VIDEO Adam Levine’s SNL Catfish skit as Nev Schulman

SNL skit with Adam Levine as Catfish host Nev Schulman

MTV’s new reality series Catfish is getting a great deal of exposure thanks to Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s headline-grabbing relationship with girlfriend (aka a “catfish”) Lennay Kekua, who later turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and his cousin Tino Tuiasosopo. The popular show (which has already been renewed for a second season) was also the focus of a Saturday Night Live skit last night in which The Voice‘s Adam Levine played Catfish host Nev Schulman in a hilarious spoof:

“Hi, I’m Nev,” the clip starts. [pronounced Neev] “If you weren’t listening to that first part about my name, don’t worry, I’ll keep repeating it. Nev.

“A couple years ago I fell in love online. Turns out my crush wasn’t who I thought she was. So I made a movie about it, exploiting her. And now, we’re friends, who never, ever talk.

Catfish the movie was my story. Catfish the TV show is your story. But, it’s also mostly my story.

“And again, I’m Nev.”

Nev (Levine) wakes up in his hotel room looking adorably disheveled as always as he and sidekick Max Joseph discuss their newest adventure. SNL poked a little fun at Max, who is always seen on the show recording everything with a pocket video camera, by pointing out we rarely (if ever) actually see any of the footage shot by him. (For some weird reason SNL replaced Max’s usual, ridiculously small digital camera with an actual, bulky documentary-sized professional video camera. I think it would have been way more funny to downgrade his low-grade camer even further and have him follow Nev around with a disposable camera or something lol)

But, I digress! We next get to meet Jazz (played wonderfully by Aidy Bryant), who describes her situation to Nev this way:

“Dear Nev, I’m Jazz. I believe that dogs have human souls, and I’ve been in a ten-year online relationship with the hottest guy in the world.

“His name is Ace Applebees, and yes, his family owns all the Applebee’s, and some of the Chili’s. The one problem is he doesn’t have a cell phone, or a land line, or a car, or any people that know him besides me. So I’ve only seen him in pictures.”

At this point we get to see a gloriously Photoshopped image of Ace, who is a ripped shirtless male model with the head of Rock Center‘s Brian Willams:

Ace Applebees from SNL Catfish skit with Adam Levine

I feel ya Jazz! I think I’m falling in love with Ace already!

PLEASE help me Nev. I really want to meet Ace. He’s probably going to be my husband.”

She later further describes Ace to Nev in person, saying, “Ace? Oh Hell yeah! Love him! He’s a total sexy hot guy. Ace is a model for Abercrombie and he can never visit me because he’s on a ‘do not fly’ list for being toooo handsome! Basically, he’s perfect!”

Nev and Max, through the magic of Google, are able to figure out Ace probably isn’t real, and they point out to Jazz that the photo of Ace’s dog is actually from a Beethoven movie poster, and the photo of his house is actually from The Jetsons:

SNL Catfish skit Ace Applebee's house is actually the Jetsons' house

Needless to say, Jazz is a little disappointed. But not so disappointed that she still doesn’t want to meet her potential future husband! But how in the world will they convince Ace to meet up with her?

No need to fear, Nev is here!

“Even though he’s been avoiding you for ten years,” Nev tells Jazz, “when I called him he immediately agreed to meet you on television. So let’s go!”

Next I think is my favorite scene when Jazz arrives at Ace’s house and does the “cliffhanger reaction” scene so often used on Catfish previews and just before commercial breaks:

“Whoah! Huh?!? Dang!” Jazz exclaims. “That’s who you were?!? I can’t believe it! Is this reaction positive or negative? You can’t tell!”

As it turns out, ***SPOILER ALERT*** Ace Applebees isn’t actually Ace Applebees at all. His real name is Ace TGIFridays, and instead of an heir to a restauranteur family fortune, he likes to follow UPS trucks around and steal packages off people’s porches. No matter, Jazz loves him anyway!

All kidding aside, Catfish is a great show — albeit extremely addictive! You can catch new episodes every Monday night at 11/10c on MTV!

Oh, and of course Nev had a great sense of humor about the whole thing, tweeting last night, “Hey @adamlevine…nice job, but you were a little light on the chest hair tonight. @SNL #catfish”