While I’m not a SNL regular watcher, I ended up catching last night’s episode starring (500) Days of Summer’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt (also known as the kid from Angels in the Outfield way back in the day). During the monologue, he mentions how much he loved doing the musical number in the middle of Summer and wanted to do more. He then performs one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite movies: Donald O’Connor’s Make ‘Em Laugh from Singing in the Rain.

I was surprised and delighted to see how closely Gordon-Levitt stayed to the spirit of the original (and they put up a set incredibly close to the one in the film). I think they cut out a minute or two from the song, so the choreography isn’t step-for-step, but it’s pretty darn close. I’ve never seen a SNL host work so hard on a monologue. He obviously did all his own stunts and yes, he did run up the walls just like O’Connor in the film. There were also some added physical comedy with cast member Bobby Moynihan and it worked well enough.