This Saturday, Robert De Niro will be hosting ""Saturday Night Live."" It will be boring, and being Saturday night, you will invariably have better things to do and ignore it.
Would that be the case if, say, a ""Sesame Street"" muppet was hosting? I think not.
That's exactly what the good folks at Sesame Workshop are banking on, as last week they kicked off a viral campaign to get Cookie Monster the coveted show business gig of ""Saturday Night Live"" host. And if SNL producer Lorne Michaels has any common sense, he would do best to listen.
""SNL"" is currently suffering through its latest lull period, devoid of any big stars or presidential elections to keep things interesting. The current cast features nobody on the level of Tina Fey, Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy, each of whom could make each episode worthwhile almost single-handedly. Even the show's current top performers, Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig, are not capable of such a feat.
As such, ""SNL"" has come to rely heavily on its guest hosts to make the show even somewhat interesting. When the host is good, such as Jon Hamm or Justin Timberlake, ""SNL"" can be must-see television. But when the host is anything less than stellar the show fails to click, perhaps generating one or two good sketches worth watching on Hulu the next day, but nothing more. Until the next election cycle comes around or the show lands its next blue chip star, this is the reality ""SNL"" faces.
But if that is the case, why not get a little creative? Why not mix it up and bring on a ""Sesame Street"" muppet?
It's a question ""SNL"" needs to start asking, especially considering some of its most recent successes. Last year, the most hyped episode by far was hosted by Betty White, who was buoyed to the stage by a viral campaign similar to Cookie Monster's. And the most watched episode of ""SNL"" in recent memory featured the stunt appearance of Sarah Palin as she tried desperately to prove to the United States that she wasn't a shrill, callous dragon lady.
But just as important as the ratings were the jokes, which were what made both episodes actually funny for a change. Cookie Monster could inject the same level of life into the show, while at the same time providing the writers of ""SNL""with a challenge. It's hard to rest on your laurels when you're writing material for a patch of fabric with googly eyes.
Even more importantly, ""SNL"" might actually learn a thing or two from their neighbors on ""Sesame Street."" Over the past few years, the ""Sesame Street"" gang has arguably been more cutting edge than anybody working under Seth Meyers. Just check out ""Sesame Street""'s parodies of ""Mad Men"" and ""True Blood"" on YouTube. And a segment featuring Grover riffing on Old Spice ads was funnier than anything performed in Studio 8H this year. Cookie Monster even has some prior experience in the realm of late night comedy, appearing on ""The Colbert Report"" two years ago in one of the show's more memorable moments.
Granted, Cookie Monster does pose some difficulties as a host. The writers probably wouldn't be able to go as risqué as they would like —though considering so much of what they do is already bland, it might be hard to notice. And despite being a beloved character, Cookie Monster is still a one-joke premise. But that could be solved by bringing on other ""Sesame Street"" characters like Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for guest appearances, just so long as they leave Elmo at home—that red tickle-me attention whore has long been the Scrappy to Cookie Monster's Scooby-Doo. Even if it doesn't succeed fully, it would be a great exercise in surreal humor.
So if you accidentally find yourself watching what we can only assume will be a less-than-inspired monologue from Robert De Niro this Saturday, think to yourself how much more exciting it would be to see Cookie Monster backed by the ""Saturday Night Live"" band. Then afterward, go ""like"" Cookie Monster's campaign on Facebook and make the Snickerdoodle fanatic too big for Lorne Michaels to ignore.
Seriously, Elmo is a douchebag. If you agree, e-mail Todd at ststevens@wisc.edu and he'll forward your hate mail onward.
