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Saturday Night Live: 5 Sketches That Were Funnier Than What's Your Number?

Any Anna Faris fan who saw What's Your Number? (or didn't because of its terrible reviews) and watched Saturday Night Live this weekend probably went into the show with the hope that it wouldn't suck -- after all, we don't just like her in vain, right? I personally got affirmation watching the episode, and laughed more than I have at SNL in a while. That's not to say a few sketches failed from a sore lack of editing (looking at you, "Wyndemere" and "GOP Debate II"), but all in all, the episode was a relieving surprise. In the spirit of Ms. Faris, here at the sketches that delivered more laughs than her entire last movie did.

"Lifetime Game Show"
Some of the best SNL sketches in recent memory are the ones that show off a passion for embarrassing pop culture in the writers' room -- my personal favorite is "Underground Festival", but The Gathering of the Juggalos may be a bit too obscure for your average viewer. We all know the basic formula for every Lifetime movie, and turning the cliché into a game show was genius... especially with the losing moms pretending to rake leaves. I feared "What's Wrong With Tanya?" would go on too long, but it wrapped up when it needed to and Bill Hader was able to carry the awkward ending.



"Tell Him"
It pains me that this clip currently unavailable, because it was maybe the best of the night. The ladies of the cast gathered in a malt shop to sing a modernized version of "Tell Him," the highly-covered Bert Berns song about how to get a man to fall in love with you. Any lady knows that you must convince a guy that you "don't believe in marriage", "play Call of Duty" and are "not grossed out when he says the word panties" in order to make him yours. I'd like to think the sketch was an apology for how frustratingly pathetic Faris' character was in What's Your Number?, because that movie was a few scenes away from not letting her excuse herself to use the rest room in front of a boyfriend.


"J-Pop Talk Show"
Would I sneak into the Michigan State campus to watch an episode of student-run "J-Pop America Fun Time Now"? Absolutely, as long as I got to hang out with Sensei Mark and Jonathan Kavanaughson's girlfriend afterward. I've been thoroughly enjoying Vanessa Bayer and Taran Killam this season, and their performances in sketch are an excellent example why... even though they couldn't hold a candle to Mike Myers and Chris Farley in Season 19's "Japanese Game Show".



"SNL Digital Short: Drake Interview"
I've frankly grown tired of Andy Samberg's ironic celebrity digital shorts, but his interviews with Drake at least had a point. Since it wasn't annoying and didn't go on for too long, I was able to actually enjoy it and -- dare I say -- laugh a few times.



"Cold Open: Bloomberg - Occupy Wall Street"
SNL had to cover Occupy Wall Street, and Bloomberg using it as an opportunity to promote NYC tourism was a great angle. If only the writers had been able to better integrate the smoking ban joke. I also could've used a cameo from Governor Paterson, but Fred Armisen can only carry so much weight in this cast.



Wildcard of the Night: "Bookstore"
I have no idea what to make of this sketch, nor do I know why I laughed at Bill Hader's spaghetti legs. If anyone can help me make sense of it and reason why it was secretly brilliant or downright idiotic, I would appreciate it.



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11 Comments

October 17, 2011 11:37 AM
Sophie
Reply

I'm forced to believe you don't have a soul if you didn't find Wyndemere's little nap on the couch completely adorable.

Bookstore could have been better if Anna Faris wasn't having such a painful time reading off the cue cards. The spaghetti legs were a stroke of strange brilliance, though.

October 17, 2011 12:56 PM
Dallen
Reply

Anyone else getting annoyed at the growing number of articles on the website that seem to pass unquestionable judgement on shows and movies, informing us mere plebs which ones should be cancelled and which deserve greater attention? I realize it's the nature of this site, but the attitude has reached the point where it's kind of grating.

October 17, 2011 1:15 PM
anonymous
Reply

The wyndemere sketch was hilarious, what are you talking about? Just because a sketch is a bit raw or rough doesn't make it less humorous. if people wanna get caught up with the fine details then they are seriously limiting their opportunities to laugh. GET HIM SOME SWEEETS!!!

October 17, 2011 1:39 PM
wordz
Reply

TWOP had a campaign to get rid of the spare the snark line. Please do. There is no snark left. Only fan-wanking or pop culture wanking. What's next? Another article about the top ten reasons (insert GBT critical darling) is underrated? Even if thier show is cancelled after less then on season and was never covered on TWOP?

October 17, 2011 1:59 PM
DuchessKitty
Reply

No. Nose. Just. Holes.

Brilliant. But I agree that Anna Faris ruined that sketch with her horrible cue card reading.

October 17, 2011 6:21 PM
ted hughes
Reply

this show you thought was funny, and the melissa mccarthy one not? hi, my name is dorothy, and i have awakened in the bizarro world.

October 17, 2011 8:52 PM
Kelli Jo
Reply

Wyndemere was the only funny sketch of the whole night! Drake Interview was good too. Poor episode overall.

October 18, 2011 4:29 AM
a
Reply

strange opinions, the book store sketch was defiantly the worst of the night and the gop debate was one of the better ones and i think that was kind of obvious simply by audience laughter

October 18, 2011 7:40 AM
FashionShowAtLunch
Reply

I almost just had coffee coming out of my nose- the Drake interview was surprisingly hilarious.

October 18, 2011 8:51 AM
Art
Reply

I love how consistently the TWoP review and the EW review of SNL are polar opposites of each other. EW lurrved them some Melissa McCarthy, TWoP thought it was the worst hosting ever. TWoP loves Anna Faris, EW says it is a disappointment. It's all opinion, I just think it's funny that it is always the exact opposite opinion.

October 20, 2011 10:05 PM
Coach Handbags Outlet
Reply

As far as we know, they could be Saudi agents trying to stir up trouble between the U.S. and Iran.

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