
Really, though, Fred Armisen needs to go. If they’re going to insist on Obama cold opens, they need to let somebody with an actual funny impression do it.
Dr. Sudekis posing for the photo with the shocker made that Digital Short.
Fred Armisen is hilarious on “Portlandia” so I have no idea why he’s the exact opposite of funny on SNL.
I only saw the ornament sketch, but I was laughing my ass off. Good for me I guess.
B1G title game ran until about 11, so I’m glad I didn’t miss anything good.
What The Sports Machine said. When I discovered Portlandia I was amazed to realize Fred Armisen could actually be funny. I mean, Carrie Browstein is awesome at everything she does, but she can’t be the only reason why he sucks so bad in SNL. (Seth Meyers’ horrible writing?)