More ‘SNL’ Revisionist History: The Disappearing Denzel

We briefly mentioned in our earlier SNL recap the mangled ending to the “Tax Masters” sketch, where it sounded like an open walkie stepped on Fred Armisen’s closing line, so the sketch, and the show went out with a clumsy whimper.  However, we neglected to note that this was the second odd conclusion of the night.  Earlier, at the end of the “Returns and Exchanges” sketch we could see Jay Pharoah lurking mysteriously in the background after his Denzel Washington retired to the stockroom (thanks to Videogum for reminding us, and for their superior review).  The sketch itself had a weird, head scratching ending where Bobby Moynihan’s employee simply says “Who’s next?”  Considering the clunky finish, it’s possible that Pharoah was supposed to reappear for an additional line or two, but there was some confusion and instead the sketch ended with Moynihan’s awkward coda.  Or, perhaps, Pharaoh simply wanted to watch the end of the sketch, and didn’t realize that he’d be visible in the shot.  Unlike the other rookies, Pharoah’s background is in stand-up and impressions, not sketch and improv, so it’s feasible that his inexperience with sketch comedy led to this blunder.  This is why, for the near future, we’ll probably see Pharoah mostly as a guest on “Weekend Update,” or in sketches where his characters speak directly to camera.

But, not surprisingly, the show is retroactively erasing the gaffe.  If you watch the clip on Hulu, Pharoah is not to be found looming in the background, unsure of where to go.  But if you look closely at the right side, you can see that they’ve edited Pharoah out of frame, leaving a small sliver of his black suit jacket and mismatched wainscoting as evidence.  Take a look:

Enhance:

BUSTED SNL!

Not surprisingly, they also cleaned up the end of the “Tax Masters” for viral consumption.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Saturday Night Live?  More like Saturday Night We’ll Get It In Post!

Burned.

And, on top of all that, here’s what you didn’t see broadcast:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

You’ve to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on a blogger who watches SNL late on Sunday and then writes about it on Monday afternoon.