SNL sketch round-up: December 7, 2013

Paul Rudd hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest One Direction last night. A rundown of my favorite sketches follows after the break.

This week’s SNL started off strong with a fun monologue mocking NBC’s recent staging of The Sound of Music. Kristen Wiig returned in-character as Dooneese, the bizarre lady with baby doll hands. Fred Armisen made a quick comeback too in the same sketch. Though it was a pleasant surprise to see these great SNL members return to 8H, their presence wasn’t so memorable unfortunately.

Though the cold open didn’t live up to its potential, it got the audience hyped for Paul Rudd’s monologue featuring One Direction and Rudd’s Anchorman 2 castmates Will Ferrell, David Koechner, and Steve Carrell all singing “Afternoon Delight” pulled straight from the first Anchorman movie. Unfortunately that video is not embeddable; you can try and watch it here before it gets yanked.

And then there was Rudd’s best bit of the night. As Dan Charles, “One Direction’s #1 Fan,” he interacted with a large group of young girls as they all waited in line for the boy band to greet them. He awkward rapport with the girls and his wacky facial expressions and reactions sealed the deal. Funny stuff.

Anchorman director Adam McKay penned the final sketch of the night featuring Rudd, Ferrell, Koechner, and Taran Killam as belligerent drunks with messed up teeth going on about one Bill Brasky. It got tired kinda quick but all in all a decent effort.

Yep, I’ll throw in a Weekend Update segment. Of the two overused characters I preferred Taran’s Jebidiah Atkinson to Vanessa Bayer’s Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy. The joke involving Snoopy and Brian Griffin and killing the wrong dog was kind of great. Still, I think it will be hard for Taran to top his first going with the outspoken figure.

Next week John Goodman hosts with musical guest Kings of Leon.

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