Will Ferrell made a raucous comeback to Saturday Night Live this week, with a slapstick opening monologue and lead appearances in every skit of the night.
In one bit the Elf actor had his cast mates in fits of giggles, as he played a heavily-tanned reality star who was enraged by his friends cooking chicken at a BBQ.
Ferrell’s equally orange wife (played by Cecily Strong) had decided to ‘stop eating anything that can talk’ after a jaunt in Los Angles – so Ferrell was left to defend her dietary honor.
Return: Will Ferrell made a raucous comeback to Saturday Night Live this week, with a slapstick opening monologue and lead appearances in every skit of the night
‘My wife can’t have chicken…I told you she outgrew these C-words,’ he yelled while aggressively throwing the bloody meat at Beck Bennett.
Moments earlier Ferrell and Strong had been boasting about launching a line of wine that assists weight loss. ‘It’s called slim-fandel,’ said Strong, who could hardly keep a straight face.
The gaudy couple then brought in their reality TV film crew, and promptly initiated an argument with the whole party. Aidy Bryant was laughing so much she had to look down and cover her mouth.
The skit was embedded within an hour of Ferrell-centered comedy, with gags based on sexual harassment, politics, religion and pop culture. A generous smattering of arbitrary, absurdist skits tipped the balance back towards lightweight fun.
Hangry: In one bit the Elf actor had his cast mates in fits of giggles, as he played a heavily-tanned reality star who was enraged by his friends cooking chicken at a BBQ
Tantrum: ‘My wife can’t have chicken…I told you she outgrew these C-words,’ he yelled while aggressively throwing the bloody meat at Beck Bennett
Ferrell was an SNL cast member for seven years, and has appeared numerous times since he left the core team in 2002. Despite his longstanding career with the showthis was his first appearance in Studio 8H in nearly three years. It marked his fourth time as host.
Musical interludes were provided by Grammy winner Chris Stapleton.
The 39-year-old country star belted out Midnight Train To Memphis and Hard Livin’, both tracks from his third studio album, From A Room: Volume 2.
The show opened with Ferrell reliving his role as George W. Bush – with the ‘W’ standing for: ‘Whaaaatttt’s up!’ ‘I don’t know if you’ve read the news lately, I certainly have not, I’ve been too busy doing oil paintings,’ said the 50-year-old comic, while showing off a rudimentary picture of a dog in a hot air balloon.
He’s back: The show opened with Ferrell reliving his role as George W. Bush – with the ‘W’ standing for: ‘Whaaaatttt’s up!’
Popcorn: Leslie Jones played Condi Rice
He noted that his approval rating was at ‘an all time high’ thanks to Donald Trump. ‘A lot of people are saying, ‘I wish George W. Bush was president right about now’,’ he scoffed, while reminding the public that he was ‘historically not good,’ while in office.
‘I get why you don’t like this current guy, heck I voted for Jill Stein all the way, but please don’t look back on my presidency and think this ‘this is how we do it,’ don’t forget we’re still in two wars that I started,’ he continued. Adding: ‘Hey what has two thumbs and created ISIS? This guy!’
He went on to jest about the US election process. ‘Back in my day we didn’t let Russians rig our elections, we used the Supreme Court like Americans.
Ouch: In his opening monologue Ferrell appeared with a trickle of ‘blood’ on his forehead. Seemingly giddy and concussed he pretended to be overwhelmed from the head injury
Drama: Ferrell then starred with Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett in ‘The House’ – a skit based on drama-mongering reality shows, where very little actually happens. Tracey Morgan made a cameo as a man ‘taking a nap’
‘I guess the biggest difference between me and Trump is that I have friends, people actually like me,’ he continued.
In his opening monologue Ferrell appeared with a trickle of ‘blood’ on his forehead. Seemingly giddy and concussed he pretended to be overwhelmed from the head injury.
‘I hit my head on a steel beam so hard I heard a crack,’ he said, before breaking into song, arguing with audience members and lying on a gurney to be carted off for treatment. ‘I think I’m going to like it here…won’t someone pinch me please?’ he wailed.
Scary: An Air Force-themed skit followed, with Ferrell giving himself the call sign ‘Clown Penis’
Watercooler: In a skit based in an office lunchroom Ferrell confused Crate and Barrel with Cracker Barrel. He was so upset when his employees laughed at his mistake that he showered them with insults
An Air Force-themed skit followed, with Ferrell giving himself the call sign ‘Clown Penis’.
