It’s gonna be LEGEN–
(wait for it)
DARY
I’ve enjoyed his comedy work a great deal. I’ll try not to get my hopes up too high, as I’m inclined to agree with the OP and I don’t want to build it up too much in my mind.
And just to head off the inevitable question, it’s Neil Patrick Harris.
Who played Rachel Maddow?
The monologue was OK till the hecklers. What would have saved it would be a heckler being Fred Savage. The GF joke was very well played.
Taylor Swift was a fun surprise as Annie in the Broadway skit.
The short film- I get that the imaginary orchestra was all Doogie Howsers. Was that the theme music he was playing?
Taylor Swift- I’ll be in my bunk. And feel really creepy later. How old is she now?!?
Yes, the music was the theme from Doogie.
19 as of last month. The law says you’re not a perv. 
The mix is off on her performance or else it’s my satellite. I can’t hear her. Anyone else?
Whew!
Does she look to anyone else like she might be Scarlet Johannsen’s little sis?
NPH and Taylor Swift?
SUIT UP!
Winners:
The Doogie Howser Theme Dream Orchestra
Whopper Virgins Outtakes
some moments of Broadway In Trouble
Losers:
Just about everything else. Now, I almost never watch SNL. Including this one, maybe it’s been three or four between the Peyton Manning episode (which appears to have been March 2007) to the present. I swear that the lame-ass “Penelope-the-chick-who-passive-aggressively-whines-one-ups-on-everybody” character has been on every one. And I HATE the skit every time. Enough that I consider turning off the episode; not just that skit, but the whole episode. How often do they do the Penelope skits? More importantly, who the fuck actually enjoys them?!? Even within the skits, they always seem to end with people gradually getting pissed off at her, and then one eventually just yelling at her.
FriarTed- I’m pretty sure that’s Abby Elliott as Rachel Maddow.
What was the deal with his comment about his ex-gf? Didn’t he come out?
Or was that a joke that I (and the audience) didn’t get?
“And she’s like why won’t you kiss me, and I’m like LATER!” is a reference to when he was still dating women in his younger years. The joke was that he was more obsessed with meticulously watching Fred Savage’s performance than making out with a girl who was, I expect, pretty cute.
I’d love to see Abby Elliott’s Mom then.
Because a girl that cute had to have considerable maternl genetic help to overcome the paternal genes of …
if you don’t already know, sit down…
CHRIS ELLIOTT!
Btw, this was the first Penelope skit I could tolerate. And was that really Liza at the end? Btw, some celeb news show had Taylor Swift talking about being on SNL and she did a GREAT Penelope impression.
That really was Liza. No one else can wear that many sequins on a dress that short.
Neil was very funny throughout. I loved the penelope skit! Wiig is really great.
Also, Taylor so sucks live.
At first I thought Drew Barrymore was hosting the show.
The bits I saw were pretty amusing, though I missed a sizable chunk when I changed the channel to get away from Wiig’s one-upmanship character, who I can’t stand (and actually, Wiig seems to specialize in annoying one-note characters, even by SNL standards).
I haven’t watched the whole thing yet because the person who does Rod Blagojevich is terrible. Blago is not a deep voiced New Yorker–he’s a whiny voiced, beedy-eyed bug, and should be played as such.
Is she the choice for promotion to fill Amy Poehler’s stage time? I’d be fine with that, really.
Harris has better comic delivery than I thought. Maybe I should start watching his show.
In my little surreal world, I thought it was an orchestra of Harpo Marxes at first.
I’d highly recommend it. How I Met Your Mother is in strong competition for the funniest scripted comedy on network television. Every episode is funny (something I can’t bring myself to say for something like The Office, which is often funny, but sometimes painfully uncomfortable), and some are sublime. A word of warning if you’re going to get into it: some of the jokes just won’t seem as funny without backstory, as there are a number of running gags (like the character Robin’s Canadian upbringing, or slapbet. Actually, the second season episode “Slap Bet” gives a good introduction to both.)