When I first heard Forest “Ghost Dog” Whitaker was hosting SNL this weekend, I thought meh. Then Jenn and I revealed a showing of Kevin Macdonald’s “The Last King of Scotland”. Whoa. I knew going in that Whitaker’s take on Idi Amin had gotten him nominated for virturally every best acting award under the sun, but for once, the buzz was right. Whitaker’s performance can only be described with words like insane, funny, bizarre, playful or scary - and that could all come from the same scene. Whitaker has a wide acting range and if SNL capitalizes on it, look out. This episode has potential to be the next “out of nowhere” episode, similar to Ian McKellen, early apperances of Christopher Walken or more recently, Jeremy Piven.

Making the episode even more unique is the music selection. With Keith Urban booked, SNL gives us the first country act the show has seen in nearly four years (the last being the Dixie Chicks in 2003). It seems like Urban’s personal life (last fall’s Betty Ford Clinic check-in and the 2005 marriage to Nicole Kidman) gets more headlines than his recent music, so maybe he’ll use this National TV gig as a start to reversing that. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of the guy, but like last week’s Lily Allen appearance, I’m sure he’ll be better than some of the season’s weaker guests: AFI, Stefani and Akon.