Zoolander And Hansel Talked Fashion And Politics On ‘Weekend Update’; Desperately Needed Stefon
Is it too late to get Stefon in this new movie?
If you’re one of the millions of comedy lovers out there holding your breath hoping the new Zoolander film won’t take a giant crap on your childhood, I have some good news and some bad news.
Good: you only have three more days to wait. The movie comes out this Thursday which means we’ve seen the tail end of Ben Stiller pulling Blue Steel in front of the Sydney Opera House and nabbing weird Guinness World Records about selfie sticks. We’ll soon know if the hype has been worth it.
Bad: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson rocked up at SNL last night to sit in on the Weekend Update desk with Colin Jost and frankly, it was pretty middling. There were some good jabs at the internet’s favourite punchline Ted Cruz and OJ Simpson in the wake of the premiere of American Crime Story: The People vs OJ. But the predictable callbacks to Hansel tripping on ayahuasca and references to “orange mocha frappuccinos” fell a bit flat, and #trending references to Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump were ultimately ordinary.
Much of this is simply due to the fact the iconic characters have aged. After being infamously over-quoted for 15 years, the original film has in many ways become a parody of itself and carbon copies of old gags can seem a bit grating to even the biggest fan. That being said, Derek Zoolander made a similar cameo on Weekend Update a few years ago and it was kinda sublime; largely due to the fact he riffed on modern culture from within his wheelhouse of fashion and nightlife.
Also, Bill Hader’s Stefon was there. Everything is better with Stefon.
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Zoolander 2 is in cinemas from February 11.