The reigning king of mainstreamed geekery is heading to Saturday Night Live this weekend, taking his first turn as host on the longstanding NBC sketch show. That’s right: The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons is mere days away from helming the good ship SNL as it returns from its winter hiatus. And now we’ve got the promotional video to prove it! [Bazinga joke!]
In what’s sure to be a big night for the show — what with Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers officially gone and staff writer Colin Jost stepping in to replace him — singer/songwriter Beck will also make his [lucky] seventh appearance on the show as musical guest. But he’s not in the promos so let’s just not even talk about him, OK?
The clip — which features Parsons alongside cast member Bobby Moynihan — immediately pokes fun at the actually surprising reality that Parsons has yet to ever host the show. Interesting because his CBS series is literally the most popular show currently on television — raking in enough viewers to garner it an impressive 8th season pick-up by the network — to say nothing of the fact that Parsons has won two Emmy Awards for his work as Sheldon Cooper.
But the duo poke fun at not only Big Bang’s over-the-top schtick, but also laugh tracks, ice dancing (off-ice, natch), and the perceived gullible nature of host Parsons. It seems a safe bet that there are to be many a virgin joke in our future — I mean, c’mon, this is Sheldon Cooper and nerd stuff being written by a bunch of twentysomething white male comedy nerds we’re talking about here.
Musical guest Beck, however, is far from a stranger to Studio 8H. In his past, he’s saddled up alongside hosts Kevin Spacey, Bill Paxton, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Garner, Tom Brady, and Dr. House himself, Hugh Laurie. But he hasn’t just appeared on the musical stage, Beck’s even gotten to have a bit of fun on the sketch side: once in a bit about medicinal marijuana (because of course), and another time in a parody of VH1’s Behind the Music (about popular 70s cartoon characters Fat Albert & the Junkyard Gang).
Parsons recently appeared on The TODAY Show to talk SNL, “ruining the club” of hosts, and live TV in general:
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Saturday Night Live with Parsons and Beck airs this Saturday, March 1 at 11:30PM.
