The writers seemed to make a greater effort this week to write for the show host, Jude Law. This fine actor took on a variety of roles (a 1960s Russian ballet master, a sauve Spanish murderer, himself) and he pulled each off perfectly. But in a week when the strongest performances came from pre-recorded video, musical guest Pearl Jam and a completely unexpected appearance, it wasn’t enough to make Law the most interesting thing on the screen.

Even his monologue, a Cliffs Notes of his experience starring as Hamlet on Broadway, seemed to fall short. Here’s what did hit the mark.

Faux commercials! There were several of them this week, including one repeat.

We’ve seen the Kickspit Underground Rock Festival before. But the ultimate in brainstorming every awful thing you can imagine happening at a music event is still funny. Bad bands (Mrs. Potato Dick), bad guest appearances (Mark Furhman), bad giveaways (pitchforks) and bad ideas (no Port-a-Johns).

Mocking Toyota’s recent recall and PR nightmare, this commercial couldn’t stop being funny if it tried.

For all the single ladies, Broadview Security will not only save your life, it’ll save you a lot of money in door replacement costs.

That unexpected appearance was Jerry Seinfeld, who stopped by Weekend Update to weigh in on the Eric Massa scandal. Almost needless to say, this bit was far funnier than the show’s first attempt: an exit interview cold open. Seinfeld and Seth Meyers really captured what I imagine is our nation’s shared sense of exasperated pseudo-confusion about the Congressman’s reaction to his situation… as if we’re all squinting our eyes, dog-cocking our heads and saying “Really!?!”

When it came to cast performance, Law’s second nod at his Broadway “Hamlet” stint really brought out some of the character heavy guns. Playing the actors Law went up against in his audition were Bill Hader as Al Pacino, Andy Samberg as Nicholas Cage, Bobby Moynahan as Nathan Lane and Jason Sudeikis as Sam Elliott. That last was my personal fave, primarily because it honed in on my favorite movie, “The Big Lebowski.” (“The butt abides!”)

But of all the sketches, the one that makes the truly funny cut this week is a spoof of “Twilight Zone.” The black and white backdrop, the spooky theme and Bill Hader as the foreboding announcer all set the tone to creepy, but the outcome was nothing short of hilarious. Bobby Moynahan was a riotious rendition of the thing on the plane. Nasim Pedrad, Abby Elliot and Jude Law were perfect as the stewardess and the couple respectively. And I won’t spoil where Pearl Jam makes their mark here.

Pearl Jam was also perfect during two performances from their last album “Backspacer,” “Just Breathe” and “Unthought Known.”

Following the second performance we inadvertently got a promo for the March 20, 2010 episode (Sigourney Weaver and the Ting Tings), which makes me think everyone’s a little tired.

Maybe when the show returns April 10 the writers will be rested enough to keep up with Tina Fey as host. Hell, she’ll probably just write everything herself, if she hasn’t already. Justin Bieber will be musical guest.

We reported on March 8 that it had become official that Betty White, due to overwhelming online support, would appear on a future episode of Saturday Night Live.

But at the time, no one was giving out details about in what capacity she would appear. Their were rumors that the former Golden Girls star would be part of a “women in comedy” special, and not necessarily as the host.

But now, we can tell you that White will, in fact host the May 8 episode, which is being billed as special Mother’s Day episode, according to People via WNBC. Former female SNL cast members Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch are also scheduled to appear that night.

Suffice it to say, we can’t wait for this!

The web has spoken! Betty White confirmed to People that she will in fact be making an appearance on Saturday Night Live in the near future. For those of you not up to speed, a Facebook campaign urging the 88-year-old comedy veteran to appear on America’s favorite sketch show was launched weeks ago and has garnered almost a half a million fans.

According to People, “When asked by, ‘Are you doing Saturday Night Live,’ she answered, ‘Yes,’ even if she remains perplexed by the groundswell of support. ‘I don’t know why or how,’ she says, ‘but it’s been wonderful.’ White didn’t offer any details about the SNL gig, and it remains unclear when she will appear – or what it will entail.”

Stay tuned for more info! And while you’re at it, why not watch the below clip, wherein White’s Golden Girls’ character finds herself in an awkward condom-buying situation.

If you watched Saturday Night Live this weekend, you noticed that host Zach Galifianakis shaved his famous beard for one of the sketches. We’d show you that sketch, but NBC hasn’t uploaded it onto their site. But what we can show you is Zach shaving his beard backstage at SNL. True Zach fans, however, will know that this is not the first time ZG has been filmed shaving his manly beard. He did the same thing for the extras in his 2007 DVD Live from the Purple Onion. We’ve dropped that video below as well. It starts at the 3:50 mark. Enjoy!

The difference between the single funniest monologue I’ve ever seen on Saturday Night Live and pretty much the rest of the show this week? Night and day.

