I’m in London right now, so I had to hunt down a YouTube version of the “Avengers” sketch that Jeremy Renner did last night on “Saturday Night Live.” I was curious to see how Renner did with live comedy, something that is totally outside his comfort zone so far, and I also wanted to see what they did to make fun of the film.
The sketch is very silly and very short, and more than anything, I’d love to see the reaction at Marvel Studios when they saw it. It’s one thing when it’s the SNL cast making fun of your film, but to have one of your actual franchise stars playing the same part in the sketch, that hits kind of close to home. And on top of it, Taran Killam played Captain America in the sketch, and in real life, he is of course married to Cobie Smulders, who played Maria Hill in the film.
I think the best things in the sketch are Jason Sudeikis as Iron Man saying “You’ve been quipped!” and Renner’s exasperated “Yes, and I killed 11 of them. You’re welcome.”
Here’s the sketch:
Renner seems really nervous or uncomfortable here, and it just serves as a reminder that you might be great on film, but live television comedy is a totally different beast. It is a very particular skill set to be able to step into SNL and do what they do every single episode. Even when I don’t love a sketch or an episode, I remain impressed by the way the cast rises to the occasion, over and over again, turning out something so complex in a week. And really, it’s only by comparison to these veterans that Renner seems uncomfortable.
Oh… and Jay Pharaoh’s Nick Fury is uncanny if you close your eyes.