This weekend, Chris Hemsworth took the stage to host an episode of Saturday Night Live for the first time. During the episode, the team put together some sketches referencing the acting projects he has accomplished in the past, including Star Trek. You can check out SNL’s parody of Star Trek, below.
The parody is a pretty silly one, featuring a crew in space that is unhappy with the captain leading them on a dangerous mission. The crew is in peril, which sounds like more of a drama premise than that of a comedy sketch, but then a live animal shows up and the laughs come more quickly. As it turns out, the captain is actually a chicken named Emily, who is dating Chris Hemsworth’s Lieutenant Jericho. The sketch is pretty gimmicky and even uses a live chicken for laughs, but Hemsworth is a good actor and sells the goofy bit, making a romance with a chicken more of an amusing sketch than an uncomfortable one.
A Star Trek sketch is all the more timely, considering that Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy passed away just last week. In the time following Spock’s death, plenty of people and groups found adequate ways to pay tribute to the late actor. William Shatner shared memories, Canadians tricked out bills with Spock faces, and The Big Bang Theory included a memoriam in this week’s episode. It makes sense that SNL would nod at Star Trek, too.
Of course, it’s convenient that Hemsworth has actually appeared in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboots. His tenure as host on the late night sketch series also featured a Marvel-oriented sketch, which was obviously a given, considering Hemsworth is most famous for playing Thor, and will be reprising the character in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. There were also some great Thor jokes in the promo trailer.
Other memorable moments included a brand new “Porn Stars” sketch and a hilarious Empire parody.
NBC’s Saturday Night Live is currently celebrating 40 years on the air. You can catch new episodes on weeknights at 11:30 p.m. ET.
