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Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf!!!

Aside from watching him during the Project Greenlight reality show series that I watched because I enter the contest as a screenwriting hopeful, I haven’t seen any of Shia LeBeouf’s work, and only know him for his kooky antics off-screen. That said, I’m a fan of his weird behavior and wish more people would be as open about the hidden wacky ways. As someone who’s desperate to escape normalcy, it’s nice to see someone in the spotlight act this way.

Unfortunately, this episode aired initially before LaBeouf lost his mind. That said, he still had the enthusiasm in him that went on to inspire his future outburst. I think he also may have been extra playful because he was twenty at this time, and treated the visit as a time to play and not just perform for a gig. This energy was enough to make even the Prince Sketch, which I usually hate, turn out to be rather fun.

The whole night kind of went this way, where I feel like that minus our host’s energy this would have been another just average night making five so-so shows in a row. The timing for this slump breaker couldn’t be better because I’m a bit hung over from the bender I threw on last night. Turns out when you lose thirty pounds you get drunk a lot easier than at your top weight.

With that said, I’m going to cut this one short so that I can crawl back into bed. In order to do so, it’s now time to shift gears and share what I actually saw, as I give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a sketch called Wings Of Hope where Darrell Hammond and Kenan Thompson played Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to speak out against the “nappy-heads hoes” controversy that was ignited by Don Imus. Inspired by Imus’s hate, the two reverends also announced the new Wings Of Hope organization to help white folks who think similar to the radio host cope with their bigotry. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
Shia LeBeouf then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he was nearly-unknown making it even more thrilling for him to be on the show as the host. Meanwhile, the glum Not Ready For Prime Time Players didn’t share the enthusiasm of the untested “kid,” as he strolled around the backstage area to give us a taste of what the night had in store.
This was followed by a fake ad for The Hathaway Moustache Ride Company where Alec Baldwin played the founder of the company as we learned the elegant history of the Free Moustache Ride.
We then got another installment of Prince Show where once again Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph played Prince and Beyoncé in order to act bizarrely while interviewing their quirky guests.
Under 21 had Shia LaBeouf, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, and Will Forte as a group of teens who clumsily tried to buy beer from Kenan Thompson who played a cashier at a corner store. Rather than attempt to show a fake ID, the group talked loudly as they continually dropped hints about their age while dressed as if they had “grown-up jobs.”
The Dakota Fanning Show returned for another installment of Amy Poehler acting as the child star who is unable to relate to her peers who she has on as her guests and mocks them for being unintelligent.
We then got another SNL Digital Short called The Shooting which was a parody of a cliffhanger from the show The O.C. that featured multiple shootouts while Bill Hader played a character who was trying to pen a heartfelt note to his little sister. I’ve never seen the O.C. I’ve never seen the actual show so other then the play on the genre in general, I may have missed the subtleties of the sketch that got the audience to laugh. That said, the repetitiveness to the shootout did get me to laugh by the end.
This was followed by a fake ad for Sofa King which was a furniture store run by Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph who had no idea how crass their company names sounds when heard and not read.
Avril Lavigne then took to the stage to perform Girlfriend.
Once again, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers gave us the news. This week, Maya Rudolph got a segment where she interviewed Howard K. Stern about Anna Nicole Smith after it was discovered that he wasn’t her kid’s dad. Fred Armisen and Bill Hader dropped in as two gay guys from Connecticut, playing of their two gay guys from Jersey characters, to talk about the New England’s state’s latest ruling on gay marriage. Darrell Hammond then wrapped this up as Don Imus who dropped by to apologize for his “nappy-headed hoes” comment only to make things worse with his choice of fords.
Knife Salesmen had Shia LaBeouf and Will Forte as door-to-door knife salesmen who take things to the extreme while trying to pitch their product to Kristen Wiig who played the wife of Mr. Ginsu and already owned every knife she could ever want. They did manage to pique her interest by going as far as to cut off Will Forte’s thumb. Though she was impressed by the cutting, she would not accept the thirteen-ninety-nine price point.
An Intimate Moment With John Mayer And Jessica Simpson was, as the title suggests a sketch about the two pop singers who barely say a word to one another while expressing their love.
Avril Lavigne then returned to the stage to perform I Can Do Better.
Maya And Shia had Maya Rudolph attempt to hit on our host after realizing how well their first names rhymed.
Finally, Shia LaBeouf closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

I wouldn’t say this was my favorite show of the year but thanks to sketches like these that contained my three favorite moments of the night, it will definitely land somewhere near the top of my list for this season. First, I loved The Hathaway Moustache Ride Company ad because it was the first dad-joke based sketch of the night that got me to laugh out loud. Next, I really liked the Sofa King ad, and it almost could be number one especially since it also got me to laugh out loud while sneaking the word fuck on to live national TV. Finally, I was a fan of Under 21 because the things that the character thought made them sound more adult kept cracking me up throughout the entire sketch.