‘Saturday Night Live’ preview: Christoph Waltz and expectations

Sadly for whatever reason, “Saturday Night Live” has decided not to issue another promo for this weekend’s edition with Christoph Waltz and musical guest Alabama Shakes, even though this is something that they traditionally do more often than not. Did they feel as though they got enough material the first time around? It’s possible, just as it is also possible that they merely got bogged down.

What we are really the most interested in seeing with this particularly show is just how much the writers are going to be able to do to stretch Waltz out of his roles as the tough, shifty character with Quentin Tarantino movies. This is something that they struggled mightily with during Jeremy Renner’s show late last year, and even much of Justin Bieber’s show saw him playing mostly by-the-numbers roles that you could have seen coming a mile away.

If there is one thing that this weekend’s edition really has going for it, it may just be the gift of expectation. Bieber’s show was so atrocious on many levels that it is possible that there may not be the same sort of enormously high bar set for Waltz; and with that in mind, if he comes in and plays it loose, he could draw a good many laughs. It will take some experimenting on the show’s part, though, given that there was no major pop-culture event of the past week like the Super Bowl that they can use in order to pull jokes from.

Are there any classic characters that you want to see this week? Be sure to share some of your thoughts and expectations below. Personally, we’re pulling from a visit from either The Devil or Stefon (who has only made one appearance so far this season), and sketch-wise we are pleading for the return of Taran Killam as Andy Cohen.

If you want to go back and watch the promo for Waltz’s show, you can do so here.

Photo: NBC