Steve Carell on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Commencement open

I got an email from a Tallyhead about this a few nights ago …

Hi Tanster!

Wanted to let you know that I just got back from rehearsing SNL!

I’m going to be in the opening sketch, the one before the monologue right when the show starts. It’s a graduation scene and Steve Carell will be reading my ‘name’ … we’re all in caps and gowns and it’s right at the start of the show.

As far as I know, it is still the first sketch but anything can happen between rehearsal and dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon and then the show at night.

Steve is a GREAT guy, so nice and so incredible to watch rehearse. When we were done with our stuff, we were allowed to watch some of the other rehearsal and it’s one of the funniest all season — there is a hilarious weight loss sketch.

But yes, Steve is a GENIUS and it was so hard not to DIE on set with him when I’m so used to cracking up watching him on ‘The Office’ every week!!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know … thanks, and the show is HILARIOUS!!! Steve does an amazing job. There are also lots of special guests.

111 comments

  1. First! I am SO jealous of the Tallyhead who got to be in the scene! Oh well, I’ll overcome it. Congrats!

  2. “Lots of special guests.”
    Does that mean a surprise visit from some of his former co-workers?
    Do I sense Stephen Colbert and/or Jon Stewart popping up? I really hope it’s Stephen. I was talking to someone about a live action Ambiguously Gay Duo and that would be awesome.
    But I will settle for Stephen just messing with Steve.
    Tonight’s episode is going to be awesome either way.

  3. Special guests will be joining him, huh? Hmmm…. wonder who it could be.

  4. Awesome. I can’t wait to watch it!

    Was that Tallyhead who emailed you a cast member of SNL? I’m dying to know!

  5. Here’s hoping that John Krasinski is one of those “special guests”!!

  6. Very cool – it sounds like this Tallyhead is an SNL cast member :) Can’t wait to watch!

  7. Thanks, spoiler alert. Haha, thanks for the reminder! Been waiting forward to this since it was announced 3 weeks ago!

  8. Yes! A live action Ambiguously Gay Duo would rock my world. As would a special guest named John Krasinski!

  9. When Rainn hosted, Rashida appeared and it was one of the best openers ever.

  10. John McCain is scheduled to make an appearance tonight. I can only hope one of the special guests would be Rainn as Dwight addressing/accepting the Assistant President position with McCain…

  11. Did anyone else just have the urge to yell out during the first sketch, “May your hats fly as high as your dreams”?!

    Because I did. And I figured you guys probably did as well.

  12. Now I can safely say that it was me who wrote that in! I didn’t want to put my name earlier because I didn’t want to jinx it – I got a call on Thurs to be a background player and was one of the people in the opening scenes with a dirty name. :)

    And yes there is an AMAZING special guest!!!!!!!!!!!!! Office related! ;)

    The digital short is hilarious too.

  13. Watching SNL right now and all I can say is…I love Steve Carell!! The guy could stand there reading the phone book and I’d be cracking up.

  14. Aaahhh! Ricky Gervais is making a surprise appearance on SNL! Doing a spoof on The Office — a Japanese version! Too funny!

  15. Um, I need that Japanese Office clip like RIGHT NOW.

    I’m wiping tears away. Oh my gosh, that was funny.

  16. Nancy Walls made an appearance in the beginning of SNL to calm Steve down from his sugar rush/nerves hahaha. They also did a skit about a Japanese version of The Office and Ricky Gervais introduced it! Haha and they all speak Japanese (obviously)…sounds so funny to hear Steve and everyone else doing that! Then John McCain mentioned Gaydar…awesome! Lovin’ all this Office-related schtuff!

  17. Oh my God – they just did a “digital short” with Ricky Gervais explaining that he got the idea for The Office from a Japanese show. Then a clip is shown with Steve as Michael, and SNL cast playing Pam, Jim, Dwight, and Stanley. They are speaking in Japanese and reenact scenes from the Pilot (stapler in Jello, World’s Best Boss mug written in Japanese) and A Benihana Christmas (karaoke at the Christmas party). The cast does incredibly funny impressions of the characters. This is absolutely brilliant!

    Steve’s wife Nancy (a former SNLer herself) had a small part in the monologue too, giving Steve a pep talk.

  18. The Office skit that they did Japanese style was absolutely, freaking, hilarious!

  19. OMG! Hahaha, they just did the funniest digital short with Ricky Gervais; and Steve starring in a Japanese version of the Office..SO funny!!!

  20. that Japanese office was hilarious, funniest part of the show, but i *may* be biased… the mug… and yay Ricky Gervais!

  21. That was one of the best episodes of SNL this season. Steve Carrell did excellently. I’m still laughing at that lifeguard skit, hahaha..

  22. Special guest star #1: The one and only RICKY GERVAIS!

    Japanese Office. HAH!

