“For too long, Halloween in New York’s been a quiet, almost religiony holiday for old people and babies, but that’s all about to change,” said Stefon. “This year, I’m hosting a VIP blowout in New York’s hottest neighborhood, SoWeHoBeLoHo” That is — “South of West Houston, Below Lower Hoboken.”

“Look, this party’s for charity, okay?” said Zoolander. “All proceeds go to benefit the Derrick Zoolander Foundation for Fat Kids Who Are Fat But Not Like In A Cute Way Like That Fat Kid On Modern Family.”

Stiller’s still got it and showcased his character’s trademark pouty lips.

Watch the segment via SNL below:

When Seth Meyers asked for a recommendation that was more wholesome, Stefon had an alternative: “SPICY” (picture the word said in Morgan Freeman’s voice), located on the Upper East Side of a dumpster. It’s perfect for Mother’s Day, since it’s “a 24-hour bitchfest” featuring sand worms, rock eaters, and subway sleeping bags — “that thing of when you’re on the train and you sit between two guys in FUBU jackets.”

Also back was Stefon’s raging crush on Meyers. At one point, he even leaned over and stole a kiss, a move that sent both Meyers and Hader into a fit of giggles. Meyers even ended the segment invited Stefon to come home with him and meet his mother, an invitation that understandably thrilled him. Of course, he also had one last recommendation before leaving the set: flying human kites in Central Park. No word on whether or not that’s still a good Mother’s Day activity if you already make a habit of tying a piece of string around a midget wearing a windbreaker, and then running through a field.

Watch via NBC below:

Watch it here via NBC:

Stefon’s crush on Seth Meyers was also more apparent in this segment. When Meyers commented that his girlfriend probably wouldn’t want to go to any of these clubs, Stefon snapped “You should probably break up with her and do like a total 180 or something!”

Unfortunately, explaining “human suitcases” to Seth was too much for Hader, and he lost it completely, much to Meyers’s delight. Watch it here from NBC:

Bill Hader—SNL‘s true MVP, even if Kristen Wiig gets more attention—played Assange to perfection in a sketch that imagined what would happen if the leak-loving Australian and gossip site TMZ began working together. This high-concept idea led to bits in which Muammar Gaddafi, Hamid Karzai, and Hillary Clinton were all caught in compromising positions—as well as a surprise cameo by Jason Sudeikis‘s lovable Joe Biden.

To close out the sketch, Hader’s Assange gave a short, sweet assessment of himself that, while random, was pretty damn funny: “Do I suck a little bit? I do, yeah. Can you try me for treason? You can’t, because I’m from Australia. But nice try, dummies. In closing, I”m going to remind you all that no matter how I die, it was murder.” Watch the cold open below.

Yes, Beck showed the clip from this week’s SNL cold open in which Hader’s Hu Jintao (through Nasim Pedrad’s translator), says those immortal words about Beck: “He was right about the gold.” The Fox News host, doing his best “I’m playing an important clip behind me but I know exactly what it is so I’m going to look at you the viewer instead” shtick, certainly seemed pleased as punch to have a seeming endorsement from a stalwart of any NBC-owned network.

Of course, this is a serious topic so Beck had to shoot right back to stern-faced talk about inflation afterwards, but that didn’t keep him from comparing Soros to Mr. Potter and squeezing in a jab at Anthony “Weiner Facts” Weiner. What can you say? Inflation might be a horrible thing, but being right just puts a guy in a good mood.

It is a very funny conceit, and executed well, as expressed through Hader’s expressions and tone of voice contrasted with the clipped pseudo-professional tones of a translator. “Do you mind if I turn out the lights?” asks the translator, played by Nasim Pedrad, who skillfully walks the fine line between her CSPAN-translator persona and the escalating menace of her boss. “I like to have the lights off when someone is doing sex to me!” Then Hader bends over, and we are reminded that SNL has certain old standbys, and that is certainly one of them (dudes kissing is another).

I like this sketch and think it’s done well. I think it’s a funny way to do political commentary. But I also noticed that there were no Asians in it (just as there were no African-Americans, which is a common complaint about SNL’s choice of Fred Armisen to portray Obama). I didn’t notice anything untoward about Hader’s fake-Chinese (or Forte’s last year) but back then a blogger calling himself Angry Asian Man disagreed, saying: “Whatever joke they’re going for is completely sabotaged by the fact that everyone is thinking, ‘Hey, those two aren’t Asian.’” Until SNL has more diversity on its cast, it will continue to be dogged by these criticisms. Does that mean they shouldn’t run the sketch? No – and anyway Pedrad is Iranian-American and Armisen is part Japanese, and plays a Mexican in the next sketch – you can’t keep people in narrow silos on a show like SNL, they’ve got to be able to play anything, and spoof anything (I am thinking of Japanese Laverne & Shirley here, too). But it does mean that the audience will notice when no one on the cast looks like them.

