TV Detail: SNL's "Fartface" sketch too crappy even for the Internet

Last week's Saturday Night Live was in no small way surreal, what with Tina Fey's Sarah Palin (briefly) meeting The Real Sarah Palin, and an oh-my-god-how-pregnant-can-a-person-be Amy Poehler pretty much handing The Real Sarah Palin's beehive to her with that incredible, Bullwinkle-slaughtering Weekend Update rap.

But what about that "Fartface" sketch? Do you remember this, or has your brain since stashed it away in that little Awful Things To Conveniently Forget About For The Sake Of Your Sanity And General Human Decency lobe?

No, you know what I'm talking about: The sketch with Bill Hader and Will Forte as businessmen who get into a pre-meeting tiff about one calling the other "Fartface"? Which then turns kind of sad and painful, then (really suddenly, and for no apparent reason) heated when they're joined by host Josh Brolin (looking very much like his father) as another businessman who gets in on the fight? And then cries? And then kills himself? All over an inarguably puerile insult? And not just any inarguably puerile insult, but "Fartface" in particular? A term that Josh Brolin (pre-tears, pre-off-camera-suicide) ends up barking at least thirty times in rapid, increasingly furious sucession?

Admittedly, "Fartface" does roll off the tongue nicely. And, for the record, I've been known to enjoy what one might call "scatological humor." And Brolin does have one great little moment ("He is a smart face! He is a clean face! He is a tough face! He is a never-cry face!"), as befits the fine actor we loved in No Country For Old Men, who seems poised as Oscar bait with W.

But Forte and Hader-- the actual commedians here, remember-- just blather along, scowling and yelling and spazzing out about this incredibly petty thing like enraged, maniacal toddlers. Is that the point, though? Is this some kind of commentary on the childish cruelty of corporate America? Or was Sarah Palin supposed to cameo in a third sketch but backed out of it at the last minute, leaving them to scramble for something, anything, that might potentially make someone, anywhere, laugh? Or, despite its killer election coverage, a recent string of great hosts and the Lawrence Welk sketch, is SNL just still struggling to be funny?

(And if that's it, then why? Why? This is your job, SNL cast! Be glad you have one, and get better at it!)

We may never know what hath wrought "Fartface," but in the meantime, here's the sketch:
 

You'll notice that this video is just about ten different kinds of illegal. I'm sorry about that, but it's all I could find. The sketch isn't on Hulu or NBC.com (the two official sources for embeddable SNL clips), and this markdgraham guy seems to be the only person in the world who felt it was necessary to preserve the clip in any sort of illicit digital way for the general consumption of his fellow human beings. Indeed, the "Fartface" sketch seems to be too crappy even for the Internet.

Let me repeat myself: Too crappy even for the Internet. Please take a moment to consider just how crappy the Internet is. Think about the crappiest thing on the Internet, double that, triple that, and take a moment to appreciate that the "Fartface" sketch is even crappier than that.

By the time you read this, the Internet may have even fully rejected it (ie, NBC will have yanked this bootleggy mess right off of YouTube) but it's no matter. As part and parcel of one of the most bizarre and politically significant SNL episodes to date, we'll be catching this in re-runs until the end of time. Hooray!