Saturday Night Live – Zac Efron; Yeah Yeah Yeahs

OMG! It’s Zac Efron! He’s so dreamy! Sorry… I was trying to channel my inner 12 year old girl to get excited for this episode, but I just realized that I don’t have an inner 12 year old girl. In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve actually seen Zac Efron do anything, so I don’t have any expectations going in to this episode, which is probably the best way to be.

Overall, I thought it ended up being a decent episode. It seems like SNL has hit a bit of a stride since the end of the elections. Most of the recent episodes have been pretty good since the new year.

Let’s break down tonight’s episode….

• Cold Open: I love Sudeikis’s Joe Biden impression. It’s not really an impression at all. SNL has effectively turned Biden into a character, and I think it might be the funniest vice presidential impression on SNL since they brought on a little boy in a suit to be Dan Quayle. The cold opens just haven’t been the same since the election ended, though. Oh, well.
• Monologue: Not a bad monologue as far as monologues go. I chuckled every time the camera cut to the “tweens” in the audience.
• Today: Honestly, I have no idea why I love Wiig’s Kathie Lee Gifford impression so much, but I do. It makes me laugh every time. That being said, I don’t think this was the strongest Today skit. The whole bit with Efron fell a little flat for me.
• Gilly: I didn’t like the sketch the first time; I didn’t like it the second time.
• Alliance of Direct Mail Marketers: This was a funny idea, particularly with some of the bizarre commercials on TV these days, like the ones for high fructose corn syrup. Ultimately, this dragged on a little too long though.
• Underage Drinking: Okay, watching a table of children pounding Carbombs is pretty dang funny. This skit really worked for me. Yes, it was somewhat stupid, but I think that was it’s charm.
• Musical Guest: I’m surprised that SNL didn’t optimize their scheduling and have Zac Efron and the Jonas Brothers on during the same week. Though if they had, it may have caused 12 year old girls everywhere to drop dead with glee.
• Weekend Update: Cheap gay jokes get a whole lot funnier when delivered in a New Jersey accent. Aside from the gay couple from New Jersey, this week’s update featured some movie reviews from Angie, the snarky blogger. Michaela Watkins really shines with this character. I think she’s really added a lot to SNL since coming on board. Was there really a public outcry for another appearance by Jon Bovi… and so soon? If I never get to see Will Forte in that mesh shirt again, I’ll be okay. Judging by the audience reaction, Jon Bovi seems to be popular; I guess it’s just me.




• High School Musical 4: I’ve never seen any of the High School Musical films (it’s a shock, I know), but I still found this skit to be pretty funny.
• Train: What an odd sketch. Not totally unfunny, though. I have to admit that Bobby Moynihan as the mother got a laugh from me, particularly when he blew past the train.
• Pizza Rolls Commercial: This skit belonged to Fred Armisen, and he really gave it his all. It may have dragged on a little long, but it was worth a few chuckles.
• Love Advice: If this skit was going to work they had to go for it, and boy did they ever go for it. That’s some serious dedication, Jason Sudeikis. If you missed it, Sudeikis ended up with Zac Efron’s foot in his mouth by the end of the sketch.

What did you think of this week’s episode?

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Apr 12, 2009 @ 09:55 EST5EDT