SNL: Seth Meyers’ best sketches
By Matt Moore
The Needlers
Dan and Sally Needler were recurring characters during seasons 30 and 31. Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler as the bickering “couple who should be divorced” demonstrated a chemistry that translated to their stint as co-anchors of Weekend Update.
Other Needler sketches featured the couple attending a college reunion and joining other couples for a dinner date. But it is this bit at the fertility clinic with host Natalie Portman from 2006 that is their best work.
The set up of the sketch allows for rapid fire delivery of jokes which Meyers and Poehler get off one by one with ease. Highlights include “You run the fourth of everything” and Sally’s list of Dan’s unfinished business. Whether you know a couple like Dan or Sally or lived vicariously through their unfiltered insults, the couple resonated with the audience.
It may not have required too much character acting from Meyers but he does effortlessly play the role of the bitter, spiteful Dan Needler. It is a far cry from his actual personality, which helped make it one of the better sketches in an episode that featured the classic “Natalie Raps.”
It would be difficult to see Meyers return to the Dan Needler role without Poehler so chances of it happening are slim. We can only imagine what the Needlers would have to argue about in 2018.