Justin Timberlake is hosting SNL, and other than Christopher Walken, John Goodman, and Alec Baldwin, he is the best guest host EVAH.
*** Update ***
Looks like the SNL writers think like I do and brought back all the great repeat hosts for the “5 Club” skit.
kansi
Dunno. Goes back a ways, but Steve Martin was no slouch.
schrodinger's cat
Japanese Tunch brings the sleepy back.
the Conster
dick in a box is one for the ages.
Badmoodman
WalkeN, please.
Tod Westlake
Buck Henry?
GR
Our host will have to spend a week in the cruel shoes for omitting Steve Martin.
Tom Hanks was also no slouch. “Hey, it’s Tony Randall!”
TR
Walkem if ya got ’em.
FlipYrWhig
Last week’s show was one of the worst in a long time. And I actually like Kevin Hart.
FlipYrWhig
@GR: Tom Hanks was terrific. I like the one where he and his family keep sharing the unpleasant experiences: “ooh, ew, this smells terrible. Smell it.” “this chair is full of splinters, ow! Now you sit on it.” Etc.
El Cid
Bring it on down to Liquorville!
some guy
Cock-In-A-Box!
NotMax
George Carlin? Rodney Dangerfield? Michael J. Fox?
Madeline Kahn? John Larroquette? William Shatner?
Narcissus
SNL needs new writing talent
mainmati
Steve Martin single best host ever, though the others mentioned also good. Billy Crystal also good.
mainmati
@Narcissus: The writing crucially depends upon the talent because this is sketch comedy. So that’s why SNL has varied wildly over the many years but also why it continues to be popular – it’s unpredictable.
? Martin
@efgoldman: Paul Simon was the most frequent host for quite a long time.
devtob
Steve Martin is the best ever — Wild and Crazy Guys, Theodoric of York, King Tut, the dance scene with Gilda Radner, etc.
Mornington Crescent
Yes, definitely Buck Henry as “Uncle Roy”.
handsmile
This might be considered cheating, but via Wiki, the “List of Saturday Night Live Episodes” (includes hosts, musical guests and air dates):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Saturday_Night_Live_episodes
Buck Henry and Elliott Gould were frequent SNL hosts in the early years. I love that in its second season hosts included Ralph Nader, Julian Bond, and Fran Tarkenton. Glory days!
22over7
I don’t know if I could pick a best host (so many) but Paul Simon and George Harrison were the best act I ever saw on television…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiOr5WoAJgg
Mornington Crescent
Oh yes, Julian Bond. He apologized on air before doing the sketch (something like “sorry about that, but here we go”) and then did this with Garrett Morris:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8QEIaATPis
22over7
Also the Reverend Jackson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxPciXcJvc
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mornington Crescent: something Carrie Fisher’s 30 Rock character probably came up with. Or… who was the legendary writer: Mike O’Donohue?
Hill Dweller
Timberlake is a mediocre musician and a mediocre actor. In a just world, he’d spend his career as a back up dancer.
? Martin
@Hill Dweller:
But an excellent entertainer. Lots of excellent musicians are terrible entertainers.
Yutsano
Is Ashley in?
(warning: Hufflepuff link)
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@handsmile: If we’re talking about old school SNL hosts, we surely have to revisit the Five-Timers Club. (Sorry, can’t find a video link.
handsmile
@efgoldman:
Well, the first year did include Anne Murray, Neil Sedaka and Desi Arnaz padre e hijo, but after flushing that out of the system, MIGAWD! seasons two through four are just astounding! So eclectic and adventurous. Sun Ra! Ornette Coleman!
hilts
@NotMax:
Also too Richard Pryor and Lily Tomlin.
Hill Dweller
@Hill Dweller: We’ll have to agree to disagree. I think TImberlake is a poser.
As an aside, I’ve heard he is a terrible human being when the camera isn’t on.
CaseyL
This is a bit OT, since it’s not about SNL, but I just wanted to say: I hate SyFy. They keep canceling shows I love… and then scheduling wonderful new ones, so I have to keep watching their damn channel.
I just swallowed the first 5 episodes of “Continuum” in one gulp. It’s everything I love in a TV show: smart characters and dialog; very good SFX, believable tension; ambivalence about who the good guys are; strong female lead and supporting cast, and male colleagues who don’t condescend to them… all that, plus a really cool premise:
In 2077, in a nation and world ruled by major corporations, a group of condemned terrorist-freedom fighters escape execution by triggering a time-travel bomb that takes them back 60 years, to our time… and a police officer who happened to be nearby gets taken along, too. She’s Kiera Cameron, and she’s got a cybernetic suit as well as a number of bioengineered enhancements.
