Salon.com > sketch comedy

Must-see morning clip: Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon sing Toto’s “Africa” at summer camp

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:36:00 +0000

Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon channel "Wet Hot American Summer" when they share a cabin at sleepaway camp in a new sketch on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." The show's celebratory week of Justin Timberlake cameos culminates in the inevitable duet of Africa's "Toto."

Must-see morning clip: Steve Carell and Justin Timberlake are real people with fake arms

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:15:00 +0000

It's exactly what it sounds like-- Steve Carell and Justin Timberlake are real people with fake arms in this "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" sketch:

“SNL” recap: Justin Bieber sexts Hillary Clinton for Valentine’s Day

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:17:00 +0000

It's always a risk having a musical guest take on hosting duties — not everyone has the gift for sketch comedy — but so far, "SNL" has been lucky, with Justin Timberlake over the years, Bruno Mars earlier this season, and now the 18-year-old teen heartthrob. Does the Bieb have Timberlake comic chops? Not quite. But the kid was game for anything, and after reportedly being waylaid by food poisoning during rehearsals this week, he demonstrated himself to be a real trouper, letting the cast and writers make fun of his homeboy posturing, naïveté, lack of textbook smarts, recent weed "scandal (for which he apologized, in a Miley Cyrus sketch), his barely pubescent presence (does he shave yet? That face is smooove) and the throngs of girls (and women) who worship him because or in spite of it. I finally sort of see the appeal — not of his music (oh God, it's bad), but of him. He's the Leif Garrett of the 21st century, an aspiring badass pinup — albeit one with a sweet face and killer eyebrows.

“Portlandia”: As good as its best sketch

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s sketch comedy series “Portlandia” is, very much, a show of our time, and not just because it skewers the obsessions and neuroticisms of the cosseted and well-meaning urban bourgeoisie, the subset of Americans, found in many locations other than Portland, that are so concerned with living right they cannot enjoy that they are already living well, and so obsess upon minutiae — what they eat, what they drink, what they do with their leisure time — as though these things can provide the satisfaction a materially abundant life has not. “Portlandia” is both a gentle skewering of this supremely privileged lifestyle — the one that considers a friend’s extravagant birthday party an ultra-serious event, one worth taking a bank loan out for — and an embodiment of it, because you have to be familiar with the extravagant birthday party to laugh at such a “Portlandia” sketch.

Key & Peele: “That’s what Obama should say”

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele comprise the sketch-comedy duo "Key & Peele," whose Comedy Central series returned for its second season last week. (It airs Wednesday nights on Comedy Central at 10:30 p.m.) Key and Peele, who previously worked together on "Mad TV," are both biracial and their comedy reflects that: A significant proportion of their work involves issues of cultural translation, who sounds like what and to whom and in what specific circumstances. Their most famous sketch is a recurring bit about President Obama and his anger translator Luther, who puts into words what the always-calm world leader might really be feeling.

Key and Peele spoke with Salon about the new season of the show, how it will be less explicitly concerned with race, and meeting Obama.

Are you guys surprised at how much the anger translator sketch has caught on?