'09
Gerard & Kristen Wiig spoof “Beauty & the Beast”
Gerard & Seth Meyers on “Weekend Update”:
I was expecting Gerard Butler’s hosting gig on Saturday Night Live to be like Christmas. I am, after all, a total Butlerholic, a Gerard-loonie, a complete addict for anything involving my favorite Scotsman. I had been counting down the days, hours and minutes until Gerry appeared. Now… it’s not that I was really disappointed. But I was surprised at just how cheesy and silly Gerard was as host.
I give him credit for being game for anything and for doing an okay job with all of the accents he had to do (sort of – he basically just did his own Scottish accent and a couple of American accents, but it might be hard for him). But I don’t think I ever realized just how dorky he is. He’s dorky in the same way Hugh Jackman is dorky – Gerard came across like a musical theater geek, a guy who wants to be a showman, a guy who will do anything for a laugh. It’s a great, funny, interesting quality to have. I just thought Gerard was a lot “cooler” than that. I was wrong. He’s totally dorky. Still hot. Just more accessible, I think.
It didn’t help that the first skit of the night was pretty much the weakest. Nothing about “Obama and health care” really screams “broad comedy” to me, and apparently the SNL writers couldn’t find anything funny about it either. The Rock Obama fell flat, and I was already praying for the show to be over. I didn’t really care for Gerard’s opening monologue either, except Kristen Wiig telling Gerard to take off his shirt. Speaking of Wiig, why was she in nearly every skit? It was weird. I like her and everything, but I wanted more Gerard.
But I did like several of the skits – they didn’t have me rolling around in tears, but I chuckled at some. I enjoyed “Daveheart”, especially when Gerard screamed in terror when he saw the goat (“I thought it was a dragon”). The 300 “Don’t ask, don’t tell” skit was mildly amusing, but my favorite sight-gag barely got a chuckle from the audience. I loved when King Leonidas was told “Forty percent of Sparta doesn’t believe you were born in Greece.” Leonidas pulls out his “birth certificate” on a stone tablet. Gerard’s appearance on Weekend Update was also funny, but Seth Meyers was the one with all of the funny lines. Great joke about prostitutes, especially given the blind item that many think is about Gerard and working girls.
Here’s one question I have – is Gerard Butler dating James Franco? For the first three episodes of SNL, the host’s significant other came on for a “cameo” in at least one skit. For Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green showed up. For Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson came on. With Drew Barrymore, Justin Long did his best Matthew McConaughey. But Gerard doesn’t have a significant other to show off… or does he? James Franco showed up in that weird “What Up With That?” skit and didn’t even get to say a word. Now, I’m not objective enough about Gerard to really have any kind of gaydar about him, but the Franco-Butler hookup theory is an interesting one, isn’t it?
Considering everyone seems to love to hate Saturday Night Live this season, I’m assuming I was alone in even my mild amusement. Still, when you judge the show, don’t judge my Gerry too harshly – he did the best he could!
Photos below courtesy NBC
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Gerard Butler, James Franco, Saturday Night Live
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24 Responses to “Gerard Butler on SNL: cheesy, silly, dumb or charming?”
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Can’t believe I missed this!! Thanks for the links Kaiser!!
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Did he bathe for the show?
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The show started off so slow, I deleted it after the Beauty and the Beast skit. A great looking guy but you hit the nail when you said he was dorky!
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I’m not a Gerard Butler fan, so I watched without any hopes or expectations and I thought he did a good job. The writing on SNL has been inconsistent for a long time, so he did well with what he was given. I do love a Scottish accent, so that helped.
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Totally agree he’s basically a big dork. I credit his first-absent-then-tragically-dead father with giving him the “bottomless pit” of fear of intimacy and need for attention.
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I don’t mind Butler when he is speaking in an accent other than his Scottish accent. I’ve heard Scottish accents that are more understandable than his. Does he really overdo it or is it me? Maybe it’s his tone of voice that I can’t stand. He just gets under my skin and I want to have a bath when I hear him.
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He was “excited,” I think, to the point of silliness. It WAS his first time doing live American sketch comedy, after all.
