SNL: Leno, Conan, And "James Cameron's Laser Cats 5"

Though it appears that most of our commenters weren’t big fans of last night’s Saturday Night Live, judging by the reaction in our SNL live thread, there were a few highlights from yesterday’s Sigourney Weaver-hosted show:

The show opened with a take on the Leno/Conan situation, with Darrell Hammond returning to show of his Jay Leno impression. The whole thing was pretty meh. You got the sense that they were playing it a bit safe, (or perhaps they were told to play it a bit safe) and while Hammond’s Leno was annoying, he certainly wasn’t as unsympathetic as he may have been. Fred Armisen’s Larry King was really the best part of the skit, though:




"James Cameron’s Laser Cats 5" was goofy but fun, especially with Sigourney Weaver reprising her Ripley role to battle laser kittens alongside Bill Hader:




And once again, Abby Elliott comes through with a somewhat random impression—this time, it was Meryl Streep, whom Elliott played as a faux-modest wine lover:




The rest of the show was pretty lackluster, including an Avatar skit that basically revolved around Bill Hader having sex on Pandora, and the introduction of Fred Armisen’s new "Riley" character, who, in the vein of Kristen Wiig’s Gilly and Horatio Sanz’ Carol, is sure to be an irritating new addition to the show who will most likely drive everyone insane. It’s especially irritating that Riley’s catchphrase is "bitchhh!" yelled in an obnoxious way, as it brings back memories of a superior character: Michaela Watkins’ Angie Tempura.




And finally, Sigourney Weaver reads everything you write about her on the internet. Yikes. Let’s hope she doesn’t look at last night’s open thread, eh?