'Saturday Night Live' Recap: Lena Dunham Hosts; The National Performs

by uInterviewMarch 9, 2014, 12:00 amNews >

Saturday Night Live this weekend was hosted by Girls star Lena Dunham, who used her TV persona to provide some laughs for the sketch show – particularly when it came to doing a parody of her hit HBO show.

Girls Parody

Dunham and Tarran Killam played the Bible’s Adam and Eve, debating their lives while naked in the Garden of Eden. Channeling Hannah Horvath, Dunham’s Eve pressed Adam to define their relationship and displayed some feminist outrage when he suggested that God made her from his rib. Vanessa Bayer as Soshanna was the snake – convincing Eve to eat the apple. Eve, when confronted by God, wasn’t having it.

“Can you please not apple shame me right now?” said Eve. “Seriously, I know I committed original sin, but at least it’s original.”

Cold Open

Jay Pharoah did his best Barack Obama impersonation to reimagine the president’s verbal takedown of Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Turning up to help Obama was Liam Neeson. “Recently, I got a very disturbing call. Crimea had been taken,” said Neeson, star of Taken and Taken 2. “I hate it when things are taken.”

Dunham’s Monologue

Dunham is a talented writer, a solid actress and an overall talented and entertaining individual. Doing a comedic monologue, however, isn’t her strong suit. The main bit involved SNL castmembers telling her their sexual secrets and it all more or less fell flat.

Scandal

Finally, Sasheer Zamata had her first main part to play on Saturday Night Live since making her debut earlier this year – Scandal’s Olivia Pope. Mocking the show’s missions that seem to miraculously come together in hours, Pope issues spitfire orders to her team of Gladiators. There was an ongoing joke with Dunham’s newbie character, who couldn’t understand how things got done so quickly. The best joke of the skit, however, came when Killam’s Fitz grazes Olivia’s face with his hand and she instantaneously becomes unraveled.

Weekend Update

Colin Jost returned next to Cecily Strong for Weekend Update, appearing a bit more at ease this time around. The best part of the SNL staple came when Jost interviewed Matthew McConaughey (Killam) fresh off his Oscar win. “Don’t congratulate me. Congratulate the man I was a week ago,” he said, mocking the actor’s acceptance speech. ”Congratulate the man I’m chasing. Congratulate the man who never existed.”

Pimpin’ Pimpin’ With Katt Williams

Another Oscar-focused sketch came in the form of “Pimpin’ Pimpin’ with Katt Williams," where the host chatted with Liza Minelli (Dunham), Harrison Ford (Killam) and Lena Dunham (Noel Wells). Naturally, there were jokes about Ellen DeGeneres’ “Good job, sir,” crack and Ford’s earring.

O-o-h Child/ You’re Being Crazy

A group of four friends head out on a short road trip – an iPod providing both the music and the GPS. Every time Dunham’s character started to sing along, the GPS interrupted her. It was a pretty on point “it’s funny because it’s true” sketch. A less successful “it’s funny because it’s true” sketch involved Dunham and Nasim Pedrad playing middle school girls making their livestream debut. The “What are you even doing?” and “You’re being crazy!” catchphrases got old fast. Not even a Jon Hamm cameo could save it.