This week, as Seth Meyers moves from his Late Night Studio 8G back to Saturday Night Live’s Studio 8H, it’s worth remembering some of the things he accomplished during his unusually long tenure at SNL.
Longtime fans and cast members may remember Meyers best as a supportive personality — a background player, a keen editor, or a Weekend Update host shuttling Stefon or Drunk Uncle in or out of the guest chair. But over the course of his 12 years, Meyers found time to get goofy onstage and write a number of memorable sketches (many of which fell in the latter days of his tenure). Here’s a look at some of Meyers’s best, as both a writer and a performer.
The Adventures of Michael Caine and Peter O’Toole
Meyers is not a man about his impressions. While at SNL, he managed to craft credible approximations of wooden, staid figures including John Kerry and Anderson Cooper. He was not, however, a go-to for nuanced portrayals of celebrities. Now, when Jude Law hosted the show in 2004, the two of them played two of Britain’s most revered thespians. The drunken duo wanders into a Taco Bell-Pizza Hut in tuxes and hosts an impromptu talk show, to the befuddlement of all the customers. Even Michael Caine does a Michael Caine impression, so Meyers isn’t really stretching here, but the whole thing is ridiculous fun and it’s clear Meyers is having a good time going broad.
You Call This a House Do Ya?
This sketch takes any one of a gazillion home-makeover shows, transplants it to rural Ireland, and puts it in the hands of the genial Buildin’ Finn McQuinn (Meyers). Ultimately it’s not the tiny home that proves challenging, it’s the suspicious, prickly beneficiary of his labors, Lorken McArdle (Liam Neeson). Even after cramming each wee cliché about the brawlin’, drinkin’, baby-makin’, jiggin’ Irish into five minutes, the sketch still manages to feel fun rather than mean-spirited. At the center, Meyers’s accent may falter, but his enthusiasm never does.
United Way PSA
As if to prove he could collaborate with every segment of the SNL writing population, Meyers worked with the Lonely Island guys to produce this digital short the week Peyton Manning hosted the show. The premise is straightforward: While on the surface promoting teamwork and positivity in kids, Manning’s United Way campaign is really about him bullying them, nailing them with footballs (when they don’t turn fast enough in a post pattern) and otherwise using them to his advantage. It’s always enjoyable to see all-American icons work against their images, and in this sketch, Meyers knows how best to do it.
(Excerpt) See More at: Vulture.com