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Jeremy Renner proved tough guys can make comedy sing, while Chris Christie showed fact is funnier than parody on this week’s Saturday Night Live.
Nearly all of the sketches starring the franchise-juggling actor were excellent, while the New Jersey governor's Weekend Update appearance may go down among the better politico appearances of all time.
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Renner’s opening monologue was premised on his claim that he writes songs for all of his films. His theme for The Bourne Legacy ripped off Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” though he claimed he'd never heard the song.
“I’ve been running around / Trying to take down the CIA / They wont leave me alone/ I’m not from Treadstone / Need to get away / I’m gonna shoot somebody."
Several sketches played off his versatile film roles, the first involving a staple of action movies: a standoff in which Renner and two men are face to face, pointing guns at each other, no one willing to lower his weapon.
They end up spending the next two days like this, going to Thanksgiving dinners and dance recitals for their daughters, all while pointing their weapons at each other. Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine shows up to take part too.
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Renner also takes on The Avengers in a segment questioning how useful his arrow-wielding character, Hawkeye, really is. Set in the Marvel film’s climactic battle scene, Hawkeye seems eager to shirk his heroic duties, happy to let Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Black Widow dive in.
“I’m out of arrows. I don’t have any more. So I guess I’m done, right?,” he says. "I’ll lbe in the car."
Iron Man (Jason Sudeikis) won’t have it.
“Come on Hunger Games. What are you doing? Just pull arrows out of the aliens you shot, Katniss,” he says.
On Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declined to answer a question about Twinkies, because he didn’t want to end up being spoofed on SNL. But there was no need for a spoof this week, because the real Christie showed up during Weekend Update.
The Republican governor was all Jersey as he belittled Seth Meyers' manhood, lost his temper multiple times, and stubbornly defended the fleece he's been wearing nonstop to survey Hurricane Sandy damage.
“I’m going to die in this fleece. But that’s OK. Because it’s a good fleece,” the governor said.
He also insulted mayors who didn’t heed his pre-storm evacuation warning.
“When you ignore me, it makes you look like a real Seth Meyers,” Christie said.
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SNL also tackled the hot political story of the week, the affair and resignation of David Petraeus as CIA director. In the show’s cold open, his biographer Paula Broadwell reads torrid passages from her book. (Read more about the cold open here.)
A second sketch saw CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (Sudeikis) irresponsibly speculate about the other woman involved in the scandal, Tampa, Fla. socialite Jill Kelley. Blitzer plays the same brief footage of her over and over, and interviews a Tampa man (Renner) who is primarily interested in talking about how hot Kelley is.
SNL is next new Dec. 8, with host Jamie Foxx and musical guest Ne-yo.