Shout-out to Glenn Beck in the sketch as well (“He was right about buying gold”) and a Miss Universe joke I didn’t get. What do you think – is this sketch funny? Is it “racial mockery” per Angry Asian Man? Is SNL’s reliance on gay jokes more than a little tired? Should I lighten up? Feel free to opine in the comments. In the meantime, the actual video is below, followed by the Forte version from last year.

November 2009: Hu Jintao played by Will Forte

On a related note, with all the cable characters SNL has to chose from these days I find it interesting that they’d chose to return to the Carville well, especially when Carville has been out of the midterms news since his BP oil rant at the beginning of the summer. Watch below, Tea Partiers are also like your friends crazy parents.

Meta side note: Stefan looks to have made quite the splash on Twitter, so probably look for more of him soon.

Oprah, Dateline, Geraldo Rivera… SNL‘s had distinctive takes on almost every major media presence over the years. And SNL‘s news spoofs aren’t just entertainment: it’s arguable that more Americans made up their minds about Sarah Palin based on SNL‘s Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interview than on the original interview itself. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart have done a lot in the news satire biz, but they still have some catching up to do.

In honor of the premiere of season 35 of SNL, we’ve pulled together 35 of SNL‘s choicest news anchor spoofs and Weekend Updates, spanning all seasons. Shoot us a comment or a tip if you think we’ve missed a good one.

We’re seriously counting on a good Glenn Beck skit…
Here it is.

Baba Wawa
Turning Barbara Walters into Elmer Fudd may have been one of the most dastardly stunts that SNL ever pulled off, but it was a game-changer for the show and for Walters. At one point, Walters personally confronted Gilda Radner and made her do the impression to her face. Presumably, the meeting involved wevewations, wapport, and wepartee.



The Today Show With Hoda and Kathy Lee
When it comes to the zaniness of Kathy Lee Gifford, the jokes write themselves. Still, Kristen Wiig’s command of Lee’s facial tics and body language, paired with Michaela Watkins’ portrayal of Hoda Kotb’s Today straight woman, result in pure absurdist joy.

Creepy, Creepy Dateline
Bill Hader really knows how to bring the creepy when he wants to, which is perfect for a Dateline sendup. No disrespect to actual Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, but it takes a certain kind of nervous system to converse with murderers and victims of tragedy like you’re talking about the weather.

Gerald Ford was Eaten by Wolves
Carvey’s Tom Brokaw wants to vacation in Barbados for the winter, so he’s got to prerecord every possible way Gerald Ford could die, including gunshot, wolf attack, convenience store mountain lions, and Zimbabwean invasion. It’s funny cause it’s true?

Joe Wilson and Kanye: Really?
SNL spinoff Weekend Update Thursday started its second season with a bang last week, coming up with a “how the Joe Wilson thing happened” conspiracy theory involving restrooms and Michelle Bachman.

But the “Really?” segment was even better; there are few things more satisfying than hearing Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers repeatedly shouting “Really?” at notable shouters Kanye West and Joe Wilson.

Next: “Jane, you ignorant slut,” Wolf Blitzer, and more

Joe Coscarelli and Palika Makam contributed to the writing and compilation of this post.

But seriously: If you are reading this instead of enjoying a beautiful summer weekend, then you, too, are afflicted with that same pain. We can’t speed time up and make it Sunday at 10 p.m. any faster than the Lord or Matthew Weiner willeth, but we can pull together a few videos that will slake your mighty thirst, momentarily.

1. Meshugeneh Men

Created by then-Daily Show writer (now Tonight Show writer) Rob Kutner for his annual Purim comedy show in New York (along with his wife, Penn & Teller comedy writer Sheryl Zohn), but really it works just as well for Rosh Hashanah. Cameos by Amy Sedaris and Ellie Kemper (who plays Erin the receptionist on The Office):

2. Mad Libs Men:

College Humor’s take on Mad Men, coincidentally featuring the same guy as Don Draper (Matthew Walton). This guy better hope the third season is good; there’s a nice little market in parody videos, and Mad Men is pretty fertile. LIKE BETTY DRAPER?

3. Two A-Holes At A Sixties Ad Agency

This excellent and star-studded video is from when Jon Hamm hosted SNL last October. The return of the A-Holes plus the merging of them with a retro-Mad Men story pitch was pretty perfect. Featured guest-cameo by John Slattery, who is also pretty hot, and Elizabeth Moss, who was not originally supposed to be in it but stepped in at the last minute when Amy Poehler inconveniently went into labor. Hamm’s speech about the Hula Hoop gets me misty, almost as misty as Jon Hamm’s John Hamm.

4. The Simpsons Mad Men Parody

Like many Mad Men clips on YouTube, the embedding has been disabled. But if you want to see it, it’s here.

Related:
The Mad Men (And Women!) of Morning Joe

Pic above via Mad Men official website.