The terrorists want to change the future (their present) by changing the past (our present). Kiera wants to stop them.
But the deeper we get into the series, the less simple things look.
(The show, BTW, is not made in the United States. It’s a Canadian series. I doubt any production company in the US would want to make a series whose premise calls our current political-economic structure so much into question.)
Oh, SyFy. I wish I could quit you.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Who can forget Joe Montana’s turn at hosting? Montana probably hopes people have forgotten it.
John Cole
@Hill Dweller: If you just watched the Veganville skit on SNL and still do not get why people love JT as a performer, you are lost.
the Conster
Have you seen him and Fallon do the history of rap? Extremely entertaining.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
I loved the episodes hosted by Martin back in the ’70s, but his later spots go to show that when the host is capable of delivering a line, then it’s the writing and not necessarily the host that makes SNL work.
That said, I prefer Baldwin and Walken to Martin.
And that said, if I had a desert island episode of SNL, it would be the one hosted by Michael Jordan. That one was great from the cold open through the closing credits.
kc
“Maine Justice,” hahaha!
mouse tolliver
@CaseyL:
Yeah, I could never forgive them for what they did to Farscape. It was all — Yay! A happy ending. Oh no, wait! Now they’re dead! Show’s over. KTHXBAI
Even if they tried to undo the damage with a miniseries that had a proper ending, it just wasn’t the same. Too many continuity issues and unsatisfying resolutions.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@efgoldman:
FWIW Netflix streams Merlin.
JordanRules
@Hill Dweller: Disagree on both points and I’ve heard the opposite about him off-camera. Funny that.
Hill Dweller
@John Cole: Aside from the Louis CK appearance last year, I haven’t watched SNL in a long time(probably a decade).
FlipYrWhig
@The prophet Nostradumbass: There is one GREAT sketch from the Joe Montana episode. The one where Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks are fooling around and they tell their thoughts in voice-over. And Montana is Hartman’s roommate who is the most sincere guy ever. So Hartman and Hooks keep having their voice-overs be dirty, and Montana’s voice-over is just identical to what he just said. It’s hilarious.
ETA: ooh, ooh, found the video!
YellowJournalism
@FlipYrWhig: Tom Hanks needs to go back to his comedy roots. I loved the skit he always did with Jon Lovitz as the loser brothers who cut themselves down. His “5” skit was hilarious, too. Paul Simon had a wonderful cameo in it, as well.
All this talk of late-80’s Paul Simon makes me want to watch the video for “Call Me Al.”
The prophet Nostradumbass
@FlipYrWhig: Is this the one where he says how he’s going to go into his room and masturbate? Oh god, it is.
ETA: Man, Phil Hartman was awesome.
Hill Dweller
@JordanRules: Are you really suggesting Timberlake is anything more than a mediocre actor? Keep in in mind he got far better roles than he deserved/earned, but still was crap.
As for his music, he has great taste in producers…
I could say my sister-in-law is in the business(on the financial/representation side), which is true, but this is the internet, so I’ll point to some public stuff that illustrates Timberlake’s douchey behavior.
JT used to host a golf tournament with the Shriners in Vegas. They parted ways because, as Tournament chairman Raoul Frevel said, he refused to spend time with the kids when the cameras stopped rolling.
Also too, his charity, Justin Timberlake Foundation, was shady. It likely was nothing but a tax dodge, because most years it gave far less money away than what they claimed as expenses on his taxes.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Hi, I’m Troy McClure…
Suzanne
Joe Pesci was also an incredible host. Thinking about his sketch where he goes shopping for a pinky ring still makes me crack up.
lojasmo
@Hill Dweller:
Not a timberlake fan, but he was quite good in “Trouble With the Curve” sort of dissappeared into ther role, AND he’s in the upcoming Cohen brothers Film “Inside Llewellyn Davis”
kc
@FlipYrWhig:
I remember that one; makes me giggle just thinking about it.
kc
@Hill Dweller:
Sorry to hear that, but ah, well. Alec Baldwin is a HUGE douchebag in his personal life, but a brilliant actor.
gogol's wife
@FlipYrWhig:
That is so funny. Phil Hartman was a comic genius.
I almost never watch SNL any more. I am sort of addicted to watching the BeeGee talk show on YouTube, where Jimmy Fallon is Barry and Justin Timberlake is one of the other brothers, maybe Robin? Timberlake’s good on that one.
Paul in KY
Steve Martin was pretty good host back in the day.
John’s too young to remember him ;-)
Edit: The 1st post stole my thunder!