SNL Recap: Gaga, Madge & ScarJo (Plus Darrell Hammond, Permalancer)

Rachel SklarOct 4th, 2009, 10:09 am

Mostly Garbage Pet Food (Commercial Parody)

Eh, didn’t love this but always pleased to see Jason Sudeikis. He can sell most things. And doggies are cute.

Deep House Dish, feat. Lady Gaga and MADONNA

You can see what I thought about this here. But honestly, let me repeat: Madonna taking down Gaga by the THROAT was pretty fierce. Dialogue was pretty weak though. Guessing Madge dropped a few lines. Oh well, she’s entitled. Check out that ass.

Update: Darrell Hammond as Gov. Arnold Schwarzennegger

Live from New York, for the second week in a row, it’s Darrell Hammond! Hammond has been one of SNL’s most critical players for over a decade – his impressions have been essential to political coverage, particularly during the last election (Bill Clinton, John McCain). It almost makes you forget his Jesse Jackson, his Donald Trump, his Arnold Schwarzenegger (which he does BRILLIANTLY here). Yet he was cut from the cast officially this year (nowhere to be found in the opening credits) — though, of course, has been front and center in both episodes this season. Why? Probably money — after 12 years your quote is significantly higher than a Nasim Pedrad or a Jenny Slate (we’re told the departure of Maya Rudolph last year also opened up the budget for new featured players). This is a way for Lorne Michaels to keep Hammond in the SNL family (and useful on screen) while allowing new blood to have a shot (here’s what he told me about that in 2004 back when no one knew who Kristen Wiig was: “”I think that the vitality of the show is about turnover, and about discovering new people and seeing new people develop…when you see somebody come into their own and do something remarkable, you realize why you’re there.”

Update: Mr. & Mrs. Ahmadinejad

…like this newbie: Nasim Pedrad as Mrs. Ahmadinejad, making her mark with her own f-word (I can’t believe “fart” is so unremarkable on television!). Either way, well done on her part (also – was that her behind last week’s Qaddaffi sketch? A friend of a friend noted that the Arabic translation actually made sense in some places. God is in the details). Also nice to see both Nasim and Jenny Slate get featured in other parts of the show too, being integrated into the cast. SNL has gotten much better at that in the past few years.

Update: Charles Barkley

Kenan Thompson has had a good season so far — lots of facetime and star-turn sketches. He’s already pretty senior, come to think of it. And he handled being sandwiched between Lady Gaga and Madonna like a pro.

So You Committed A Crime…And Think You Can Dance

I flat-out loved this one. Ryan Reynolds as Aussi choreographer was a perfect example of him being very funny in a part that was very much part of an ensemble. Armisen as a Madoff-type trying to escape was great. And Sudeikis! You dog.