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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: March 16, 2008
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Saturday Night Live, “Jonah Hill / Mariah Carey” (Season 33, Episode 8).
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: The summer of 2007 made Jonah Hill a legitimate movie star with the release and success of Superbad, so it’s no surprise that subsequent season of Saturday Night Live would have offered him his first guest-hosting appearance. He was supposed to have hosted in November of 2007, but that was the year of the WGA strike, so he wouldn’t debut until the following March. The delay switched the musical guest of his episode from Kid Rock to Mariah Carey, which is a pretty significant upgrade, too.
And say what you want about him, but Hill hit at least one sketch out of the park from the get-go: Adam Grossman, six-year-old Benihana enthusiast and old-timey comedian.
Hill has this character down from the break. It’s the perfect recurring character for him, because he’s so well-formed. There are some great touches to the performance, like how Adam always betrays his youth with his movements (the way he splays out six fingers whenever he mentions his age) but never with his voice. But really, it’s the commitment to that old Catskills-y comedian delivery that sells the sketch. Honestly, it’s a wonder Bill Hader doesn’t break out laughing, like he often does, with little Adam giving him the business as relentlessly as he does.
[You can watch Jonah Hill’s first Adam Grossman sketch on NBC.com.]
