SNL: Bein' Quirky with Zooey Deschanel

Saturday Night Live S37E14: "Zooey Deschanel/Karmin"

Is it just me, or was this weekend's Saturday Night Live one of the best of the season? With the notable exceptions of a witless cold open that not even the crickets in Studio 8H could be bothered to rub their legs together for, as well as two grating performances by a pop duo called "Karmin" whose act made me far angrier than Lana Del Rey's ever did, the episode repeatedly delighted. I am going to give credit here to Zooey Deschanel, who put in one of the strongest hosting turns in years. Zooey was pitch-perfect: Relaxed, ready to spoof her own quirk-goddess image when necessary, and adept at getting lost inside whatever characters the writers tossed at her.

Zooey's monologue was exactly what you would expect a Zooey SNL monologue to be, and involved a ukelele, a half-moon, a heart-covered dress, and a sweet songs about forgetting Valentine's Day. This is basically Zooey hater ammunition right here, but I found it cute and engaging without trying too hard.

A trio of ads spoofed Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America" commercial for Chrysler that got people talking the day after the Super Bowl. That ad was ripe for parody, and these made the most of it. I love Bill Hader's Clint, with his pants hiked up to his nipples and a voice like Christian Bale in The Dark Knight. Did anyone else have flashbacks to Abed in Community's first Halloween episode?

The Piers Morgan Tonight sketch was positively inspired, with Taran Killam turning in a perfect rendition of the CNN blockhead. (Killam has really pulled ahead of the pack lately—but I must say, I'm bummed to see the subtler Paul Britain gone. He quietly pulled out of the show two weeks ago. RIP Lord Wyndemere and Britain's great James Franco.) Best parts of the sketch: Zooey as the Million Moms, One Finger representative promoting a rubber band that prevents flipping the bird, and Andy Samberg as the tightrope-bouncing guy who stole the spotlight from Queen Madge. The visual of him going up and down on the wire with those big, floppy legs was superb.

"Les Jeunes de Paris" did a black-and-white tribute to The Artist, featuring a cameo from the film's star, Jean Dujardin. And while I don't care about The Artist, I did care for this awesome Frenchy dance-a-thon. Best parts: Dujardin falling for a pair of hot legs in high heels, only to discover they were Taran's, and when Taran, Jean, Zooey and Kristen Wiig all tap-danced together. Fun!

I include the "Newspaper" sketch for one reason: Because Kristen Wiig is a genius. She literally looks, sounds, and acts like a 1940s film siren, and I don't think she stumbled once while delivering that high-speed, tongue-twisting dialogue. I was dazzled.

Okay, now on to my two favorite sketches of the night. The first, "Bein' Quirky with Zooey Deschanel" put Abby Elliott-as-Zooey in a vintage kitchen set, hosting a show dedicated to celebrating her own quirkiness. That left Zooey to play one of the Olsen Twins, who can remember which, which was okay, but they are more just kinda sickly and homeless-looking than quirky. But Taran did the greatest Michael Cera impression, ever. I laughed every time he opened his mouth.

And then there was Nicolas Cage appearing next to Samberg's Nicolas Cage on "Weekend Update." Putting the real celebrity next to the celebrity impression is always a recipe for comedy gold on SNL—Jimmy Fallon looking at his reflection in the mirror was a recent example, and Sarah Palin vs. Tina Fey's Sarah will go down in history—and this was no exception. In fact, I predict it will go down as an all-time classic. Seeing Samberg there in his fake hairplugs next to the real McCoy, who played it amazingly straight (of course he did), well, it was just a sight to behold. The Nic-on-Nic praise-off inspired some particularly hilarious dialogue: "I love your scent: Musky and masculine like that of a silverback gorilla in a formfitting leather jacket."

There were a few stinkers buried at the end of the show, but even those were hard to completely hate on. One, involving Victorian ladies writing to each other about the loser men in their lives, was saved by the image of Jay Pharoah with one tooth. The second, in which Wiig and Deschanel played two women who said "y'all" a lot and teased a crab feast party that never materialized, was just kind of terrible, yet I kept watching all the way through to see if they produced any crab, even though I knew they wouldn't. Then I started craving crab! Which is weird because I never eat crab.

Finally, a return of "Technology Hump," the weird gadget-porn sketch that I'm pretty sure makes everyone uncomfortable. Still, I enjoyed the little details, like making the pager spell "BOOBS." Also, did anyone notice that Samberg had a cold sore in this sketch? Stay away from the label printer, Andy! I hear she has herpes.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. What did you think? Did I miss any of your favorite sketches?