Mark Zuckerberg came face-to-face with not just one, but two evil twins Saturday. (Yes, Andy. “Awkward” is right.)
The Facebook CEO joined actors Jesse Eisenberg and Andy Samberg on stage for Saturday Night Live’s opening monologue after arguing that he was, in fact, the real Mark Zuckerberg. “That guy’s like my evil twin, and that’s just Andy Samberg,” he said. “Those guys are such nerds. Come on, I invented poking.”
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Eisenberg, who is nominated for an Oscar for his role as Zuckerberg in 2010’s The Social Network, first traded Zuck techniques with SNL funnyman Samberg, who also dons a hoodie for his own Zuckerberg character. While Samberg confessed that all it took to get him into character was donning Zuck’s signature monochromatic wardrobe scheme, Eisenberg admitted his “fictionalized character” was achieved by speaking in short, clipped sentences while not moving his head. “Of course,” he said just before his real-life counterpart came on stage, “I wasn’t playing the real Mark Zuckerberg.”
While the relationship between Zuckerberg and filmmakers behind The Social Network, now an Academy Awards’ Best Picture nominee, was undeniably tense around the time of the film’s release, both sides seem to have lightened up. While accepting the awards, both producer Scott Rudin and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin thanked Zuckerberg personally. “I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg, if you’re watching tonight, Rooney Mara’s character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie, she was wrong,” Sorkin said while accepting his award for Best Screenplay. “You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary and an altruist.” But that was nothing next to the Eisenberg-Zuckerberg team up NBC managed to produce Saturday.
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After finally coming face-to-face, a visually nervous Eisenberg and surprisingly calm Zuckerberg were alone together while the world gawked in anticipation. “I really liked you on 60 Minutes,” Eisenberg squeaked, before acknowledging the Oscar nominated elephant in the room. “Did you ever end up seeing the film The Social Network? What’d you think?”
“It was interesting,” Zuckerberg said.
“It was interesting! I’ll take it,” said Eisenberg, after which the pair introduced the night’s show, ending it all with a peaceful, slightly touching high five.