Martin Freeman Hosts SNL, Stars in The Hobbit-The Office Mash-Up Sketch: 5 Highlights, Plus Videos!
Martin Freeman hosted SNL on Saturday, gave us the ultimate The Hobbit-The Officemash-up and even got "married."
The British actor plays Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies. The SNL episode aired days before the Dec. 17 release of the third film in the series, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
Freeman is also known for playing Dr. John Watson on BBC's Sherlock, which stars The Hobbit's Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, Lester "Oh, Heck!" Nygaard on season 1 of the FX series Fargo and Tim Canterbury on the original and British version ofThe Office.
Pop star Charli XCX performed two songs—her hit "Boom Clap" and "Break the Rules."
PHOTOS: Hot men of Middle-earth
Check out five highlights from Saturday's episode of SNL below.
1. Monologue - who is Martin Freeman again?
Freeman introduces himself as "sort of a funny George Clooney" and rattles off some of his onscreen credits, playing off of a long-running joke that many non-British fans may not know who he is.
He also name-drops Prince William and Kate Middleton, aka Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who recently wrapped up a three-day trip to the United States, as well as a slew of other British famous people, such as Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and One Directionsinger Harry Styles.
"'Cause you know, all British celebrities know each other and they're friends," he joked.
Kate McKinnon and Taran Killam also appear with him as Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman's characters from Harry Potter.
2. The Hobbit-The Office mash-up
When Middle-earth's Gandalf runs the office, hijinks ensue, as seen in this skit, which mashes up both The Hobbit and the British and U.S. version of The Office. The wizard is played by Bobby Moynihan, who appears to be channeling original main star and show co-creator Ricky Gervais, while Killam plays a Gollum-Dwight Schrute hybrid. Even the JELL-O-stapler prank makes an appearance.
3. Wedding objections
SNL performer Leslie Jones plays a bride, WNBA player and single mom of 10 and Freeman plays her groom at a lovely church wedding, marred by several voiced objections from guests. One of them, Jones' character's roommate, is played by Aidy Bryant.
"You guys have had sex 50 times in our shared living space and in the rare moments that you're not going out it, you're having full scream fights on the front lawn," she says. "Please do not do this."
Jones calls her a "hater" and Freeman points out, logically, that she is in fact now "gaining" a roommate. Jones later reveals something horrifying that occurred during one of their frequent sex sessions.
Vanessa Bayer plays Freeman's current wife and, naturally, is not thrilled about the wedding, either.
4. Assembly line
Killam plays a dim-witted assembly line worker in a ketchup factory and Freeman plays his increasingly-frustrated boss.
5. Christmas Mass
Freeman does not star in this skit, which pokes fun at church holiday services, sparing no one—pastors who aren't the best singers and tell corny jokes, awkward organists and the "newly-Atheist teen who's making a point of not saying the prayers."
