Don Draper on SNL

Hey everyone,

Mike and I have returned in one piece from the Big Apple. I'm still catching up on stuff, so its going to be a bit before my review of Mad Men is up. In the meantime, in case you missed it, here's two choice MM-related sketches from Jon Hamm's turn as SNL host.

First is a helpful guide on how to be like Don Draper:



They also did a straight MM parody, which I thought was almost perfect. I saw almost because I HATE the A-Holes. They're not funny at all and I think here they ruin an otherwise spot-on Mad Men parody. However, I especially enjoyed Will Forte's Pete and Casey Wilson's Joan. I'm not sure about that new girl they got to play Peggy, though...



Bonus Political Impressions:

From the Thursday show, the two best SNL political impressions of the last decade, side-by-side:

SNL - Election Special #1

SNL has been on a roll this season, mostly due to the fact that the election has provided them with plenty of great material. Tina Fey has helped out with a lot of that, but their sketches have been better than usual. With this upswing, we were treated to relentless commercials featuring Tiny Fey as Sarah Palin, suggesting perhaps she'd be back tonight.

Turns out she wasn't at all, nor was there even a slight mention of Palin. Instead we were treated to a mildly humorous take on Tuesday night's debate with Chris Parnell back as Tom Brokaw. Both Darrell Hammond and Fred Armeson have the mannerisms of both candidates down, but Armeson isn't very good as Obama. The sketch was pretty funny, but they've definitely done better. Weekend Update was pretty humorous too, but there wasn't a "Lockbox." There are two more of these election specials, so hopefully the next couple will make me less mad that "30 Rock" hasn't started yet.

B-

Amy Poehler to Leave SNL

Sad but true. Amy Poehler will be leaving SNL following the Election in November to have her first child and prepare for her new NBC sitcom. It seems also that this previously mentioned sitcom is not necessarily the "Office" spin-off, but simply a show developed by "Office" executive producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. Poehler's exit means its time for SNL's young cast to get in shape. While Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, and Jason Sedakas are funny, all of them have been jumping on film roles and guest spots without really concentrating too much on SNL. We all know that to make the successful transition to film from SNL, you have to be the funniest person on SNL (see: Belushi, Chase, Meyers, Ferrel, Fey, and many many more) as opposed to a bad supporting cast member making bad movies (see: Rob Schinder and Jay Mohr). Hopefully they'll set it up a notch and bring SNL back to the glory days. For now though, we have some Election Specials on the horizon...