Could Jesse Eisenberg's SNL Appearance with Mark Zuckerberg Hurt His Oscar Chances?

Will the real Mark Zuckerberg please stand up? In a skit that would make Eminem proud, Mark Zuckerberg showed off a little of his pop culture power by appearing in an SNL opener with his doppelgangers Jesse Eisenberg and Andy Samberg (who looks a lot more like Zuckerberg than Jesse Eisenberg).

Jesse Eisenberg got the epic three-way started with a few bad jokes, including one about understanding women (at least he knows plenty about periods!). And then Andy Samberg swooped in to save the day, with Jesse Eisenberg addressing him as the real Mark Zuckerberg. He was upset about Jesse Eisenberg's Oscar nomination, until Jesse reminded him that he's worth billions of dollars. This immediately cheered up Mark Zuckerberg #2, who proclaimed, "All hail the Zuck!"

And then SNL pulled out all the stops; it wa revealed that the real Mark Zuckerberg was behind-the-scenes watching everything from a television set, asking why he couldn't go onstage. He called Jesse Eisenberg his evil twin and Andy Samberg "just Andy Samberg" (ouch). He also pointed out that he's more powerful than the two of them combined because he invented poking.

Andy Samberg and Jesse Eisenberg then started bantering about their different versions of Mark Zuckerberg. When Andy asked Jesse how he does his, he stated, "I just speak in short, clipped sentences and I keep my head very still." Andy Samberg described his technique as wearing a zip-up sweatshirt and saying, "I'm Mark Zuckerberg". And this is where Jesse Eisenberg might have blown his Oscar chances; he basically admitted that his role in "The Social Network" wasn't that hard, making his technique seem almost as easy as Andy Samberg's.

And then Jesse Eisenberg went into damage control mode, explaining that his Mark Zuckerberg was actually just his interpretation of a fictional character. After this disclaimer, it was the real Mark Zuckerberg's chance to shine.

He joined the duo on stage, wearing the same sweatshirt as Andy Samberg and telling Jesse that he didn't think his character came off as an interpretation of a fictional Mark Zuckerberg. This created for one very awkward moment, with Jesse telling Mark that he liked him on "60 Minutes" and Mark Zuckerberg giving his opinion on "The Social Network"; he called it "interesting" (what a loaded word that is). He played his role perfectly, but of course came off nothing like Eisenberg's character in "The Social Network". Now that you've wasted so much time reading this recap, you can see the video of their performance here.

So will seeing the big differences between Mark Zuckerberg and Jesse Eisenberg hurt his Oscar chances? As far as his appearance and speaking voice go, Andy Samberg is definitely the better version of Mark Zuckerberg, and showing that he's closer to the real deal could take a little of the mystique away from Jesse's much-buzzed-about performance. Plus poking fun at his role on SNL could cause Jesse Eisenberg to lose a little credibility with the Academy (members definitely don't seem to be big fans of comedy).

But Jesse Eisenberg might not have a shot anyway. After all, Colin Firth is due for a lifetime achievement award (something the Academy is fond of). Colin Firth could level the playing field by appearing on SNL with his stuttering royal character, but unfortunately the real King George VI can't make an appearance unless the SNL machine that brought Nicki Minaj's badass Bride of Frankenstein character to life actually works.

No worries, though. If Jesse Eisenberg doesn't win this year, maybe he and Tyler Perry will have better luck next year in "I Can Do the Internet All By Myself".

SOURCES:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/29/zuckerberg-snl/