He's still... and you're still not

Still gathering my thoughts on "Mad Men" (maybe tonight, tomorrow at the latest). Meanwhile, spoilers for "Saturday Night Live" and "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I eat a pizzone...

I got to go to last night's "SNL" dress rehearsal. They're easier to snag tickets for than the live show, you get to see an extra half-hour worth of sketches (which can be a plus to some and a minus to others), and you get home at a decent hour (a bonus for a sleep-deprived soul like myself). Treats of being in the audience included Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen warming up the crowd with a faithful take on the Ike & Tina "Proud Mary," seeing Amy Poehler struggle to compose herself off-camera during the Willie Randolph/Omar Minaya segment on Weekend Update, and the realization as the stagehands wheeled out the original Update set that Chevy Chase was likely in the building.

A good show, I thought (though seeing it live is always a more intense experience than watching it at home), with my favorites being the Douchebag of the Year sketch (I need a comedy pro like Ken Levine to explain to me why the word "douchebag" is just inherently funny, as it lacks a K sound), where Andy Samberg in particular made a magnificent douche; the Rowlf/Swedish Chef duet between Seth Rogen and Samberg (the audience was going nuts during the commercial break once we realized who they were dressed as), and Rogen and Kristen Wiig as those horrific children. Plus, it was just cool to see Chevy do Update again. I haven't had a chance to go back and rewatch the episode to see how it played on TV, save to fast forward through and check which sketches made the cut.

I've had a few requests for a "My Name Is Earl" post. I'm still enjoying the prison arc, and putting Randy in there as a guard rather than a prisoner was an inspired touch. Glad to see Craig T. Nelson in an innately goofy part like this (you don't expect to see the guy from "Coach" playing Guitar Hero in his underwear), and the inter-gang love story went several steps above the easy "two macho dudes kissing" level. I like where this season is going, even though "Earl" for me is far less essential viewing than the other NBC comedies or something like "HIMYM." I rarely regret watching it, but I'm rarely in a hurry to see it, either.

What did everybody else think?