Normally we wait out the weekend before telling you if anything interesting happened on Saturday Night, but because tonight’s episode, hosted by Rainn Wilson, included an Office parody AND a Digital Short featuring an Arcade Fire cameo, we figured why wait.
In true rock-on-TV style, Win taped a message onto the face of his guitar. It appeared to read “SAK VID PA KANPE” which, if we know our Haitian proverbs (we don’t, but Wiki does), means: “An empty sack doesn’t stand up” — i.e., A hungry person cannot do anything. And then, in truer rock-on-TV style, Win smashed his acoustic to pieces at the end of “Intervention.”
We’ll update with vid when we get it. Elsewhere Mr. Wilson can be seen in the new movie The Last Mimzy, which features a new Roger Waters tune you can hear here:
Roger Waters – “Hello (I Love You)” (Stream)
Anyone else notice Win looks a bit like Will Forte these days?
UPDATE: Here’s an exclusive pic from “Keep The Car Running,” taken by our SNL spy. Click the mandolin to superenlarge. (Make it your desktop wallpaper, geeks!)
Performance vids and a Not Seen On TV report (AF played post-show!) after the jump…
Check the sweet backstage clip of SNL writer Jorm dancing to the album version of “Keep The Car Running” in front of Fire, Rainn, and Bill Hader (via Gothamist). Here’s the band’s live performance of the tune, featuring less nudity.
Meanwhile, Hard, Cutting was at the taping and filed this report:
Want to to know why Arcade Fire ran off the stage during the closing credits of “Saturday Night Live” last night?Because, in something that is apparently rarely done at Studio 8H, they played a mini-concert for the audience. Making up the front row of the 3-song set was Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg, all looking absolutely transfixed by this band. The Fire has some high-powered fans, for sure, and converted a good chunk of the audience last night as well.
It’s odd that my highlight of the show happened off-camera– at the end of their three-song set, they played “Wake Up”, off the stage and in the audience. Amazing. The cameras were rolling, I’m hoping this appears somewhere.
Also a funny tidbit: Five seconds before the show went back live for Arcade Fire’s second song, Rainn Wilson looked at lead singer Win Butler and, in a very deadpan voice, asked what happened to his guitar (he had smashed it during their first song). Ha.
Oh, Dwight. Anyway, witness the guitar trashing first hand with the band’s first tune of the night, “Intervention.”
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I loved them bunched up in the Digital Short.
he really does look like will forte
Their performance was horrid and the guitar smashing was ridiculous. Rain was good. Would be better with better writers. nuff said.
He looks exactly like Will Forte. Also, whether people wwant to face it or not, they now sound more Springsteenian than ever – hell, that second performance was straight out of Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions tour!
I really think the writers have been getting better over the past few years. Well done SNL.
episode started great for around 25 minutes, sagged in the middle and was just decent around the end. Arcade Fire sounded better than bands normally do on SNL (production on bands usually sounds either tinny or at least badly mixed) – but ive never seen them live to compare.
the bar sketch where they each exchange stories with the Pulp Fiction ending is one of the best pure SNL sketches in years.
they played neighborhood 3, bird in a cage, and rebellion afterwards
Lead singer of Arcade Fire looked more like Dwight than Dwight did tonight.
Also agree with Goon that the bar sketch was absolutely hilarious. Best one of the year, at least.
“The guy’s in jail now though. But I haven’t seen my uncle since then.”
how many strings were broken on that guitar? It looked pretty bad before he smashed it but i was watching on a pretty crap tv so it was hard to be sure. sounded great tho. so glad they did intervention!
I think one string broke during the performance, and then towards the end, it looked like Win broke two more out of frustration.
Are we joking? Save the 50% budget cut sketch, they were all horrible and clearly written by 2-year-olds. Referenced or not, all the SNL sketches are ending with non sequiturs. It’s like the writers’ attention–oooh shiny.
what’s the name of that second song?
