SNL's Zooey Deschanel Episode: 5 Best Scenes

[The (almost insufferably) cute Zooey Deschanel sang, strummed the ukelele, batted her lashes, and cavorted in a heart-speckled Valentine's dress during the monologue. She also showed good comedic chops and poked fun at her quirky-girl image in what proved to be a strong episode. Nicolas Cage and The Artist's Jean Dujardin made cameos. Musical guest Karmin performed "Brokenhearted" and "I Told You So." The death of Whitney Houston went unmentioned, but a photo of Houston with Molly Shannon in a '90s-era Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch was flashed on screen as the show went to commercial. (Houston's brief appearance in Alec Baldwin's February 1991 monologue can be seen here).]

Some highlights...

It's the third quarter in America, the Chinese and the Mexicans are winning, and Clint Eastwood's pants are on the rise...

Also: Fourth Quarter in America; and Game Over in America (featuring Batman, a personal massager, and Bill Hader as Clint Eastwood in neck-high pants...)

Superbowl halftime show postmortem—Piers Morgan (Taran Killam) hosts Madonna (Kristin Wiig), M.I.A. (Nasim Pedrad), LMFAO (Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen), "Tightrope Guy" (Andy Samberg), and an outraged Ohio mom (Zooey Deschanel) to discuss M.I.A.'s obsene gesture in the midst of Madonna's "nice Christian song about praying..."

Recurring absurdist dance sketch Les Jeunes de Paris goes into silent-movie mode as The Artist star Jean Dujardin joins Zooey Deschanel, Taran Killam, Joan of Arc (Vanessa Bayer) and the the gang for some high-energy tap dancing.

Nicolas Cage (Andy Samberg) and Nicolas Cage (Nicolas Cage) drop by Weekend Update to discuss their new movie Ghost Rider (featuring the classic elements of a Nic Cage movie: "1) all the dialogue is either whispered or screamed; 2) everything in the movie is on fire..."):

Bein' Quirky—Ukelele-plucking host Zooey Deschanel (Abby Elliott) welcomes Michael Cera (Taran Killam), Mary Kate Olsen (Zooey Deschanel), and Bjork (Kristin Wiig) for a night of eccentricity and knitting. (Bjork: "I made a sweater for an octopus. Plus, I made an extra hole for its dreams and ideas...")

Also: His Girl Friday spoof—Zooey Deschanel takes a job as Jason Sudeikis' secretary at the Daily Post and can't understand the 1940s dialogue. ("Straight up—is everyone here on cocaine?...")

NEXT, on FEBRUARY 18: Maya Rudolph (known for her over-the-top Whitney Houston impression), with musical guest Sleigh Bells.