SNL: Steve Martin, Candice Bergen, Paul Rudd and Others Welcome Mulaney to 5-Timers Club — Watch
Saturday Night Live‘s 5-Timers Club is getting pretty full, but it managed to squeeze one more member into its ranks this week as John Mulaney once again hosted the show.
There was no Tom Hanks this time; he was the inductee when a sketch first introduced the concept in 1990, and he appeared this past December when Paul Rudd (just barely) joined the club. But on hand to welcome Mulaney were Rudd himself, Steve Martin, Candice Bergen, Elliott Gould and Tina Fey.
Mulaney gets the traditional razzing from the veterans. Bergen doesn’t know who Mulaney is; his reply: “Well Candice, you wouldn’t know me, but if you have a niece or a son who’s bad at sports, they might.” Martin calls him Megan Mullally. Gould doesn’t even remember being on Mulaney’s sitcom.
If you’re wondering what it takes to be a 5-Timer… well, it helps to be able to recover from a flop. Mulaney makes a joke about “Dan Aykroyd’s tequila” that doesn’t get a response, but he wins them back simply with the way he says, “Listen…”
Which is why it’s so weird when Conan O’Brien (the club’s doorman from Hanks’ 1990 induction) shows up, because he’s the master of flop recovery. Not only does SNL‘s director blow O’Brien’s entrance, O’Brien himself fumbles one of his own lines. But a quick miming of him being drunk brings everyone back on board.
Maybe it’s time to get Conan hosting the show. After all, what’s he got going on besides a podcast?
Watch the full sketch by pressing PLAY above, them grade Mulaney’s latest outing in our poll:
This was the strongest episode in ages. Mulaney clearly had a bigger-than-usual hand in the writing (his musical sketches about the dark side of New York are always great), and he has excellent timing as a performer. There were so many decent sketches that they didn’t have time for any “desk characters” during “Weekend Update,” which tend to be hit-or-miss and usually go on too long.
I also appreciated the appearance by the Ukrainian choir — too bad they couldn’t have taken the place of LCD Soundsystem, whose performances sounded like the Talking Heads combined with Radiohead combined with a construction crew.
Well then…this show needs to have his type of writer/comedians hosting every week. As nothing says “living on life support” than trotting out such incredibly tired skits like the “5 Timers Club”. I mean enough already…sheesh!
The Five-Timers Club is their tradition & is not going anywhere, Not enough common sense.
I actually agree that’s a tired concept by now (and I doubt Mulaney had much to do with it). But it still had some funny lines — and if a mediocre sketch with a bunch of fun cameos was the low point of the night, they’re still doing awfully well.
I honestly know nothing about this guy, but he’s one of the funniest SNL hosts in recent years. I always tune in to his episodes & hardly ever fast forward & they’re almost always funny which is rare these days.
Wow, what a club. They all have something else in common when I look at them. I can’t quite put my finger on it……
I have no idea who this guy is, but, apparently, he’s funny. And, I guess, that’s all that really matters. I love Steve Martin so much! He’s one of the few people who can consistently make me laugh. He, like Eddie Murphy, is a comedic genius.