Martin Freeman guests in SNL as Bilbo Baggins and Time Canterbury
Martin Freeman shows audiences and fans his quirky side as he guest stars in last December's episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL). The BAFTA awardee combined two of his famous roles for the show - The Hobbit's Bilbo Baggins and The Office's Time Canterbury.
Judging by Freeman's comedic history, he had this in the bag. Those who are not aware of his comedic background was certainly in for a surprise as the Sherlock actor cracked joke after joke like it was nobody's business.
In one of the sketches, we see Baggins gets a desk job in a paper company and is driving a Jetta. Playing Gandalf is Bobby Moynihan who also is Bilbo's boss at the same time and one of his co-workers was Gollum, played by Taram Killam.
Rolling Stone reports The Office: Hobbit version skit as, "Back in the early aughts, Freeman starred in the original UK version of The Office, so it seemed likely that we'd see some paper company-set hijinks from the episode, though combining them with The Hobbit was more than a little unexpected. As ever, SNL's costume game is on point, and every single orc, elf, and wizard that popped up in the sketch - and there were plenty - looked good enough to throw into an actual Hobbit film. Freeman combined the confusion and sweetness of his Bilbo Baggins and the well, confusion and sweetness of his Tim Canterbury without missing a mark, and the effect was weirdly watchable. If anyone wants to greenlight a Hobbit-themed Office, we'd watch - Bobby Moynihan's version of Gandalf the Grey as bad boss Michael Scott, perpetually awkward and always inappropriate, is reason enough".
Entertainment Weekly reports that Freeman described himself as a "funny George Clooney" and assured audiences that he was a "smart first-time hosting choice".