Leave it to Zach Galifianakis to be his twisted self, but to find a way to make it palatable for Middle America. He pandered to the mainstream through self-mockery and common reference, but balanced it for the indies though razor-sharp wit. He was brilliantly awkward, confidently off-kilter and slyly honest while he tip-toed along the edge.

He tenderly tweaked even the most traditional aspects of the monologue “It’s great to be back hosting Saturday Night Live!” (He’s never hosted.) “We have a great show for you tonight. Hoobastank is here! No?” (The musical guest was Vampire Weekend.)

The writing, the timing, everything was spot-on and those deadpanned lines are sure to live on for a while in the retelling. I could spend this entire post going on and on about this mere seven minutes, but let me yield to your viewing pleasure.

Now begrudgingly I say… on with the show.

When you’ve got Zach friggin’ Galifianakis as your star, you do not rehash a bunch of old premises! Wait, unfortunately, I guess you do if you’re writing for Saturday Night Live.

If I were giving the show a one-word review, that word would be lazy. Oh, you’re out of that? Well, just give me disappointing. Oh, you’re out of that? Well, just give me uninspired.

As soon as I realized that the first sketch was “The Vogelchecks” (that overdone, overly affectionate family bit), I groaned… audibly. Bill Hader got a little unnatural with a dog. Not to be outdone, Fred Armisen tongued the entire face of a corpse (Will Forte), finally full-on making out with him. Too bad one-upmanship isn’t synonymous with funny.

What else? Let’s just stick Zach in a Today bit as a background crazy dude crazy guy who’s trying to get with Hoda Kotb (Jenny Slate), a “Situation Room” bit as a cut-away character and a “What’s Up With That?” bit as ambidextrous disco flute player RJ Sizzle.

Only two sketches seemed to be written specifically for the host.

He, Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg got together for “Bidet,” a mediocre scene that focused on the insinuated freakiness a couple plans to get into with their hotel bidet.

And while Vampire Weekend performed its second, excellent song, someone was busy backstage getting into his final costume for his final sketch, “Pageant Talk.” There’s no NBC video for this one, so you’ll simply have to imagine a beardless (!) Galifianakis as a gay pageant-obsessed father.

All told, the only real nugget the writers came up with for what could have been a viral smorgasbord was the digital short “Zach Drops by the Set.” In this video compilation, Galifianakis inserts himself into NBC properties including (but not limited to) The Nightly News with Brian Williams, 30 Rock and Law and Order.

In short, the night before the Oscars might not have been the right time to slot a next-generation-friendly host who’s apparently too funny for SNL writers to handle. At the very least they should have swapped this week with next, when Jude Law hosts and the musical guest is Pearl Jam.

It’s the interior of the White House, the president’s bedroom. It’s night. Gerald Ford stumbles in. He’s befuddled. He prat falls onto a table. “Live from New York…”

But this is no Saturday Night Live sketch. History has come alive on Funny or Die in an exclusive, star-studded video. Rather than mince words, let me cut to the chase.

• Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford
• Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter
• Jim Carrey as Ronald Reagan
• Dana Carvey as George HW Bush
• Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton
• Will Ferrell as George W. Bush
• Fred Armisen as Barack Obama
• Maya Rudolph as Michelle Obama

Put Ron Howard in charge (or as in charge as anyone could be with this bunch) and get them going on a politically charged cause (creating a Consumer Finance Protection Agency for credit card and bank regulation), and there you have Funny or Die’s “Presidential Reunion.” If the Kings of Comedy were humor’s equivalent of a supergroup, then this is its “We Are the World.”

It’s not necessarily funny, though it’s got a few crack-up lines (“As George Washington once said to John Adams…”). It’s more worthwhile for the sweet nostalgia and impressive all-in-one-place cast.

So far the precedent-setting, presidential clip (above) is accompanied by a quick Behind the Scenes montage (below) and an extended version of Dana Carvey’s dream sequence (even more below). Knowing FOD, there are more extras to come.

Jennifer Lopez may be more attractive, but Zach Galifianakis has a thicker beard. And for that reason, he will prove to be a superior host of Saturday Night Live. Also, because he’s a comedian, and smart and funny. In the event, you still weren’t aware, Zach will be on hosting duties tomorrow night on the hit or miss sketch show. Last night, he visited Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, to talk about it. Don’t believe us? Well, we didn’t just invent this clip you’re about to watch below.

When we launched this site in 2005, we were already huge fans of Zach Galifianakis. And it’s been a pleasure watching the world of entertainment and comedy embrace a man so full of absurd musings that were seemingly not ready for mainstream audiences to digest. While the tone of his stand-up has remained constant throughout the years, – maintaining the credibility its always had – the masses have taken to Zach. It gives us faith in humanity.

The most recent piece of proof of all of this? He’s hosting Saturday Night Live this week. Below, check out some early promos from NBC featuring Zach and SNL cast member Will Forte.

How effing excited are you for this?

