French synth-pop group Phoenix gave three performances on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, but the show was extra musical thanks to the premiere of the video for the Lonely Island’s “Like a Boss” as an “SNL Digital Short” with guest host Seth Rogen replacing the original vocals Akiva Schaffer recorded for the troupe’s debut album Incredibad. We admit to missing SNL this weekend due to the four-hour Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, so we’re floored to learn this clip aired (even with edits), given how graphic (but hysterical) the lyrics are. Maybe since Metallica and Jimmy Page were rocking out in Cleveland the censors weren’t paying attention to what was going on on NBC.

But the “Boss” video wasn’t the only puzzling thing about this week’s SNL. For some reason, maybe the show was bereft of good sketches (hard to imagine with Rogen’s involvement) or Lorne Michaels likes the band so much, Phoenix were asked to play three songs on the broadcast, joining a group of much-bigger artists like U2, Coldplay and some guy named McCartney as musical guests who performed a trio of tunes on SNL. In addition to “1901″ and “Lisztomania” off the group’s upcoming Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the quartet also dusted off their 2000 hit “Too Young” for the closing credits.  Thankfully, all three performances seemed to be spared from the sound problems that have often affected past musical guests. Check out “Lisztomania” below:

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• Album Review: The Lonely Island’s Incredibad