Since when are non sequiturs not funny?
The second song was “Keep the Car Running,” it’s on their Myspace.
if you dont like non sequitors, you’re a sad sad person.
if you don’t like non sequitirs, hey is that a squirrel?
Intervention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xia3WiqPUY
Keep the car running
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyu_VvR0i1Y
Compared to the last couple years this was a great SNL. Bar sketch was def. the best.
I thought Arcade Fire sounded really good for SNL, but then I haven’t seen them live yet, so my opinion is based on pretty much nothing.
i thought rainn looked a lot like jack black. and win = will forte. their performance was ok but i hope that was just the snl. this episode was kind of boring.
brad: in which way were either performance “horrid?”
Take off your hipster-goggles.
oh yeah and why did they run off stage for the hugging? that was odd.
great rendition of intervention was ruined by his totally lame and obviously premeditated decision to smash his guitar
Win smashing his guitar was just crazy. Made him look like a fool.
The Office parody was my favorite. Hands down. Rainn was awesome.
Win looked just like Amy Poehler, Rainn looked like Will Forte, and Forte was a dead ringer for Gareth from that British show “The Office.” Clearly, the show was written by two-year-old squirrels.
Guitar smash was lame. Walking out past the stage lights during “Running” wasn’t.
The Office parody was great except for Keenan who is so untalented.
i don’t think the guitar smash was pre-meditated at all. he was obviously frustrated. (breaking strings) it was definitely more in the heat of the moment i think…not that it matters, “intervention” and “keep the car running” were both amazing.
Episode wasn’t funny, save for the short. Not up to Rainn’s talent. The opening skit was funny at first but went on for far, FAR too long. The Peeping Tom skit was mildly amusing. If they show that goddamn “Nooni Nuni” thing again I will bomb the studios. They’ve been trying that for a good three or four years now and it’s never caught on; give it up.
If it were any other band, yes, a guitar smash would be lame. But come on, this is the Arcade Fire we’re talking about – criticizing them for being theatrical kind of misses the point by quite a bit.
And as someone said earlier, the reason they left so fast during the goodnights is because they went to set up and play three more songs for the cast/audience after the credits rolled.
I thought the AF were great! (the guitar-smashing did seem a little unnecessary/preplanned…but like McNutt said – they ARE a theatrical band, so why not, eh?) The cameo was hilarious – that Digital Short was the best. “That’s ENOUGH Gigantic Turkey Sub!!” I thought Rainn did a really great job… Although, I had no idea AF played a third/fourth/fifth song??? Is there video of the songs not on the broadcast?
thanks for the links El K!
i hope the Office parody also ends up online. i need to see it!
Was in the SNL audience last night, they were great. They played a mini-concert after, ended with “Wake Up” in the middle of the audience.
Wrote a quickie reviw here: http://hardcutting.blogspot.com/2007/02/5-of-11-snl-castmembers-love-arcade.html
rainn’s monologue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlN2EoPBFE0
digital short w/arcade fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4vpT4UrY1M&mode=user&search=
I’m surprised no one has commented on the statement on Win’s guitar…”Sak Vid Pa Kanpe” which means an Empty Sack Cannot Stand…ya thing he might be talking about Bush? Just askin’.
i guess it didnt take my comment from a few hours ago…
but the second arcade fire song they played sums up what frustrates me about them. the music was great. but the vocal melody and the vocals left a lot to be desired. im not asking him to sing like jeff buckley or anything – but put SOMETHING into it. he sings horrible. he makes conor oberst sound like lou rawls. they have so much potential but seem content with not living up to it.
My bad…Scott or Amrit mentioned the translation of the statement…just not the possible intent.
it’s SNL, for cryin’ out loud…..
sometimes it’s good….sometimes it’s sucks….
the arcade fire sounded fantastico!
last year….we sat around….and said…..
if i could book bands on SNL, i’d get the arcade fire…..
well, what do you know!?!
i hope to see them sometime in 2007 around these here southern united states….
cheers!
af fans are so annoyingly up their own asses
he looked pissed. smashed the guitar because a string broke on him. snapped the others in anger. I couldn’t hear the difference. Sounded good to me.
