‘Saturday Night Live’ preview: Now with Martin Freeman, Charli XCX, and Kenan Thompson

This weekend marks another new edition of “Saturday Night Live,” and we may be more interested in seeing how this one goes than almost any other this season. Why? It’s hard not to be intrigued by Martin Freeman as a host. He was great in “Sherlock,” he was great in “Fargo,” and basically, he has several different fan followings who all collectively love him.

Let’s just hope that his show this weekend fares better than the latest promo featuring him, musical guest Charli XCX, and cast member Kenan Thompson. This is all sorts of hokey. The best part of is Kenan playing the part of judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to the rules of the show. Apparently, nobody is even allowed to make silly puns. This reminds us almost of the role that he played during the “New Cast Member or Arcade Fire” sketch with Tina Fey over a year ago, probably one of our favorite game-show sketches out there.

Given that Freeman is on board the show in order to promote “The Hobbit,” we imagine that there is going to be at least one sketch about this somewhere … though we also wonder whether or not we could have a Benedict Cumberbatch cameo, given that he is also promoting “The Imitation Game” right now.

As for Charli, we assume that she at least is considering performing “Boom Clap,” given that this is her most notable hit that is not her featured role in “Fancy.” Then again, she may want to perform a few new things to get people excited.

Want to see some more video coverage for this episode? Take a look at an extra video preview here, or sign up now to get some more TV sent right to you courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)