He was on every talk show possible this past week hawking his flick, not writing his own skits, which is what the actual writers of the show should have done a better job of.
Megan was like a mannequin on her turn, Ryan had that “look” on his face his entire time, and Drew was just…Drew.
So he was fine. Just fine, but fine nonetheless.
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Just watching Gerard on Leno’s show, I could tell he was one giant dork and he seemed terribly uncomfortable, he kept yanking his jacket down which seemed to be some sort of nervous tic thing.
That’s okay though, when he comes to live with me and be my dirty little boy toy, I’ll buy him suits that fit properly.
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“Gerard Butler on SNL: cheesy, silly, dumb or charming?”
He could be all of those things and STILL be doable. Lol.
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I like the fact he may be a dork. Makes him more genuine.
That being said, he did great on SNL. The Beauty and the Beast skit was pretty dang funny, esp the Clock, “you know, with like a, like a 3:45 a**.”
LMAO
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He’s a total dork and I love it!
Adorable. Adorable. Adorable.
I loved the ass skit too!
And the one where he was White Pete.
With that cane and swagger? ROFLMAO.
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His giggling and grin kept throwing me off. It’s why I hated Jimmy Fallon – you don’t get to laugh at your own jokes!
Except if you’re Seth Myers, then you can do no wrong.
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Oh no, Jimmy Fallon was AWFUL about that. And I don’t think Gerard Butler was as bad as that, and at least he’d have an excuse, given it’s his first time ever doing something like SNL.
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I’ve never really had an opinion about Gerard Butler and have never seen any of his films. I know Kaiser loves him so I was curious to see what the fuss was all about. I found him completely charming and it’s the silliness that allowed him to just let go and be in the moment for each skit he was in.
Regardless of the writing quality for this season, SNL is a standing item in my PVR (as we call it in Canada) record list. “Beauty and the Beast” was hilarious as was his opening. Didn’t even know Gerard was in the film version. Just goes to show how little I used to care about the guy. Now I might check him out. See…promotion through SNL does work!!
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@ Bete – His accent has really mellowed outl. It use to be really strong but now it sounds like he’s been over in America for too long…
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Gerard was silly and cheesy but he is just adorable. I think that someone posted on another site that Franco has appeared on SNL as guest to other hosts the same way, “why is he here”?
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Dorky like Hugh Jackman? C’mon! I thought Gerard was okay. Dorky but good dorky not bad dorky. SNL hasn’t been the best so far this season so he did well with what they gave him. He did seem excited to be there and that showed through a little but that’s endearing.
One Q a fan might be able to answer… does he really pronounce his name GeRAHd instead of Gerid? Sounded like a piss take, he’s scottish not french.
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SNL was good from start to end. The Rock was good, James Franco didn’t have lines but he got up and danced! He likes to do all kinda different things – he’s even doing a soap if he didn’t already. He’s cool like that.
Never paid much attention to GB before. Only knew he was in 300. I had to shut that off, it was not my kind of show. . but I thought he did great on SNL. He’ll be on my radar now.
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The only movie I liked him in was 300…but he is cute…and I LOVE his accent!
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God this man has a butt ugly face. Grow some facial hair and cover that fug up PRONTO!
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Cheesy, silly, charming and wonderful!
He was so nervous! Remember how nervous he was when Jay Leno brought it up? I thought it was adorable and I think if he comes back he’ll do a bit better and they’ll have a better idea what kind of skits he does well with.
It certainly satisfied my Gerry fix since I am not going to see a film described as “torture-porn.”
See 1:06 on this video for pronunciation of his name:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIALzj8cwKA
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he’s been the worst host since the season started. the best so far have been Megan and Ryan. everyone else has sucked big.
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i was pleasantly surprised. It was a solid show I thought and he was great. My favorite part of the show has always been the news broadcast and for once Seth was funny OWN HIS OWN without Amy. I still say the best anchor was Dennis Miller, but oh well. Seth should keep up the comedy level as good or better and more people will tune in.
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oh dear, what i wouldnt do with that feather.
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