13.2.11

Saturday Night Live RapeWatch: Russel Brand Edition!

Russel Brand was hosting this week, and he fronted a surprisingly tame outing, despite his reputation. If it hadn't been for a monologue that focused almost entirely on the tightness of his pants and the two sketches whose content required female cast members to grope his crotch, this could have been the Desmond Tutu episode for all the prurience of the comedy.

That being said, there were still two little incidents worth pointing out, both in the news segment (which was later in the show than I can remember seeing it, from ~12:20 to 12:30AM!). The first came in Armisen's post-ousting Mubarak impression, where he referred to having 'raped the country'. I'm giving them a pass on this one, both because it's a figurative rape, and because, given the size of the supposed civil servant's secret, illegal bank accounts, it's a fair description.

The second questionable joke was homophobia-themed, in that Bill Hader's walking-gay-joke character 'Stefan' made an appearance. As usual he came on to Smuggy and

So tonight's final tally:

Rape: 0
Homophobia: 1

I can only imagine things are going to remain super clean when the show comes back from hiatus in three weeks - Miley Cyrus is hosting, and as I understand it she likes to keep things wholesome for the fans (when not smoking pot on tape).

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