Good SNL

Just a quick note that we finally caught the episode of Saturday Night Live with Jack Black that ran in December, and this is a good one to catch in reruns. It’s a very musical episode – two songs by musical guest Neil Young, one solo song by Jack Black, one with him as part of his duet, Tenacious D., and two prerecorded musical bits: a funny Robert Smigel cartoon about being Jewish in New York, and a white rap by Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg that got a lot of blogging buzz (as it should; it’s fun). Tracy Morgan makes a funny guest appearance during Weekend Update which I realized watching it a second time wasn’t written for him; they have Kenan and him doing lines that could have been delivered by one character.
And that leads to something I’ve been thinking about lately: over the years, plenty of SNL vets return there in some form. Sometimes they have movies coming out and guest-host episodes. Other times, they pop up on a show for no apparent reason. Generally, it’s good to see them. (Occasionally, I wonder if they’re doing it just to maintain union status; I’ve heard of guest spots on other programs arranged to maintain some actor’s health insurance eligibility.) But one thing struck me the other day: I can list probably dozens of such appearances by male SNLers, going back to Bill Murray’s hosting an episode for the first post-original cast, and continuing up to this year’s appearances by Mike Myers, Tim Meadows, and Tracy. And yet, I can only think of one female cast member to return – Jan Hooks used to show up when they needed a Hilary Clinton. It may well be that I’m forgetting some, but even given how unsatisfied some of the female performers felt about their involvement in that show, it still leaves one wondering why there is less of a female return. (Or maybe it’s just that the female cast members never hit it as big in the movies and such as the most notable males, and thus are less likely to be brought in for hosting?)

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