For so so many tangible reasons and many that are intangible, this is one of my absolute favorite SNL sketches.

It has all the necessary components: Will Ferrell, Chris Parnell, Alec Baldwin, and wonderful, terrible songs. But yet, I feel that this is one of the lesser-loved sketches of both Ferrell and Baldwin.

Ferrell’s Robert Goulet has that wonderful swagger that Baldwin can copy and improve on and Parnell can fail to copy. The three of them all have the same hair, sunglasses, and inability to remember their lines (“Before we get on the airplane” anyone?), and their sniping is priceless.

The physiciality of the duet between Ferrell’s Goulet and Ana Gastyer who plays Goulet’s daughter and romantic interest in the musical is just gangbusters. Especially the moment when he just keeps trying to kiss (though with that open mouth it looks more like slurp) his daughter and she is just straining with all her might to get the hell away from him.

But what really makes this sketch for me are the comments from the theater critics:

“I don’t think that legally this qualifies as theater”

“The only time the audience applauded was when I whipped a battery at the actors.”

And of course… “True story. I fell asleep during the production and when I woke up was so convinced that I was still dreaming, I got up on stage and walked around. The odd thing is, the show is such an ugly mess, that no one seemed to notice or care.”

That’s the quote I would one day like to see applied to a real Broadway show.

Eventual musical version of Batman which I’m guessing will be called “The Dark Knight: Turn On the Lights” …I’m looking at you…