It had been five years since Christopher Walken last hosted "SNL," and that's far, far too long an absence for a man who's in the upper pantheon of hosts, alongside Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Whenever Walken hosts, no matter how good or bad the show overall is at that time, you're guaranteed something hilarious and weird: Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic; Census Taker; or, of course, More Cowbell (which for some reason isn't on Hulu).

The thing about Walken is, he's so strange -- and so willing to embrace and/or parody that strangeness -- that it inevitably pushes the "SNL" writers to go to bizarre places they might otherwise not. This week's show had a quintessentially Walken sketch (which also isn't on Hulu for some silly reason, but for now is on YouTube), Indoor Gardening Tips From a Man Who's Very Scared of Plants. That's the sort of thing that you only think up at three in the morning or while high on herb, and the kind of thing that, with any other host, probably gets dismissed in the sober light of day, but with Walken, it's the sort of sketch we've come to expect.

(The fact that Walken may look at the cue cards more than any non-sports or political host in the show's history only adds to the strange appeal of his sketches, I think. It's like he showed up five minutes before the sketch began and is still funnier than the people who memorized their lines.)

His halting, oddly-inflected manner of speaking, meanwhile, makes him ripe for mimicry, which led to the entire cast busting out their own Walken impressions for the Walken family reunion. (Bill Hader's was, of course, the best, but it was pretty straight; Amy Poehler as little girl Walken is the kind of bizarro touch that made the sketch.)

Walken didn't even need to dominate every sketch for it to work. Take the one with Kristen Wiig as a woman who loves surprise parties. There, Walken's just the straight man, but Wiig is so silly (and strange) that nobody else in the sketch needs to do anything but set her up.

One final thought: three installments in, I still can't decide whether Laser Cats is absolute brilliance or the dumbest recurring sketch of the '00s. I suppose that's the point.
 

Videos:

Walken's Monologue
..or here
Christopher Walken supplies audience members (Jim Downey, Paula Pell, Bryan Tucker, John Lutz) with index cards, then “spontaneously” asks if they have any questions they'd like him to answer.

Video Greased Lightning
...or here
When the high school drama club makes plans to perform “Grease”, it's up to the musical theater director (Christopher Walken) to clean up the raunchy lyrics in "Greased Lightnin'" by creating a series of nonsensical teen-friendly rhymes that shift the focus of the song from a souped-up race car to seeing dragons with "Match Game" emcee Gene Rayburn.

Video Nathan and Eric
Nathan (Jason Sudeikis) is delighted by the going-away party the office staff has thrown for him, until it comes time for stalkish co-worker Eric (Christopher Walken) to say his heartfelt goodbyes.

Video Plants
..or here
A gardening expert (Christopher Walken) can only be at ease around his plants if he can attach googly eyes to them.

Video Top Chef
An inexperienced chef (Christopher Walken) comes up empty-handed in a cooking challenge that involves couscous, stale Peeps, and other odd ingredients.

Video Surprise Party
A man (Christopher Walken) enlists his friends to help him throw a surprise party for his granddaughter (Casey Wilson), but the excitement is much more than Sue (Kristen Wiig) can handle

Video Meet the Family
There's lots of monosyllabic conversation to go around when Christopher Walken mingles with his relatives at a bizarre family reunion.

Video Goodnights
Christopher Walken: Thanks... to Panic at the Disco, and Lorne, and... thank you very much.
 

    

Link with Videos
blog.nj.com/alltv/2008/04/snl_walken_infinity.html