  23. So was Ricky Girvase the “special guest?” I missed the first 20 minutes. The Japanese version of The Office was pretty funny.

  24. The “Original” Japanese version of “The Office” was priceless!!! I personally think Bill Hader makes a pretty good Dwight!! Bravo Steve Carell! you are without a doubt a comic genius!!

  25. omg… I love it! Steve was awesome…
    I love the digital short.. The Japanese version of The Office! :)

  26. I recorded the wrong channel last night! Luckily hulu posts quite a few of the sketches, although it’s too early for them to be posted yet.

  27. Man I forgot that Steve and Stephen did Ambiguously Gay Duo…I’m surprised they didn’t reference it last night. That Japanese Office made me lol. And nice to see Ricky Gervais! “It’s funny because it’s racist!”

  28. Wow, Japanese Office was really funny. Always great to see Ricky Gervais. He’s my hero.

  29. hahaha i loved the japenese office!!!!!!! :-)
    steve you rock.

    do you really know how to speak japenese?

  30. Actually, “Pam” would be transliterated as “Pamu,” not “Pamo.”

    The “taiso” (group exercise) was spot-on, with the NHK (Japanese public television) exercise-show theme music adding realism and authenticity.

    Ricky Gervais: Anata wa tensai desu.

  31. The Japanese Office (should be: Oppice) was the single most funniest thing I’ve seen on SNL all year.

    Pamo pamo pamo!

  32. Okay, Jason Sudeikis’s Jim was spot on! I think he needs to drop by at the office and play Jim’s brother in an episode.

  33. Those were hysterical! I saw the episode last night, and I didn’t stop laughing the whole time, especially then Steve pounded a hole in Andy Samberg! :)

  34. I am completely sick, but, it was so worth it to stay up and watch SNL last night. I actually dreamed about being in The Japanese Office. I woke up feeling better.

    His opening monologue was awesome, and then his wife was there…Great show!

    John McCain making age jokes was icing on the cake.

  35. I agree Sabrina (#55), Jason S. did a GREAT Jim! I loved this skit as we watched last night. Lots of laughs! I liked Ricky G. as a part of it as well. And the opening monologue was my second favorite part. Steve cannot be stopped!

  36. I think that this was probably the best episode of SNL this season. I loved the monologue and Japanese Office!
    I agree sabrina–I’d love to see Jason Sudeikis as Jim’s brother!

  37. Hahah I’m taking lifeguarding classes now! Except our classes aren’t quite like that..

  38. Oh man, what a good show. Steve Carell is the most awesomely hilarious human being on the planet!
    Although, Steve’s Deal or No Deal character wasn’t that funny, the model who wouldn’t open the case was hilarious!

    Actually, 54, it should be “Oppisu!” with the exclamation mark included in the title. I mean, if you want to get all technical.

  39. The Japanese Office was brilliant. Haven’t laughed this hard in a while. So freaking funny!

    His opening monologue was hilarious as well… And the very first sketch, with the diplomas…

    Continuing to watch now, I stopped by here right after watching the Japanese Office.

  40. No he doesn’t – his pronunciation is off on a few things. But it’s still awesome.

  41. Am I the only one who didn’t think this episode was funny at all? McCain was funnier than Steve.

  42. I loved how in the conference room during the calisthenics exercise they even had a Stanley doing crosswords, lol!

  43. The Japanese Office was great! Best SNL sketch lately. Have to admit for about two seconds, I thought that Rainn Wilson was playing Dwight – must have been the outfit. Great to see Ricky make an appearance, he is hilarious.
    Also, Steve’s monologue was cute – nice to see Nancy there with him!

  44. AH! This is hilarious! My friend and I were trying to imagine a Japanese version of The Office the other day.

  45. I loved this skit! I was hoping they would do something related to the office…

    I also LOVED “God bless this child” towards the end!

  46. I love how you can tell by Steve’s face that he’s saying “that’s what she said” to something JaPam was saying to him. At least that’s what I believe. :)

  47. stretchpants:
    “I loved how in the conference room during the calisthenics exercise they even had a Stanley doing crosswords, lol!”

    If you look closely he was actually doing Sudoku!

  48. I don’t think Steve was that funny. For me it seemed as though he wasn’t enjoying his acting at all. He was more worried about being funny than actually sharing a good moment with the incredibly talented SNL actors. And his characters and lines didn’t help much.I agree that McCain was more funny, because he was more authentic.

  49. I can’t get over how funny that digital short was! And even funnier with Ricky Gervais at the end… I love these guys.

  50. 63| Captain Bruisin’

    SNL’s writing hasn’t been good over the past couple of years so it’s not a shock you feel John McCain was funnier than Steve. They never seem to give the host great comedic sketches anymore.

  51. Excellent episode! Japanese Office had tears rolling down my cheeks. Awesome!

    Who else noticed that the baby in “God bless this child” was named Jenna? I thought that was a nice touch. Yay Steve!

