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Will Ferrell Hosted "Saturday Night Live" Had an Outstanding First Half, But the Back Half Needed More Cowbell

By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 13, 2012 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 13, 2012 |


Happy Mother’s Day, folks. Will Ferrell hosted last night’s “Saturday Night Live,” and you know what? He was good. It was definitely a front-loaded episode, but thanks to a few cameos, the 100th Digital Short, Ferrell’s Bush impersonation, and an Ana Gastayer appearance, it was a solid first half. Unfortunately, my favorite skit of the night — with Ferrell and Gastayer reforming the singing Kulps at an LGBT Alternative Prom — is not embeddable.

What you also may notice in particular about last night’s episode was the omnipresence of Jason Sudeikis, who was in nearly every skit. It’s probably his second-to-last show, so after a season in which he was largely absent, it’s good to see him go out with a few high notes.

Here are the highlights, sans the LGBT Alternative Prom.

The Cold Open had Jason Sudeikis’ Joe Biden chumming it up with his “imaginary friend,” Will Ferrell’s George Bush. The impersonations were better than the skit, but Sudeikis and Ferrell definitely have a nice chemistry together.

Ferrell’s Monologue was a speech to his actual mother, which was more sweet than funny.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around what was funny about the Nasaflu Commercial, but that last bit was kind of amusing.

Will Forte returned for another edition of ESPN Classic with Jason Sudeikis, and this recurring skit always kills.

The 100th Digital Short was basically a medley of many of the best Digital Shorts, wrapped around a dick-sucking song. Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, and Justin Timberlake brought the house down with what might end up being “SNL’s” final Digital Short, if Samberg leaves at the end of the season, as is rumored.

Weekend Update was down right fantastic last night, as Meyers had a lot of news to work with, Liam Neeson’s cameo in “Get in the Cage” was great, and Meyer’s “Really?” segment on the Time magazine cover was funnier than it had any right to be.



The back half of the show really isn’t worth revisiting, and I was sad not to see Ferrell bring back his Alex Trebek or his Harry Carey, but there was a dress rehearsal skit, Grady Wilson’s Wild N’ Hawaii, that was cut from the show that you might want to check out.