It turns out Andy Kaufman is defintiely dead.

II know this, because last night, Saturday Night Live killed him.

Here's the story, in short form: Recently, Andy Samberg did an uncanny impression of Mark Wahlberg in a sketch titled "Mark Wahlberg talks to animals". Here's a clip of it, along with Mark Wahlberg's flattered response:



Later that same week, Wahlberg appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new film, and the subject of the sketch came up again. This time, he was markedly less enthused about it.



Personally, I wondered what was going on with his sudden change in opinion. Then it hit me - he'd talked to Andy Samberg during the week, and they'd planned a walk-on for Saturday Night Live. Suddenly we were back in Kaufman territory: It was a feud that could have lasted months, getting more and more elaborate, and all they had to do was kick it off with a stunning display of anti-comedy!

I could picture it already - They're in the middle of a sketch and Mark Wahlberg walks out, punches Andy Samberg in the face, says "Say hi to your mother for me!" Then walks off without comment. There's a little debate among the cast, and then they decide to go on with the sketch, Samberg playing the rest of it with a fake-bloody nose.

How funny would that have been?

Instead, we got the lamest possible celebrity cameo sketch, so predictable and dull that it must have been written from a formula. It's so awful that I'm not even going to seek out a clip and embed it here.

It's the oldest joke in the world - a celebrity who's had an unflattering charicature of them done on the show comes on the show and announces 'Hey, I don't talk like that!', and everyone's apologetic. Then the punchline is that yes, he actually does talk like that. That's it. That's the whole joke.

I know the variations on the WWJD bracelet are incredibly passe, but seriously, if everyone on that show would just ask themselves what Andy Kaufman would do with a premise, that show would be a whole lot less dire.

And to think I used to consider Samberg the 'funny one' of the modern cast.