  52. “Anybody know if that was real Japanese they were speaking?

    65 | headphone Sun. May. 18, 2008 at 10:28am”

    Yes, it was real.

    But very truncated phrases – and naturally, badly inunciated. I guess the cast had to learn dialogue in Japanese, and it was expedient to make what they had to memorize short.

  53. I don’t know if that clip would be funny to a non-Office fan, but I sure did love it! I howled over the coffee mug and Stanley doing a crossword puzzle! And Jim was great!

  54. The monologue was kind of funny, but I thought this was just, meh. Maybe it’s just me? I don’t know, I stopped watching SNL a long time ago because it ceased being worth staying up for. As much as I love Steve Carell, this one fell flat for me.

  55. It’s almost scary how realistic that Japanese Office is! Kristen Wigg does a great Japanese Pam!

  56. headphone: Yes, it was real Japanese, and you can probably guess what most of it meant. For example, before Michael holds up the mug, he says “Nihon de ichi-ban omoshiroi bossu desu” which pretty much means “I’m the funniest boss in Japan.”

  57. The digital short was hilarious! I loved the Shinkansen in the beginning and the Maneki Neko instead of the Dundies. I took Japanese for the past eight years so hearing them speak the language made me laugh so hard! “Stapler wa doko desuka?” (Where’s the stapler?) and “Nihon de ichiban omoshiroi bosu desu” (I’m Japan’s number one funniest (or amusing, interesting) boss). I was in a bad mood when I woke up and that totally made my day!

  58. #77, I noticed the baby being named Jenna too!!! That baby sketch was… interesting. haha But i Love Kristen Wig! She’s hilarious!!

  59. The Japanese Office is great!! I hope it’s an extra on the season four dvds.

  60. I got such a kick out of the Japanese Office. Great job to everyone involved! Steve is SO great!

  61. Loved it!! My favorite moment was seeing Stanley in the conference room.

  62. Aside from this digital short, it was pretty awful. The SNL writers are terrible right now.

  63. Loved the Japanese Office. I’m all in for a new series. I felt there was a lot of office influence, like in the karaoke sketch. the gum reminded me of performance review and the suggestion box, and the guy saying “get my karaoke on” (or close to that) reminded me of the return, with andy.

  64. Oh man, SNL was at its best last night. I think the best hosts really amp up the show. That SNL in Japanese sketch is an instant classic. I loved Bill Heder as Dwight.

  65. Japanese office was the best part of SNL! Also, it was nice to see “Carol” (Steve’s wife).

    Steve Carell looked so goooddd!!

  66. I give Steve an “A” for effort but SNL’s writers just cannot measure up to the team behind the Office. It’s weird how far SNL has fallen.

  67. Man, Ricky is so great. There was a tiny bit of David Brent in his monologue.

  68. I watched the show on Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed the commencement opening. I was laughing hyterically because it reminded me of something similar I had done with my friends.

    …and I still laugh at Haywood Jablowmee. Probably not so mature for a 43 year old but (shrug)

  69. Steve is great but I must say overall that was a pretty bad episode. It really shows how much SNL has declined when John McCain was the funniest guy on the show.

  70. Yessh, amusing digital short. That guy who plays Jim is great. Overall SNL was disappointing. Steve did well though with the skits he was given.

  71. Unfortunately, SNL is way past its golden years. It hasn’t been good since Tina Fey left and even then it was losing steam.

    It wouldn’t matter if SNL got the whole cast of The Office to host, the writing just isn’t good anymore.

  72. Steve was great on SNL. Anyone else remember his other sketch gig on The Dana Carvey Show?

  73. Well the opening sketch was funny… but in a 7th grade kinda funny way… not exactly opening sketch material. More like last sketch material.

    The best parts of the episode were John McCain (never thought I’d say that,) the monologue and Ricky Gervais.

    I love you, Ricky.

  74. SNL has gone down the toilet, but this short was funny just because the imitations were so dead on, especially Dwight.

  75. I was really looking forward to this show but was disappointed. I liked the parody they did of The Office when Rainn hosted much better.

  76. Why haven’t they cancelled it already? I loved seeing Steve on there but SNL has gone down the crapper and is no longer funny.

    John McCain’s Weekend Update appearance brought a refreshing ray of sunlight to a dead segment. The Weekend Updates were my favorite part, but none of their punchlines are funny (at least Amy’s, Seth had some good ones)

  77. This may sound weird but isn’t parodying The Office when a cast member hosts a little obvious?

  78. The only reason I watched SNL was because of Steve. But no one can save that show, SNL is that bad. His monologue was cute and the Japanese Office was great. Other than that, it was painful to watch and a total waste of Steve’s talent. I feel bad for him because he really wasn’t given anything good from the writers to work with.

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