The hosting by an alum on “Saturday Night Live” is a code word for old home week. And like college reunions taking place across the country, Saturday’s new episode hosted by Will Ferrell meant that Ana Gaseyer and Will Forte also returned.
Both were more notable than Ferrell, who seemed to be hosting despite (or maybe because of) a lack of current outside projects, who sleepwalked through his Bush impersonation (to pursue the absurd cold opening suggestion that he is a kindred soul of petulant Joe Biden).
Gasteyer was his equal or better as the square in-school singing duo with a singing act (they were doing an LGBT dance because that’s been in the news, and so they could do a joke about an LGBT BLT).
Forte was even better as the clueless ESPN sportscaster co-host in a sketch notable for its ridiculous taglines for Stay Free Maxi Pads. The Ferrell contribution to the sketch – as a sportscaster covering the O.J. Simpson chase “because this is 1994” was a throwaway at best.
Andy Samberg’s digital video celebration (it’s 100th supposedly; counting from what? His contributions? Certainly not the beginning of the show) gave him an excuse to sing another bleeped euphemism for penis that the immature will love, and to bring back a slew of filmed celebrities who have been featured in them, from the Justins Timberlake and Bieber to Natalie Portman and Michael Bolton. Having them in a film instead of being there live makes a difference.
The movie star live on the show was Liam Neesen, on the Nic Cage segment on “Weekend Update.” This is the way “SNL” accommodates movie stars who want to appear on late night to plug a new movie: Get them on Weekend Update as an unannounced but unnecessary surprise.
Usher got to sing and appear in a sketch, and still Ferrell didn’t quite seem to kow who he was.