Rumors circulating that Mark Zuckerberg may appear on Saturday Night Live proved true last night when the 26 year old made a cameo on the NBC staple comedy show, meeting Jesse Eisenberg for the first time.
Jesse Eisenberg, the host for the evening, took the stage with his monologue claiming that he"s not shy, he"s actually assertive and "cocky" but people don"t see that because he misrepresents himself. In comes Andy Samberg with his Zuckerberg persona to proclaim that "misrepresenting people is something [he] has a lot of practice with," in reference to The Social Network. Andy"s Zuckerberg was disappointed for being made out as a different guy in the movie, to which Jesse quipped, "Isn"t Facebook valued at $50 billion?" That seemed to shut Andy"s Zuckerberg up.
Or it would appear that way until the shot changed to an indignant Mark Zuckerberg backstage, pleading to Lorne Michaels to let him confront the two faux Zuckerbergs: "That guy [Eisenberg] is like my evil twin and that"s just Andy Samberg. Those guys are nerds; I invented poking!" Michaels wouldn"t let him on stage but the Facebook CEO had his way in the end, finally meeting Jesse Eisenberg for the first time, a moment Andy Samberg labeled as "Awkberg!"
When asked what he thought of The Social Network, which he has widely discredited as being inaccurate: "It was interesting..." Zuckerberg said dryly and with a laugh.
(If you prefer, you can watch this video in a little bit better quality on Hulu. Hulu is only viewable to residents in the United States.)
Zuckerberg was able to start the show and even reappeared during the closing credits where he shared a hug with Eisenberg, but that"s as far as the Facebook gags went. And while the awkberg meeting may have been comedic enough, strangely missing were gags about recent privacy issues and other normal satirical confrontations that usually come with the SNL cameo cachet. Was the Mark Zuckerberg, who seemed calmer than Jesse Eisenberg, cameo justified?
Updated to include YouTube video instead and a screen cap of the video.