A "cocky" Jesse Eisenberg hosted last night's edition of Saturday Night Live, though his performance was a bit lost in the excitement from the worst kept secret of the week: The actor's first (OK, maybe second, considering that they most likely caught up during dress rehearsal) face-to-face meeting with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whom Eisenberg portrayed in The Social Network. But, stunt cameos aside, how did the recent Oscar nominee fare?
Honestly, it almost felt like one of those weeks when so much attention is centered around one event that not only does the audience in general forget about the rest of the show, so do the writers. Anyway... on to the scorecard!
Sketch of the Night
"Mister Wizard" (Hader, Eisenberg, Pedrad, Elliott, Thompson): For those who remember Mr. Wizard, Hader (not surprisingly) does a very good impression of him. In this version, Mr. Wizard is none too happy when two of his students start inappropriately rubbing each other with balloons.
Score: 8.0
The Good
"El Shrinko" (Samberg, Eisenberg): "Arthur, your penis is huge. I hate that." The last sketch of the night -- and another headscratcher (no pun intended!) on why it wasn't aired earlier -- finds two young men who try to convince the world that their small penises were by choice, hence the large bottle of El Shrinko on display in their bedrooms.
Score: 7.5
"Don't Forget the Lyrics " (Sudeikis, Eisenberg): This was reasonably amusing. Not on Hulu, but Eisenberg plays a game show contestant who is shockingly bad at remembering easy lyrics.
Score: 7.0
"Jesse Eisenberg Monologue" (Eisenberg, Samberg, Zuckerberg): Before Zuckerberg and his bizarre overacting showed up onscreen, I was digging Eisenberg's "cocky" shtick. Unfortunately, it was lost in the proceedings considering that everyone knew Zuckerberg was going to show up at any second. All in all, sure: It was culturally significant. But anytime the real person shows up on SNL, they no longer are the joke, they become part of the joke and, unfortunately, something is always lost. But, hey, including Samberg, three Mark Zuckerbergs on stage!
Score: 7.0
"Herb Welch" (Hader, Sudeikis): Hey, Herb Welch is officially a recurring sketch! I know, not everyone likes Herb Welch: it's fairly straightforward, easy, and very one note. But it is fun to watch Hader try not to break character as a crusty old reporter who doesn't fully understand what story he's covering.
Score: 7.0
"Bride of Blackenstein" (Pharoah, Eisenberg, Thompson, Minaj): Wait a second! Is it? Is that Jay Pharoah doing a character and not an impression? Actually, it is, and his timing as a mad scientist who's not happy to find out that his new creation has the ability to speak and is a former DMV employee is pretty on the mark. Unfortunately, Nicki Minaj's timing is, well, not.
Score: 6.5
The Bad
"Michelle Bachmann Cold Open" (Wiig): There's nothing technically wrong with this sketch, and picking on Bachmann is always fun, but by the time this aired Bachmann's speech had been a full four days earlier. Not only did the joke feel a little dated, it had been done to death on other outlets like The Daily Show.
Score: 5.5
"Digital Short" (Samberg, Taccone, Schaffer): Am I the only one who feels like that The Lonely Island is trying too hard with this one? It just comes off forced compared to earlier work like "Jizz in My Pants" and "I'm on a Boat." Or maybe "forced" isn't the word; perhaps "predictable"? For some reason, if someone had told me that The Lonely Island's next short would be about three shady guys doing a stalkerish dance, my first reaction would be, "Yep, that sounds about right."
Score: 5.5
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Armisen, Thompson): The tone seemed off. More than 60 are dead in Egypt as demonstrations still rage; Armisen's comedic portrayal of Egyptian president Honsi Mubarak almost seemed to downplay the situation. Two weeks after handling the Arizona shooting terrifically, "Update" fumbled this one. Of course it should have been comically addressed, but a wacky Fred Armisen interpretation was not the right way to go about it. Also, with Kenan Thompson as Tyler Perry promoting I Can Do Internet All By Myself, this site's resident Perryologist said it best in a memo this morning: "Enh, too easy." (Though I did love his line when praising Eisenberg's performance in Adventureland as "a young man [who] is sad because he has a job.")
Score: 5.5
"Estro-maxx" (Hader, Brittain, Armisen, Moynihan): Everyone knows that no one is better at doing "commercial voice" than Bill Hader. Perhaps that's why he's getting gigs in real commercials these days. But... yeah: Dudes dressed in drag. There's not much going on here except for Brittain's fairly wonderful mustache.
Score: 5.0
"MTV Skins" (Samberg, Eisenberg, Elliott, Brittain): SNL takes on MTV's controversial teen debauch Skins. The sketch focuses on the abundance of product placement, but this effort just feels like a lost opportunity considering the wealth of material surrounding this show.
Score: 4.0
The Ugly
"Spa Talk" (Wiig, Thompson, Elliott) Kristen Wiig apparently has a new eccentric character. Awesome? Actually, this clip is worth watching just to observe the fairly awkward lack of laughter for over five minutes. "Spa Talk" ranks as one of the worst and most unnecessary sketches of the year.
Score: 1.0
Average Score For This Show: 5.79
Weekly Host Scorecard:
· Jeff Bridges 6.21
· Amy Poehler 6.04
· Anne Hathaway 6.00
· Emma Stone 5.88
· Gwyneth Paltrow 5.88
· Jon Hamm 5.86
· Paul Rudd 5.83
· Robert De Niro 5.83
· Jim Carrey 5.80
· Jesse Eisenberg 5.79
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31
· Scarlett Johansson 4.69
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