There are a lot of recurring sketches people remember fondly from the mid to late 90s and early 00s. To be honest, some of them were done to death to please the fans, but one sketch that never wore out its welcome is Celebrity Jeopardy. The hilarious take on the popular game show featuring an annoyed and frustrated Alex Trebek has made it to air fifteen times, the most recent of which went down last night on SNL 40. Watch its greatness below…
It works just as well as it did the first time it aired all the way back in 1996. Even better, it’s nice to see a great combination of both the classic characters we’ve come to love watching on the sketches (Sean Connery and Burt Reynolds) and new celebrities that are worthy additions (Tony Bennett, Matthew McConaughey, Justin Bieber and Christoph Waltz). All of them are able to piss off and frustrate Alex Trebek in their own way and God bless them for it. His frazzled expression is the world’s gain.
A special shout-out also needs to go to Norm MacDonald and Darrell Hammond. Some of the performers on last night’s Saturday Night Live 40 clearly seemed a little past their prime. No complaints. It was great seeing them, but it didn’t seem like they could still be cast members today. Not Norm and Darrell. They were comfortable and seemed like they could have appeared in 5 sketches over the course of the evening without missing a beat.
No doubt the takeaway most will have from the new Celebrity Jeopardy is “Whore Ads”, which is among the better Sean Connery misreads in the history of the sketch. Beyond that, serious props need to go out to guests Jim Carrey and Alec Baldwin who both crushed their impressions of McConaughey and Bennett, respectfully. Watching the confused Bennett try to remember Tom Sawyer’s black friend whose name starts with an “n” got one of the night’s biggest laughs.
Fortunately for all of us, Will Ferrell is still cranking out hilarious movies with high box office takes; so, there’s an extremely good chance we’ll see him host Saturday Night Live again at some point in the future. If we’re lucky, Norm and Darrell will show up too.
