Dans la Nuit

I came across the image below after clicking on a bad link at Warner Bros.’ French site last month for my review of The Artist.



The studio probably has an “Error 404 / Page Not Found” message spelled out like the Hollywood sign in English on its domestic site, of course, and that would be a moment’s amusement at best; versions of the most mundane things in other languages than one’s own, however, even if they’re somewhat familiar, can seem... weird. N’est-ce pas?

And speaking of French, I’ve had a brief Slate interview with Tarran Killam on the origins of “Les Jeunes de Paris” sitting around for about a year.

“Les Jeunes” is a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live that returned in last night’s episode hosted by Zooey Deschanel. And — uh, spoiler warning in case you haven’t seen it — speaking of The Artist, Jean Dujardin popped up in character as George Valentin in that very sketch.

Clips from the episode online aren’t online yet, but when they are I’ll update this
post to link directly to the better ones. Those include “Les Jeunes de Paris”, which as much as I loved its randomness at first was really only worth reviving this time for the surprise guest appearance. I also quite enjoyed the double shot of Nicolas Cage on Weekend Update and “Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel”. Most of the episode’s offerings just sat there, all the more painful thanks to Deschanel’s game performance and the choice bits that really did hit the mark: the “decency strap” in Piers Morgan Tonight; Bill Hader as Clint Eastwood saying “Pizza! Pizza!”; Deschanel’s part in the old-time newspaper sketch; and the entirety of “Bein’ Quirky”. The latter featured Abby Elliiot as Deschanel, Killam doing Michael Cera, Kristen Wiig reprising her Bjork, and Deschanel hilariously channeling Mary-Kate Olsen. [Update: The direct sketch links that I’d put in have since gone bad.]


Related: Siteseeing • My Other Saturday Notes • Silent Treatment