Monday Morning Quarterback: SNL Season 34, Episode 7

Posted by Jesse November 3rd, 2008 at 10:21am In SNL

I’m not exactly sure why Ben Affleck hosted the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live. I don’t have much against the guy; apart from his late-nineties/early-aughts propensity for playing besuited tools in bad movies, the dude has appeared in some decent movies: Changing Lanes (the best of his suit movies), Hollywoodland, and the Kevin Smith oeuvre (plus, he was the bomb in Phantoms). He also directed a pretty terrific movie from last year, Gone Baby Gone. But he hasn’t appeared onscreen since early ’07 and isn’t scheduled to turn up again until spring of next year.

In that sense, his hosting gig was a throwback to the show’s earliest years, when people just hosted for the hell of it, not because they had a movie coming out, a recent Oscar nomination and/or Olympic medal, or a hit show on NBC. Affleck’s non-promotional stop makes sense: he has a recent history with the show, this being his fourth time hosting since 2000, and his sixth appearance overall. It must be said, though, that Affleck isn’t exactly Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin in terms of his ability to slip right into the rhythms of the show as a surrogate cast member. He’s clearly game enough, but he was in over his head as an impressionist, doing a raspy, Eastwood-y imitation of Baldwin himself on a parody of The View (alongside Casey Wilson’s dead-on Jennifer Aniston), and, with a slightly better impression but a far worse sketch, an interminable Keith Olbermann — a drawn-out bit that felt about half an hour long.

Of course, Affleck was also hosting the last show before the presidential election, one that was — I swear — at one point supposed to feature Barack Obama, but apparently had to settle for John McCain. Either way, it left Affleck as second fiddle in his own episode, essentially filling in for the far-higher-profile politicos who didn’t have the time (or the daring) to host an entire episode during a campaign’s home stretch. I must admit, McCain acquitted himself fairly well in the opening bit with Tina Fey’s (presumed) last hurrah as Sarah Palin; the premise that the two of them would get QVC time in lieu of Obama’s three-network special was a good one, and only a few of the jokes seemed like they had been over-vetted by McCain’s people (knives for cutting pork? “McCain fine gold”? I’m just thankful we only got two McCain’s Touted Accomplishments Puns). I’m also supremely thankful McCain wasn’t as relaxed in the debates as he was in this sketch or on Weekend Update a little later.

For the first half of the show, I had the sinking feeling (further weighed down by yet another Target Lady sketch, a previously aired commercial, and the musical stylings of David Cook) that McCain’s appearance was actually going to be the episode’s highlight. Then, finally, came the night’s most welcome surprise, desperate candidates be damned: a belated sequel to the 2007 “Sloths” video (not credited as a Digital Short, but made with the same sensibility): the equally educational “Giraffes,” in which the Staten Island Technical High School rocked the praises of those human-enslaving, bat-wing-flying creatures. It wasn’t quite as transcendent as “Sloths,” but few things are. “Giraffes” isn’t among the half-dozen sketches available on the NBC website, so I’ll just link to the original, probably the funniest thing I’ve seen on SNL since Will Ferrell left:

And lo, the show found its footing again; everything post-Update pretty much worked (except David Cook; if Coldplay can get three songs, couldn’t this guy be debited down to one?). “Night School Musical” was terrific — Samberg even remembered to sing through his nose at one point, which as far as I can tell is the dominant trait of High School Musical‘s actual performances — and the sketch with Affleck as a screenwriter and Hader as his flamboyantly gay co-writer brother went in a wonderfully strange direction; bonus points for the fake freeze-frame at the end. In the last sketch of the night, Affleck’s willingness to do whatever was put to better use as Fred Armisen’s German coat-selling brother. I have no idea what possessed NBC to upload this sketch to their website, but I’ve posted it above as an ambassador to the other weird sketches of the night that (a.) saved the episode and (b.) aren’t online.

Episode Grade: I really thought it was cruising for a C, but the last half-hour gets it up to a C+ or even a B-. I’m boring myself a little with all of these B-range grades, but so far this season, the show has been pretty consistent.