Arcade Fire sounded great! I thought Intervention sounded better on SNL then the album version. BTW, I dig Win’s vocals, too!
Please, someone tell me what’s so great about the Arcade Fire?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELud5PhrrlU
Arcade Fire are awesome no matter what they do:
http://www.mybigmouthstrikesagain.blogspot.com
I HATE EVERYTHING!!!!
Life is so fucking overrated and I can’t stand the music you people like.
Coincidentally, that’s also what makes me cooler than everyone else on the fucking planet.
Douche.
Anyone know where to find that bar scene sketch with the Pulp Fiction ending?
I haven’t seen a better instrument thrashing since Nirvana did “Territorial Pissing”….
Win smashed an acoustic guitar at their last show in Vancouver. He was agitated with it during the show and after said “Life’s too short to play shitty guitars”
Maybe they should try to GLOGGING!!
http://cafe.glogster.com/faithless
i liked the performance… but am i the only person who thinks Keep the Car Running sounds like “Holiday Road”?
Arcade’s second songs Keep The Car Running reminds me a lot of On the Dark Side from Eddie and the Cruisers movie
Arcade’s second songs Keep The Car Running reminds me a lot of On the Dark Side from Eddie and the Cruisers movie
oh no, the videos aren’t working anymore!
Holy shit Rina, I thought I was the only one who noticed that! Keep the Car Running *IS* On the Dark Side.
He smashed the guitar because he was frustrated with it? Are you fucking serious? It was obviously a pre-planned attempt to show America that they are a “serious” band. The irony is they didn’t need to resort to any overplayed rock star cliches like the smashing of a guitar to get that point across. Those folks played their fucking hearts out up there, just like they’ve been doing every time they took a stage for the past three years. That’s what drew people to them in the first place and they obviously haven’t lost it.
The guitar smashing was definitely lame, but like someone said, this is a theatrical band that made a name for themselves by using motorcycle helmets as drums. It’s their shtick – take it or leave it.
i was at the taping too. that was the greatest night of my life. i’m a huge office fan. and a huge arcade fire fan.
‘wake up’ acoustic is one of those things that will stay in my memory forever. seeing the entire cast, rainn and rashida all having a good time. lorne was even singing.
Ul see the streams ?THE FUNNYTHING 3 EYE.
Clips from youtube are gone but dailymotion has them:
http://www.dailymotion.com/search/arcade%2Bfire/video/x1biku_arcade-fire-guitarsmashing
http://www.dailymotion.com/search/arcade%2Bfire/video/x1brmx_arcade-fire-intervention
http://www.dailymotion.com/search/arcade%2Bfire/video/x1b0xe_arcade-fire-rebellion-lies
enjoy.
it may be a lil to late for this but contrived or not win’s guitar smash was wicked..
I’m a little late too.. hehe
I just saw Arcade Fire’s SNL performance for the first time on the March 31st rerun..
Arcade Fire observers display this unusual dichotomy where a lot love their cathardicly beautiful art and a lot hate..
But the Arcade Fire in actuality are down right tremendous! Including their performance on SNL..
and even Win’s guitar smash, contrived or not.
He was doing it in a halfassed way cuz im sure he recognizes how cliche the act has become and so it was an ironic guitar smash..
Critsizing is too easy…
Instead ask yerself what am I contributing..
What is my art?
i loved the nuni and nooni skit. i found it hilarious. so was the peeping tom one. ive been trying to find a video of those parts of the episode but i cant one.
shut up about destroying a guitar! the arcadians are fab if you like them. i have just destroyed my sub, my car,my spaceship etc etc are you going to moan about that ?