The big news on “Saturday Night Live” this week wasn’t host Ben Affleck joining the five-timers club (none of the others came to greet him as they did Justin Timberlake).
It wasn’t the presence of Kanye West (who didn’t grab anybody’s microphone but stuck to his own odd new Nine Inch Nails-like tracks).
It wasn’t the homecoming vibe of the season finale (only Amy Poehler showed up for Weekend Update). And it wasn’t particularly Bill Hader’s previously announced last episode as a cast member (though Stefon got a grand send off).
No, the big event may have been Fred Armisen’s understated farewell.
He hadn’t formally announced his departure, though it had been hinted. In recent years, he found his comic talent better used on his “Portlandia” and less on “SNL,” so he assembled a fake British punk band, Ian Rubbish and the Bizzaros, and played a song about optimism.
“When they smash your hinges, and throw them in the bin, you’re going to say: it’s a lovely day,” he sang. Then he and the band — Hader on guitar, Teran Killam on bass, Jason Sudeikis on drums — were joined by a parade of punk and college rock greats:
Sex Pistol Steve Jones on guitar, Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein (also Armisen’s comedy partner on “Portlandia”), and then J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., who handled the guitar solo, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth playing tambourine, and in the back, Aimee Mann and her husband Michael Penn joining at the end.
It was a nice send off that emphasized Armisen’s indie band roots before he started on “SNL” a decade ago. Nobody said it was his last show, but the way he waved directly to the camera at show’s end, as did Hader, indicated the two would only be back as visitors.
Hader was used more in the show, but that’s how it has usually been in his career; he so often adds an extra comic twist to the wide variety of characters he portrays — from a Depression-era movie where he longs to work, but not that hard; to a mustachioed cop who cries when his daughter is married.
Armisen’s other showcase was as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, introducing the movie Iran made in response to Affleck’s “Argo.” Which brings us back to our host.
Affleck was quick to note in his monologue that it was his fifth time hosting, so he was looking forward to meeting some of the other stars who also reached that goal, such as Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Paul Simon who welcomed Timberlake earlier this season. No such luck; Bobby Moynihan offered him a song and a 5 T-shirt but in the end gave him neither.
Affleck was joined, however, by his wife Jennifer Garner to clear the air following his comments at the Oscars that marriage was work.
This lost quote made a big impression on “SNL” writers. Not only was it the point of that thin bit; it was also the punchline of the Ahmadinejad sketch that followed.
Its overuse showed just how empty the tank was for the show’s writers. They really had nothing this week for the finale,and stretched mediocre sketches even longer than usual just to kill time.
Even in a week with newspapers filled with reports of scandal, the best they could come up with was a cold open of Kenan Thompson’s Al Sharpton covering the IRS story, which would later reappear more than once on Weekend Edition, including a “Really? with Seth and Amy” that never got as good as just the novelty as seeing Amy Poehler back on the show (they couldn’t agree on whether to shame the IRS or the Tea Party so they just did both).
Affleck was game. He played the counselor of a camp meant to convert gay kids to straight ones. He starred in a bad sketch in which a guy faked his own death and tried to right his name at the funeral. And he swung by in another one of those late night ads where former porn stars try to sell luxury items despite the fact they can’t say the word “luxury.”
And he had a cameo in the filmed bit where Seth Meyers goes after Stefon after just one of his jokes and interrupts, as in “The Graduate,” his marriage ceremony to Anderson Cooper (as himself), with the church filled with various Stefon characters he had mentioned over the years (including Smurfs, Urkel, various small people, Alf, Menora the Explorer, Gizblow and DJ Baby Bok Choy).
When they got back to the studio, a whole host of other Weekend Update characters stood to applaud Stefon and Seth: Drunk Uncle, former New York Gov. David Paterson, The Devil, and so on.
It was as if they were there to say farewell to Meyers as well as Hader. After all, as recently named heir to “Late Night,” Meyers will have to leave “SNL” sometime next season anyway – maybe he’s taking the time now to quit the show?
Not likely. He didn’t do the secret hand wave at the end, as did Armisen and Hader.