My Top Ten Sketches & Top Five Hosts

I know you've all been waiting eagerly for my take on NY Mag's list. Well today is your lucky day!

TOP TEN SKETCHES (in no particular order)
1. Single Ladies (Paul Rudd) - A pretty simple idea that was so well-executed and while it may have resorted to putting guys in leotards, and watching them bump and grind, the very thought of it still makes me laugh. Also, it helps that Single Ladies was probably my favourite song of last year.


2. Palin/Biden Cold Open (Anne Hathaway) - This was my favourite of all the Palin sketches, in that it mocked Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in equal measure. The hilarity was sustained throughout and I think it was the most creative in that most of it was not a mere transcription of events as it was in Palin/Couric open.

3. High School Musical (Zac Efron) - The most inspired non-monologue monologue of the season? I think so. Pretty refreshing to see a Disney star openly make fun of the franchise that made him famous, and not only that, but it featured a hilarious turn from Darrell Hammond as Walt Disney who was depicted as an anti-Semite.

4. New York Times (James Franco) - You would have thought that a sketch lampooning the liberal media would have been warmly welcomed by McCain supporters and conservatives, and yet this was coolly received due to a comment made about incest between Todd Palin and his daughters. Instead of seeing that this sketch was highlighting how out of touch NY Times reporters are with regular people, conservatives saw this as an attack on the wannabe "First Dude". In actuality, this sketch was one of the funniest of the year, and showed SNL isn't afraid to mock liberals and conservatives alike.
"What's your name?"
"Karl Marx."

5. The Lawrence Welk Show (Anne Hathaway) - Funny, surreal perfection. From Armisen's Welk impression to Wiig's baby hands to the revelation that she ate a cat to the bubbles. Left me wanting more, and still makes me laugh.

6. Countdown with Keith Olbermann (Ben Affleck) - Is it possible to have an epic sketch? If so, then this is the Ben-Hur of SNL sketches. Ben Affleck did one of the best impressions in a sketch with a wholly ridiculous premise, that Keith Olbermann lives with his mother and cat. Hilarity ensued when Olbermann accused John McCain of having Nazi sympathies and comparing his application refusal from a co-op board to the Trail of Tears. Also, I can now appreciate Armisen's Richard Wolf impression having become a regular viewer of Countdown.

7. Weekend Update - Sarah Palin Rap (Josh Brolin) - I think I might have actually preferred this one rap to all the Tina Fey Palin sketches altogether. As soon as Amy Poehler started rapping, I wanted to scream "Thank you!" It was just all so perfect - one of the funniest women in America rapping (and not in a loving way) and openly mocking a vice-presidential candidate as said vice-presidential candidate sits there dumbly waving her hands in the air.
"McCain, Palin, goin' to put the nail in
The coffin,
OF THE MEDIA ELITE.
She likes red meat,
Shoot a mother-humpin' moose eight days of the week."

8. Save Broadway (Neil Patrick Harris) - As somewhat of a Broadway nerd, to see all of my favourite theatre characters & theatre jokes featured in a sketch was so mindblowingly wonderful to me. Also, I loved NPH's impression of Mark from Rent & possibly my favourite line of any sketch this season:
Guy from STOMP smashes trashcan lids together.
PHANTOM:
Wow, still relevant.

9. Everyone's A Critic (Paul Rudd) - Just downright nuts, and my favourite SNL short of the year. Just when you think its over - NOPE, ITS A MOVIE. And the painting is so intriguing to me, what could it possibly be? Absurd, crazy, hilarious & Paul Rudd naked = your perfect SNL short.

10. Vincent Price's Valentines Day Special (Alec Baldwin) - Now, for a personal favourite. Best installment of the Vincent Price Specials in my opinion. Always really well written, and the impressions are sublime, as are Liberace's innuendos. Kristen's Carol Channing was inspired.

VINCENT PRICE:
"Where's the hand Carol?"
CAROL CHANNING:
"I'll never tell!"


TOP FIVE HOSTS:
1. Anne Hathaway - For surpassing my expectations in every way imaginable, incorporating song and being such a darned good sport about everything, Anne Hathaway is the number one host for season 34. What other show would feature sketches about Mary Poppins having an STD or a Lawrence Welk show?

2.Neil Patrick Harris- For bringing SNL to heights only previously reached with the aid of Tina Fey/Sarah Palin. Probably the most consistently funny show all season & like Hathaway, NPH was totally game for anything and was totally cool and self-deprecating about everything.

3. Paul Rudd - Fit in seamlessly with the cast and while it featured a few lacklustre sketches, the show was so memorable for the Single Ladies & Everyone's A Critic sketches, and the strong message the show sent out in opposition to the passage of Prop 8. Can't wait to see him again!

4. John Malkovich - For being totally weird and off-kilter and thus having one of the funniest shows of all season. Played everything from a weird girl called Gertie in the throes of puberty to one of two brothers excited about getting calculators for Christmas.

5. Tracy Morgan - For being Tracy Morgan and bringing the Tracy Morgan-ness that SNL is severely lacking. No other host could make a sketch about a dud director whose entire cast is killed during the making of a film, half as funny as Tracy Morgan did.

Honourable Mentions : Jon Hamm, Justin Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of my beautiful cat Baxter who passed away today. Always love you, B! ♥