During his opening monologue for his third turn (Dec. 7) as host of 'SNL,' the always brilliant Paul Rudd joked that during his prior hosting stints, he was upstaged by his musical guests, which were Beyonce and Paul McCartney. The third time was the charm, as One Direction crashed his opening monologue, outnumbering him until the 'Anchorman 2' cast got his back! Safety in numbers, kids.

They brought their boy band and Rudd brought his "man band."

Rudd, who plays Brian Fantana in the film, was joined by castmates Will Ferrell, Steve Carell and David Koechner, who quickly hurled a few insults at the 1D boys. It was Carell who told them they need to ask Santa for a pair. Oooh, burn! Even Farrell commented that it was a harsh thing for him to say to "Menudo."

Burn x 2!

That's when a little impromptu rendition of 'Afternoon Delight' took place between 1D and the actors, who were semi in character as anchors, in homage to one of the original movie's best scenes.

Rudd said it best, "Now we are Nine Direction."

Amen to that.

Rudd may have had his monologue co-opted by eight other people, but hey, he took one for the team.

More From PopCrush