Saturday Night Live may be the first to do the obvious: They will be combining the Jacks. On April 4, the show will feature Jack Black as the host and Jack White as the musical guest. The last names being opposite was clearly intentional, but the sensibilities of the two performers are quite the same.
That is likely what is going to make the show a special one. White is a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with his former band, the White Stripes, while Black has his own fantastic band, Tenacious D. Maybe SNL will somehow (surely!) be able to fit a collaboration of the two icons into the show.
Maybe Black doesn't play with White during the two musical performances, or heck...maybe he does. But White isn't without his acting credits, either. He was quite good in Cold Mountain and Coffee and Cigarettes, both of which were coincidentally released in 2003. White ending up in one or two sketches seems likely.
Jack Black and Jack White will star on Saturday Night Live's April 4 show
The chaos will come from the manic energy of Jack Black, who transformed himself from character actor to leading man simply from talent and acting ability alone, and Jack White's amazing musicianship. Maybe the two don't overlap much during the show, but it would be a missed opportunity.
Saturday Night Live has been a bit hit and miss during this season. Few sketches have been horribly bad, but the ones involving players such as Ashley Padilla, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, and Marcello Hernandez consistently tend to be much better than the others that don't include them.
One aspect that has ticked up in recent seasons is the number of sketches that involve music. These, historically, can be a mixed bag, of course (though the "more cowbell" sketch is legendary), but will be needed during the April 4 show. Black needs to sign, and White needs to act.
Should neither occur, the SNL writers need to hold a meeting and ask what went wrong. On paper, the early April show is lining up to be one of the best in quite some time. Jack Black and Jack White won't let us down, certainly, and hopefully the rest of the cast won't either.