Zach Galifianakis on Saturday Night Live

Okay, Zach Galifianakis on SNL. I've been hyping it up in my mind for about a month now. Probably about the most I've anticipated any show since I was in high school, so in short, yes, I overdid it.

A few thoughts:

• the monologue was maybe one of the funniest on SNL in years. It was classic Zach. Everything that his fans could ask for. I'm sure NBC will have the video up soon, if not already.
• "Here comes the choo choo!"
  
• The bidet skit was mildly funny, but never really hit its stride, and it was about the most talking he did in any skit until the very end.
• I felt like Zach was a bit under-utilized overall. A number of the skits were non-speaking parts. The flute player and the creepy guy in the background were funny, but didn't really get at his strengths. The "What's Up With That" talk show is only premise funny, which makes me wonder why they have to do it week after week when the joke is the same every time. Similarly, the Today's Show and the Situation Room skits each used him in ways that made you think the writers didn't really know what to do with him.
  
• The final skit was exactly what I had been hoping for. Zach getting to play the type of character that he is perfectly suited for. For my money, you can't beat a scene where the content is so funny the actors start cracking up and don't know what to do with themselves.
• I truly thought they had shaved Zach's beard for the last skit, but the closing scene seemed to prove otherwise. [Update: So apparently he did shave off his beard for the last skit, and then used a fake beard for the closing scenes.]
• [Edit: I've really got a growing respect for this whole beard shaving deal. In fact, SNL made a video of the whole process. Pretty classic subtle humor that makes the show better I think]
  
• If Zach hadn't been the host, I might have thought the other skits were a bit funnier, but unfortunately I was waiting for him to do something epic every second, and in retrospect, that probably wasn't the best plan. However, Kristen Wiig had some funny scenes tonight, and by no means was the episode bad like it has been in a few recent episodes.
  
• The best I can hope for is that he'll get to come back again and build on what worked tonight.
  
• "We have a great show. Hoobastank is here."