Sergio, Scott Brown, And Snooki: Jon Hamm Awkwardly Dances His Way Into Our Hearts On Last Night's SNL

Jon Hamm has only hosted two episodes of Saturday Night Live, yet between his first performance in October 2008 and last night’s episode, he’s proving to be one of those hosts that seemingly elevates the show to a new level.

After a cold open centered around the State of the Union address, Hamm kicked off the show with a monologue that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night, mocking his Don Draper persona by placing him in a variety of silly situations, including a mock Saved by the Bell episode. The entire show stayed on ridiculous mode after the monologue, getting progressively sillier as the night went on, which was a welcome change from the dark comedy that’s been dominating the show over the past few seasons:




I’m not even sure how to properly describe the amazingness and absurdity of the night’s digital sketch, featuring Andy Samberg (naturally) as a man cursed to be followed by an insane sax player named Sergio, played by Jon Hamm, so it’s probably best if you watch it for yourself:




Bobby Moynihan got another chance to show off his Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi impression on Weekend Update, appearing orange-r than ever before:




The show also addressed the recent election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, portraying him as an awkwardly-dancing sex object to be lusted over by prominent Democrats:

My favorite skit of the night was probably the "Hamm and Buble" skit, featuring Hamm and Buble playing themselves in a spin-off of Hamm’s earlier "Jon Hamm’s John Hamm" skit. Buble is surprisingly hilarious as Hamm’s restaurant partner hostage:




Another highlight was the call back between this ridiculous Closet Organizer commercial:

And this slightly darker skit that followed, where we learned the "Closet Organizer Guy’s" real name:

Overall, it was the best SNL I’ve seen in quite some time, partially due to Hamm’s natural comedic ability, but also because the show relied more on absurd, stupid, silly humor than on the usual gay joke-violence joke-death joke pattern that seems to be the norm as of late. The more ridiculous the show became, the more fun it became to watch, as it looked like everyone involved was enjoying themselves as much as the audience was. After a total dud of a show hosted by Sigourney Weaver, Hamm seems to have gotten things back on track. Let’s hope the next host, Ashton Kutcher, can keep things moving in the right direction. Or, at the very least, that Hamm won’t wait another year and a half before returning to the SNL stage.