10/18 SNL

Not sure if anyone else caught last night's Saturday Night Live, but it was probably the best one they've had in years.

Highlights included cameos from Oliver Stone, Sarah Palin, Alec Baldwin, and Mark Wahlberg, and the host was Josh Brolin, who I didn't realize was the big brother in The Goonies, an all time fav of mine.

Top skits for the night included:

• The opener with Tina Fey doing Palin, only to be walked in on by the real Palin
• MacGruber skits where MacGruber realizes that his stock portfolio has taken a hit which distracts him from defusing the bomb
• A scene with Andy Sandberg and Mark Wahlberg building on last week's hilarious imitation of Wahlberg by Sandberg where he talked in a classic Wahlberg style to animals. This week, Wahlberg was at 30 Rock to get revenge on Sandberg only to be interrupted by people (and a donkey) and recite lines from last week's imitation
• A Honkie Tonk bar scene where Brolin is hitting on a seated Amy Poehler only to realize when she stood up to come over that she was extremely pregnant
• The weekend update where the real Palin joined Seth and Amy, and Amy did a rap Palin was "supposed" to do that she at the last minute thought better of that included background Eskimo dancers, a guy in a snow machine racing suit playing Palin's husband, and someone in a moose costume - all the while Palin is bobbing her head along with Myers off to the side.

Adele was the musical guest. I'd never heard of her before, but was impressed by her talent. She is from London, and sort of has that Amy Winehouse/Lily Allen style that we're seeing from several UK female vocalists. I figured when I saw her and she looked like a background singer at best, that she'd probably blow me away with her pipes, and she has a good set. Her second song (Cold Shoulder) was better than her first (Chasing Pavement).

This show was probably one "A" list musical guest and host away from an all time classic. All of the memorable skits had little if anything to do with Brolin. This show goes to the writers and cast. It was nice for them to take half a step back from the political topic, and sprinkle in some of the economy as their undertone. It was also nice for the political commentary not to be the typical sledge hammer to face pro-Obama anti McCain stance it has been the last half a dozen episodes or so. I guess having Gov. Palin on the set was enough for them to bring it down a notch.