The Dave Matthews Band rocked two songs on this past weekend’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live, but it was Matthews’ killer turn as Ozzy Osbourne in Andy Samberg’s recurring sketch “The Mellow Show” that had fans abuzz. Samberg plays fellow acoustic guitar aficionado Jack Johnson in the bit that celebrates the wonders of ultimate Frisbee and laid-back riffs. Saturday, Bill Hader featured as co-host, Dave Matthews and Levitt kicked off his shoes to play Jason Mraz. Moments later, Matthews himself emerged from backstage to deliver a dead-on impersonation of the Prince of Darkness.

Dave “Ozzy” Matthews sang a chilled out version of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” about “taking it easy and having fun” he dubbed “I am Tired, Man” (sample lyric: “I wear sweatpants all the time/hang out on my own/watch a Frasier marathon”).

This isn’t the first time Matthews has showcased his comedic chops, as the Crash singer has previously appeared as an actor in films like I now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. the “Mellow Show” skit was the highlight in an episode that featured both a funny Al Gore cameo and several musical gags, including a bizarre SNL Digital Short where Andy Samberg duets by a rapping, pot smoking woman who claims to be Reba McEntire, played by Kenan Thompson.

As for DMB, the band performed two cuts off their semi-new album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: “You and Me” and “Shake me Like a Monkey,” which you can watch below:

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Saturday Night Live took aim once again at its favourite satirical target last night, with a mock movie trailer called Palin 2012.

Intercutting footage from the real disaster movie 2012 with clips from Palin’s 2008 vice-presidential run and her recent book-promotion blitz, the trailer depicts a world on the brink of collapse.

“All the signs were there. We were told this day would come,” the screen reads as a lone monk is seen rushing up a remote mountainside to sound the warning.

The disaster? Palin is president. and her choice for vice-president? In a reference to her recent declaration that he would make an excellent running mate, it’s right-wing Fox commentator Glenn Beck.

“But she’s unqualified,” says the monk in a subtitle.

Palin-based satire first boosted Saturday Night Live’s ratings in the fall of 2008 when comedian Tina Fey made a brief return to the show doing a dead-ringer impression of the American vice-presidential candidate. In an attempt to join in the fun at her expense, Palin later made an awkward appearance on the show, bobbing her head and “raising the roof” during Weekend Update while SNL cast member Amy Poehler rapped about her candidacy.

Palin’s recently published bestselling memoir, Going Rogue, details the episode, claiming that she and her campaign staff had actually come up with much funnier material than the skits that made the air. Comedy writers, meet red flag:

After the abomination that was last week’s January Jones hosted episode of Saturday Night Live, we opined that Seth Meyers and the show’s writing staff was almost certainly fried after a fall schedule that has seen them put together seven original episodes of the Saturday night show and two episodes of Weekend Update Thursday in nine short weeks. Well, after last night’s delightful and joyous program —the season’s best episode by a long shot— it seems as if we may have been a bit too harsh on the writers and not quite critical enough of the effort that January Jones put in. Because unlike his predecessor from last week, from the moment that Joseph Gordon-Levitt hit the Studio 8H stage last night like a house of fire, it was clear that he was not only incredibly well prepared for his hosting duties but also extremely enthralled with the opportunity to demonstrate to everyone watching that he’s a breakout talent on the verge of mainstream movie stardom.

After a pleasantly humorous cold open that managed to tie this week’s meeting between President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao with one of the more underrated lines uttered by Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (”Does Marsellus Wallace look like a bitch? Then why’d you try to fuck him like a bitch, Brett?”), Joseph Gordon-Levitt took the stage for his monologue beaming like someone who had been waiting decades for the opportunity to host SNL. He quickly stated that he had been thinking and preparing for this moment for two full months, which is approximately 59.5 more days than January Jones spent prepping for hers. He explained that Singing In the Rain is his all-time favorite musical and that he’s always had a fascination with the song “Make ‘Em Laugh.” and then he did this:

Wow, just wow! when was the last time you saw a host with that kind of talent and enthusiasm take the stage on SNL? after that performance, we should all start calling him Joseph Gordon-LEVITATE (rim shot)! oh, and just to prove that nobody slouched when recreating this moment, here’s a refresher of what Donald O’Connor’s original “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singing In the Rain looks like:

Throughout the course of the evening, Gordon-Levitt gave every single sketch his 100% effort, as if he were campaigning throughout the evening for Lorne Michaels to ask him back to host again next week (interestingly enough, that duty will go to another up-and-comer looking to make a big name for herself, Blake Lively). and while we were certainly fans of JGL before last night, it wasn’t until he took the stage that he could not only sing and dance better than we had ever fathomed, but also that he’s has an incredible knack for comedic timing. We can’t wait to see him back hosting next year!

And while most of the SNL MVP talk these days centers around the show’s reliable workhouse, Kristen Wiig, we can’t help but feel like this season has belonged to Kenan Thompson. We’ve long been fans of his tragically underrated Weekend Update character Jean K. Jean, but his performance as fictional BET talk show host Diondre Cole is fast becoming his trademark character:

This is “What Up with That?”’s second appearance this season and only shows signs of improvement. There’s no fatigue with either this character or this premise, and we can hardly wait to see where this character is going to go.

Kenan also played an integral role in the evening’s Digital Short as a man who has Andy Samberg convinced that he’s really Reba McEntire:

All in all, a pretty great show. Even the show’s weaker moments, like the Thanksgiving sketch (which was a direct descendant of will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer’s famed dinnertime blowup sketches, only minus the laughs), were worlds better than the material they turned out last week. Just goes to show you that having a host that is both multi-talented and comes to the table with a clear idea of what they want to accomplish that week goes a long way towards helping inspire the show’s writing staff. so a hearty Vulture congratulations goes out to Joseph Gordon-Levitt for totally nailing your performance last night: We’re quite certain that Lorne will gladly have you back anytime!