Fred Armisen as Joel
Episodes 2
Digital Short: The Tangent
Joel (Armisen) rambles endlessly about a restaurant he visited to his friend Liz (Kristen Wiig) at first, and becomes so involved in the story that he fails to notice that he is discovered by talent scouts (Hader, Parnell), stars in a movie with Scarlett Johansson, becomes a national phenomenon, and then loses it all when his movie flops at the box office. Brian Williams, MTV correspondent Gideon Yago, and Conan O'Brien also make cameo appearances.
This short was filmed the week of the Johansson episode, but was cut after dress rehearsal from both that episode and the Peter Sarsgaard episode before finally airing on the Steve Martin/Prince episode.
Read MoreDigital Short: Laser Cats!
In a frame story, Hader and Samberg pitch their new ultra low-budget Digital Short, Laser Cats! to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. In the Laser Cats! short itself (a short within a short), Hader and Samberg play the heroes Nitro and Admiral Spaceship in a post-nuclear war world in which cats can shoot lasers from their mouths and are used as weapons. They are saving the princess (Lindsay Lohan) from the evil Robotron (Will Forte). Rachel Dratch makes an appearance, disguising herself as the princess/Lohan. Jorma Taccone appears in the opening credits for Laser Cats!. Fred Armisen also makes a cameo.
Laser Cats! is shot in the SNL offices with gleeful haphazardness because, according to Samberg in the special Saturday Night Live in the 2000s, “it’s supposed to suck.”
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