Let’s hear it for the girls! First we got Jennifer Lopez pulling double-duty as guest and musical host of this week’s episode. But to top that, we also got a strong showing by female cast members Kristen Wiig, Nasim Pedrad, Jenny Slate and Abby Elliott throughout the show! Slate gave us new car horns to go with our new doorbells. Pedrad gave us a little girl haunted by the band Smash Mouth. If it wasn’t by chicks, it was for chicks.. Oh yes, it was ladies night… and the feeling was, well, mostly right.

Opening the show, Keenan Thompson as Quincy Jones introduced “We Are the World 3: Raising Awareness of the ‘We are the World 2’ Disaster.” Between plenty of PC-preemptive disclaimers, the parody poked fun at the tragically bad recent remake, proceeds of which benefit earthquake victims in Haiti.

It was a cast showcase kicked off by Lopez as a spot-on Rihanna (squeezing in an “-ella, -ella” for good measure and good laughs). Wiig (Gwen Stefani), Pedrad (Shakira), Slate (Lady Gaga) and Elliott (Melissa Etheridge) all came out to play. So did Bill Hader as a comically creepy Eddie Vedder, Andy Samberg as a dead-on dorky Josh Groban, Will Forte as a whiny Willie Nelson, Bobby Moynihan as David Crosby and Jason Sudeikis as Adam Lambert. The who’s-who was a hoot, and the lyrics were funny enough… but some of the best laughs were visual cues from the real video.

After a ho-hum monologue, J-Lo took on Wiig in a new installment of ESPN Classic, commentated by Sudeikis and Forte and sponsored by Gyne-Lotrimin. “When you got something fungal deep down in your lady jungle…” It was funny, sure, but didn’t come near the humor mark that the previous “Douche!” version did.

Now, if you’re looking for perfect delivery, you need look no further than the digital short “Flags of the World.” Not only was it funny – in that quick spastic grunt chuckle way – but it demands multiple viewings just to catch all the fantastic references being squeezed in. In particular, note the timely and potentially future-telling “We Love Betty White” flag (That Facebook fan campaign to make Betty White an SNL host might pay off!). Plus the song itself is an absolute earworm.

Lopez was a great sport about poking fun at herself and her culture in several sketches. As a viewer, you didn’t need to be bilingual or come from a tropical climate to appreciate the stereotypical silliness of Telemundo covering the Winter Olympics. Lopez and co-anchor Fred Armisen sprinkled Spanish phrases and thick accents in with such commentary as “This is the madness that happens when a country has no beaches.” and “Did you know there are places with sunshine and with dancing?”

Employing simple Spanish phrases, seductive cut-away promos and fabulous overacting, the Telenovela “Besos & Lagrimas” is a staple segment when a high-profile Latino or Latina is on hand. Previously featuring Christina Aguilera and Antonio Banderas, this time Lopez appeared as a nun in love with a married man.

While “Weekend Update” itself had little to offer, the two guests were worth seeing.

Armisen gave us what could conceivably be the last we’ll see of his David Paterson, per the news that the real Paterson won’t run for reelection. At first he seemed coy, offering the mere allusion to his one punchline, New Jersey. But he finally gave it up several times, including a bit of crowd participation. “We’ll miss you,” Meyers told the character. Something tells me New Jersey will give SNL an excuse to bring him back.

And Moynihan wins the “That’s so true it’s funny” award of the night for his portrayal as a New Media Correspondent trying to show off a YouTube video. The real irony in this will be if you click on the video below and find yourself thinking “Ugh. It’s buffering!” So meta!

Speaking of so true it’s funny, the quick and quirky “Undercover Celebrity Jobs” was one of those sketches that pokes fun at real programming, but could be mistaken by a network exec as a great idea. Armisen as janitor Steve Jobs, Hader as secretary Richard Branson, Elliott and Slate as warehouse working Olsen Twins and Wigg as a bitchy non-dishwashing Martha Stewart are each laugh out loud funny!

Finally, just in case you’re cursing me because you’re still singing that “Flags of the World” song, I’ll leave you with this: Slate’s suggestions for personalized car horns. Whaaaaat?

Next week, Zach Galifianakis hosts and Vampire Weekend is the musical guest. Looking forward to some twisted, indie-tastic stuff there!

It was a bit of a surprise when Casey Wilson was dumped from the cast of Saturday Night Live in September of last year, 19 months after landing the gig. But if a just-announced project for Wilson ends up hitting the airwaves, the comedy lords at NBC might regret their decision.

Wilson was cast as the lead in an ABC pilot called Endings, which, as Reuters reports, “revolves around a couple who, after breaking up at the altar must figure out how they and their four friends can maintain their relationship.”

Damon Wayans’ son, Damon Wayans JR, is also part of the cast.

While we enjoyed Wilson on SNL, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the sketch actress is the word-for-word scene remakes of Tango and Cash she produced with Janeane Garofalo. Check one out below.