‘When an enemy sees me on his tail I want them to feel the same way you’d feel if a clown showed you his penis: Confused, unsettled and most of all very, very scared,’ he told the dispatcher.
Ferrell then starred with Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett in ‘The House’ – a skit based on drama-mongering reality shows, where very little actually happens. Tracey Morgan made a cameo as a man ‘taking a nap’.
Alongside Kate McKinnon Ferrell bumbled his lines repeatedly for a pot pie advertisement at ‘Dickenson’s Roadside Diner’. ‘Baked on my crabby butt,’ he said, when trying to annunciate ‘baked in a crispy, pastry crust’. ‘We raised five boys and some girls, why can’t we say the line?’ They asked themselves.
‘Baked on my crabby butt’: Alongside Kate McKinnon Ferrell bumbled his lines repeatedly for a pot pie advertisement at ‘Dickenson’s Roadside Diner’
Loudred: In Weekend Update Ferrell made a very shouty cameo, attributing his loudness to ‘voice modulation syndrome or VMS’. ‘I have a disease,’ he bellowed
In Weekend Update Ferrell made a very shouty cameo, attributing his loudness to ‘voice modulation syndrome or VMS’. ‘I have a disease,’ he bellowed.
In a skit related to the Aziz Ansari scandal Ferrell and his friends were terrified aboutbroaching the controversial topic.
‘I think if she wanted to leave she could have just left,’ ventured Beck Bennett, as the room went dark and sinister music boomed.
In a skit based in an office lunchroom Ferrell confused Crate and Barrel with Cracker Barrel. He was so upset when his employees laughed at his mistake that he showered them with insults.
Awkward: In a skit related to the Aziz Ansari scandal Ferrell and his friends were terrified aboutbroaching the controversial topic
Uh-oh: ‘I think if she wanted to leave she could have just left,’ ventured Beck Bennett, as the room went dark and sinister music boomed
‘You brought a nasty, nasty prostitute to the holiday party,’ he told SNL newbie Chris Redd. ‘Jason that was my daughter,’ replied Redd. Ferrell then abruptly ‘quit’, taking the water cooler with him.
The Get Hard star also showed off his singing prowess as ‘Chucky Lee Byrd’ the ‘Poet of Teen Love’.
‘She’s my beauty queen and she’s only 17,’ he warbled.
Chucky Lee Byrd then crooned though a series of songs, in which the girls he was dating grew progressively younger.
Beatbox: In another hysterical skit the Anchorman actor played an atheist airline steward, who was rather blunt during his in-flight safety announcements. ‘God’s not real, when you die you’re dead,’ he told the bewildered passengers
Grim: The Get Hard star also showed off his singing prowess as ‘Chucky Lee Byrd’ the ‘Poet of Teen Love’
‘Doesn’t he seem pretty old?’ Asked Kate McKinnon, who branded the ditties as ‘pedophile anthems’. Adding: ‘Obviously this guy’s a pervert and we have to stop the commercial’.
In another hysterical skit the Anchorman actor played an atheist airline steward, who was rather blunt during his in-flight safety announcements. ‘God’s not real, when you die you’re dead,’ he told the bewildered passengers.
‘The afterlife is just a void of black…religion is just a delusion that conceals us from that impermanence,’ he continued before starting a ‘death is final’ chant with the passengers.
Stink: In a crack about men’s ‘stress’ related to the Me Too movement Ferrell and some male SNL castmembers donned a deodorant called ‘Next’
Sweating: The smell-buster was designed for ‘men who are feeling the heat because their ‘Time’s Up’. ‘I just got fired,’ said Ferrell, who noted that the next few weeks were going to ‘sting’, his pits would remain fresh.
In a crack about men’s ‘stress’ related to the Me Too movement Ferrell and some male SNL castmembers donned a deodorant called ‘Next’.
The smell-buster was designed for ‘men who are feeling the heat because their ‘Time’s Up’. ‘I just got fired,’ said Ferrell, who noted that the next few weeks were going to ‘sting’, his pits would remain fresh.
To close the show Ferrell gave a shout out to his son Axel Paulin Ferrell, who ‘turned eight this week’.
SNL continues next week with Natalie Portman and Dua Lipa.
Little bit country: Musical interludes were provided by Grammy winner Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson