Welcome to AfterElton.com!

Enter your AfterElton.com username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

Neil Patrick Harris earns his "Rent" on SNL


While many of us are waiting to see if Neil Patrick Harris will bring home a Golden Globe (I know and you can check out Michael's twitter if you want to know ... and NPH and David looked adorable!), much of his performance on Saturday Night Live last night is available on Hulu for those who missed it.

I thought NPH was hilarious, and these clips back it up. Loved the sly reference to his sexuality in the above monologue, the bizarre air traffic control lady, and his nailing the annoyance of Rent in the "Save Broadway" skit. The Frost/Other People parody and his impressive aerobics moves in the Today Show skit were highlights as well (the Doogie Howser orchestra was pretty hot too), and I thought the show overall was one of the strongest in years.

Check out a few more of the skits after the jump, and let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments! 

Richard's picture

NPH was great

I really liked Kristen Wiig's Kathy Lee Gifford, Wiig is hilarious. NPH really shows his versatility as a comedic actor. He was able to play all his roles just as well as any SNL cast member, if not better.
roni1133's picture

Neil on SNL

I thought Neil was great, and overall the show was good.  I liked the Fran & Freba sketch the best, plus everything Kristen Wiig did because she's always hilarious.  I hated the Rachel Maddow sketch.  If you're interested in what the lesbians are saying about it, there's much discussion about it here http://www.afterellen.com/blog/sarahwarn/snl-spoofs-rachel-maddow-show-09 ,btw.  Anyway, I hope they ask Neil back to host regularly.  He was definitely one of the best hosts they've had in recent years.  He's awesome. 
Average (1 vote):
see individual ratings
NickerBocker09's picture

Neil was awesome

I cant believe I missed this. Thanks for posting these vids of it. :)

 I think this is one of the funnier SNLs, this whole year has been pretty good actually. Neil deffinatly needs to come back.

 My favorite part was the air traffic controller scene, and in the Today show scene when Wiig is punched.

 About the opening scene, it was kinda of stale and yeah they said a word that perhaps they shouldnt have. But it was used in a comic way I guess, idk, lets avoid the whole word usage debate.

roni1133's picture

Fran & Freba

I want a Fran & Freba weekly sitcom.  Seriously.

lunar_apollo's picture

NPH DANCE

Was anyone else really turned on by Neil's dance as the fitness guru in the last skit?
Average (1 vote):
see individual ratings
David Ehrenstein's picture

Fran & Freba are in the best "Kids in the Hall" traidition

NPH is Made of The Awesome!
Jon's picture

Funny how...

when an openly gay host is around, the ugly gay baiting, homophobic jokes take a break for one week. How convenient.
Average (1 vote):
see individual ratings
RJ88's picture

Mannish Dyke jokes are

Mannish Dyke jokes are pretty homophobic in my opinion.  You might have just missed the Rachel Maddow skit.  SNL had Blagojevich saying the really offensive lines to avoid criticism, but SNL was banking on homophobia for laughs.
Average (1 vote):
see individual ratings
db's picture

I'm glad you mentioned this.

It started the show off on a really nasty note. I almost couldn't go on watching it. Also, the woman doing the Maddow impression(?) is really bad--if it weren't for them saying she was Maddow I wouldn't have known what she was doing.
Atlanta Leather Boy's picture

The Doogie Howser/Digital Short

While I thought this Digital Short was funny, it probably would've been funnier if they hadn't just done an in-joke with Barney's blog -- set to the theme song from Doogie Howser -- just within the last two weeks on How I Met Your Mother.

But it still will be going on my iPod.  After meeting NPH this past summer, he went from likable to downright charming. 

Rob's picture

I'm surprised...

...no one's mentioned the Save Broadway sketch in the comments yet. Not only was the content more gay-themed than the other sketches (besides the drag bit, which [bad pun alert] dragged for me), but the jokes were very insidery. I'm sure most people in the middle of the country wouldn't have gotten most of that, which really impressed me. And it was the funniest overall sketch for me. Neil was great in all of them, but this is the only one that had pretty good writing, too. Though I wonder why they didn't have Liza appear in that one.

Brent Hartinger's picture

Yes, it seemed pretty smartly written

So naturally I assumed it had been farmed out to some other non-SNL writer.

 

 

 

Read my books! Explore "Brent's Brain" at http://www.brenthartinger.com no votes

see individual ratings
RJ's picture

You're right... Liza's appearance...

...was wasted on a silly joke that wasn't even particularly funny. Also, fortunately, the skit they put her in ended when it did; that character she's supposedly friends with is so incredibly annoying (which was the goal, I'm sure) that it's best taken in really small doses.

Overall, I agree with everyone here who has been singing NPH's praises. He made this one of SNL's strongest episodes in years. That's what comes from great acting skill, exquisite comic timing and tons of charm and charisma. And I presume he had some writing input this week as well. Too bad he couldn't also have been the musical guest. I don't think I'm the only one who feels Taylor Swift is completely over-rated. She may dominate the (country) charts but like Miley ("Hannah Montana") Cyrus (or Britney, for that matter), she CANNOT sing live.

Favourite NPH moments: the opening monologue (I could have done without the "hecklers" though), the exercise guru on the TODAY show, the Save Broadway sketch (not sure if many folks know that NPH's first major stage musical role WAS as Mark in the L.A. production of RENT), and the Doogie Howser symphony.

db's picture

Neil Patrick Harris SNL - Rachel Maddow

I agree that NPH did a good job, even though some of the sketches were really lame. He was in almost every sketch though and was really excellent in some.

I agree with the comments on the Maddow sketch. It started the show off on a really sour note. It wasn't funny and the woman imitating Maddow didn't do a good job. Her imitation was all about the wig, she didn't do anything with it. The whole thing was just pretty ugly and made me dislike the guy who does Blagoyavitch as well.

daniel williams's picture

Save Broadway

The save Broadway skit was pretty funny, but I think the ending didn't work very well.  The sound of a body falling to the ground with the explanation that the Fiddler on the Roof had just jumped may be a more popular reference, but anyone familiar with theater would be likely to interpret that as being the ending of The Iceman Cometh.