The Date & Megan's Roommate

Pop-ups (21 · 6 fan picks from YouTube comments)

1. Fans point here

   1:24

   1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 5 likes.

   Liz is in the kitchen with a blender just cooking those up for me right now. Do you want a mejor acolada? No, just a piña. I know you only care about the Rotten Tomato number, so I will ask. What are we holding at… — Akiva

2. Forte's exaggerated smiling with Megan Fox

   21:55

   The Date opens with Forte as Brock and Megan Fox at a restaurant. Fox's commitment to the bit is praised; she is the sketch's anchor.

   Seth: It is one of my favorite two person scenes in like SNL history.

3. Premiered right after MacGruber summer

   22:20

   The Date aired as a season premiere in fall 2009, shot after MacGruber wrapped in Albuquerque. Forte's buzzed haircut came from the MacGruber shoot needing a wig.

   Yeah, it's a season premiere after shooting MacGruber.

4. Origin of The Date in an elevator

   22:55

   Forte and Solomon say the idea grew from Forte's habit of pestering Solomon with a bummer elevator voice while they wrote MacGruber. The character emerged from that bit during the MacGruber writing period.

   And then at some point, we just got in the room. We're like, oh, we should, or you might have even said, we got to write that guy as something.

5. Buzzed haircut for MacGruber

   23:35

   Forte cut his hair short because MacGruber required a wig, and shaving the head kept him cooler under the wig cap.

   If I do this, they can put the wig just directly on my head and I won't get as hot.

6. Shot on the I Ran So Far garden

   24:01

   The Date's rooftop scene was filmed on the I Ran So Far garden at Studio 8H's building. Seth later notes the garden is a late-night party venue.

   And it's shot on a I Ran So Far garden where the piano.

7. Akiva co-directed The Date

   31:22

   Akiva directed the camera work and shot the short early in the week, which relieved pressure before table reads. Solomon, not yet a show director, directed his first digital short here.

   And then me and you are kind of co-directing, I would say.

8. Shot early in the week

   31:39

   The Date was shot early so the team had a finished short before the usual weekly pressure. Lorne then asked for another one.

   have something early in the week that we thought was funny that we could go shoot that would get us out of, you know, the pressure of the week.

9. Dentist self-esteem line

   33:17

   Brock's line about caring for his dentist's self-esteem is singled out as a textured detail that sets up his character.

   I'm gonna tell my dentist that you said that. He's really self-conscious, and that's gonna make him feel really good.

10. No fan on set, but wind on the rooftop

    34:12

    The rooftop shoot was windy and cold, and no fan was used, though Fox's hair appears to blow. Hearing the dialogue was difficult, so the audio was hard to capture.

    we did not have a fan on her. It was super cold and windy fall night up on that.

11. SWAT commander skips a drug bust

    36:18

    The Date's punchline: Fox's character reveals she is a SWAT commander who bailed on a drug bust to go on the date, a detail the hosts laugh over.

    I was supposed to be at a drug bust, and I bailed on it. Oh my god.

12. Forte's Patty mannerisms in the lamb scene

    37:23

    Will Forte says his character's mannerisms draw on Patty Forte, his mom, a shared joke between the guests about a hot-woman rom-com lead doing most of the work.

    I mean, I think there are a lot of Patty Forte mannerisms in here.

13. The 'it's really hard' line

    40:14

    A deadpan line from The Date that the hosts say they quote most in their personal lives, now a running quote among the cast.

    It's really hard. That must be really hard for you. It's really hard.

14. Fans point here

    41:08

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 10 likes.

    I knew it. Wait, can I read a line? Well, no, I mean, why am I reading a line? I feel like Will's here. Okay, just open it up. Go to page five, Will. I'll be Megan and you be Will. Okay. All right, ready? I'm going to…

15. Akalans bit callback

    44:53

    A Jorm-style riff: Jorma Taccone's 'I do not do it for the Akalans' line, a callback to Xavier: Renegade Angel.

    I do not do it for the Akalans

16. Megan's Roommate written an hour before late-night shoot

    48:12

    The short was written at 10:30 p.m. after Akiva Schaffer pitched Megan Fox a late-night shoot, a tight schedule the team pulled off.

    we're still doing one. And I was like, what? No.

17. Attempted MTV Movie Awards Optimus bit

    48:25

    The team tried the Optimus Prime backstage idea at the MTV Movie Awards before finally writing it as this Megan's Roommate short.

    we kept trying to do at the movie awards my optimus prime thing

18. Optimus Prime AllSpark chest bit origin

    49:39

    The idea came from a line in the first Transformers where Optimus Prime asks to have the AllSpark cube pushed into his chest, which the team found funny to repeat.

    Akiva, push things in my chest, push this pencil in my chest

19. Fans point here

    51:10

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 5 likes.

    That's a hit us in the titties kind of a situation. I don't know if people remember that much. All right, so what we end up with is, like, this is the perfect example of you guys under the gun. Lauren won't take his…

20. Optimus mask borrowed from Seth's office

    52:13

    A free Optimus Prime mask from Seth Meyers's office was used in the shoot; it modulated the wearer's voice.

    I think it was yours, and I don't know why.

21. Seth's Corner: Transformers Restaurant

    59:11

    Seth Meyers riffs on an unaired pitch about a restaurant where food turns into other things, which never got to dress rehearsal.

    It's a Transformers restaurant.
    Seth's Corner

22. Fans point here

    1:00:13

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 4 likes.

    John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. John. It's a little bit Michael McDonald's McDonald's without the incredible impression and songs of Justin Timberlake.

23. Fans point here

    1:00:55

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 5 likes.

    But then it would just be that we would do a stop motion of just the hamburgers kind of folding into weird taco shapes. So it just ended up being like the worst versions of things. I like that as a jumping off point,… — Seth

24. Gindle segment

    1:01:47

    The hosts ask guests what's on their Gindle, the gist of a Kindle e-book, a recurring segment.

    Should we do the thing we do every week, which is asking everyone what they have on their Gindle?

    Goes back to gindle, Ep. 69, 1:12:42: What do you have on your Gindle? What's on your Gindle?

    gindle

25. Fans point here

    1:03:00

    4 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 9 likes.

    Andy, I don't want to hear it. Andy, I'm going to put you on the spot. I'm not wearing the headphones, so I won't hear it. Tell Axel what you think about Frisbee. Tell it to a child's face. The best dog. The best…

26. Naked Gun theme song callback

    1:03:41

    Akiva suggests the Naked Gun big-band theme as a way to revive Frisbee, tying the episode to the film's release that week.

    Throw on the original Naked Gun theme song, you know, the jazzy big band thing.

27. Later, Quaids sign-off

    1:05:58

    The show's official parting words, now recorded by Arnold Schwarzenegger at Seth's request and played as a closing sound clip.

    Later, Quades. Love you, Quades. Love you guys.
    later, Quaids