SNL Skit Cinema Classics, Gaslight

 This is another season 47 episode 11 SNL skit featuring Will Forte and Kate McKinnon. I don't know why I keep coming back to this episode other than the fact that many of the skits are really funny. That and maybe because it is so convenient to pull newer clips off youtube rather than scrolling through older ones. 

However, I have made a commitment to post old and new Saturday Night Live Skits on this blog. So you should come to expect a nice mix of everything as far back as the first season from 1975 all the way up to the newest episodes.

This sketch is a parody of the PBS series “Film Classics". It features Kenan Thompson pretending to be the shows host Reese De’What. I'm not sure if that's a real person but the name is perfect for a one liner that Kenan doesn't fail to exploit.

Kenan proceeds to give the audience the definition of gaslighting as the manipulation of facts to make someone believe something that is not real. This is something that everyone who has watched the Trump movement and the rise of right-wing alternative facts should be familiar with.

We are then treated with a scene from the 1944 Ingrid Bergman black and white movie “Gaslight". Believe it or not this is an actual film. I think it might even be where the term comes from but I'll have to do some further research. Kate McKinnon plays the part of Ingrid Bergman and Will Forte plays the part of her costar Charles Boyer. Chloe Fineman plays the part of the couples 18 year old maid who seems to be in on the gaslighting scheme the cruel husband is playing on his wife.

In an effort to convince her she is going mad he turn down the gas pressure just a little each night as he tries to convince his wife that the burning flame is at the same level it was the night before. He is trying to convince her that she is mad, presumably to get a divorce or swindle her out of her fortune.

This is seriously funny and Kate McKinnon is the shining star in this one. She is one of the best serial cast members from the modern era of Saturday Night Live and hope we get to see her on the show for many more years to come.

SNL Wario Skit With Elon Musk And Grimes

Saturday Night Live season 46 featured Elon Musk on episode 18. One of the skits was an homage to all the characters in the super Mario video games. Elon Musk played the part of the evil Wario who was on trial for the murder of Mario who is portrayed at the end of this SNL skit by Kenan Thompson.

This sketch is set in a courtroom with Mikey Day playing the defense attorney for the accused and Kyle Mooney as Mario's brother Luigi. Grimes plays the part of Princess Peach who is secretly carrying on a love affair with Luigi. Kate McKinnon plays the best friend of Wario and the other evil character Waluigi. Heidi Gardner gets the role of prosecuting attorney and Cecily Strong plays the judge in the case.

There is also a surprise appearance of Pete Davidson as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, this episode was created during the time the Governor was going through a scandal that would end his political career.

I didn't really like most of the SNL skits that featured Elon Musk but the cast did a great job of making these sketches funny. At the very least they were not bad and I could get at least a few laughs out of all of them.

Saturday Night Live Skit Season 36 The Talk

This season 36 Saturday Night Live skit is from episode 17. It's from the episode hosted by Zach Galifianakis. He plays an audience member that has his birthday ruined because he has been fooled into watching a live episode of the talk instead of his favorite show the view.

This is a parody skit of the same show that appears on CBS on the afternoon. One of the running jokes is that they aren't that other show. Julie Chen is played by Kristen Wiig. She does a very laid back impersonation of her. Abby Elliott is Leah Remini, Vanessa Bayer portrays Sara Gilbert and Nasim Pedrad does a cartoonish version of Sharon Osbourne. Kenan Thompson even drops in as Whoopi Goldberg

All in all this is a great parody of the CBS talk show. Things really get funny when Zach Galifianakis pops up. He seems to be playing his character from The Hangover in this one. I haven't seen the full episode with him hosting yet but this looks like it might be a good one.

Saturday Night Live Urkel Reboot On Peacock

 These days it seems every streaming service and network is rebooting some old television series from the 80s or 90s. Saturday Night Live has some ideas of their own for the next big reboot. They want to see a new gritty updated version of Family Matters.

This updated version has a new spin on the popular sitcom with the Winslows living on the bad side of Chicago instead of their upper class California neighborhood. Although Urkel still has his nerdy persona the mean streets of Chicago have hardened him up and in one scene he repeatedly hits Mikey Day’s character while saying his catchphrase 'did I do that'

All the major characters from the original show are acted out by the SNL crew. Ego Nwodim plays Laura Winslow. Kenan Thompson plays Carl Winslow. And of course Urkel himself is portrayed with great comedic effect by Chris Redd.

I really love this skit. I often watched Family Matters when I was younger and seeing the characters I enjoyed watching so much parodied by the SNL cast was a real treat. Don't pass this one up. It's worth a watch.

Russian Disinformation Cold Open SNL Skit

 This new Saturday Night Live sketch is from season 47, episode 12. This cold open skit is a parody of the Russian disinformation campaign going on right now as Vladimir Putin attempts to invade Ukraine. President Biden is being briefed by some of his top aids about the escalating tensions between Russia, America and the Ukraine as the Russians attempt to use social media to twist the facts to their advantage. Will the Kremlin succeed in convincing Europe and the west that they are the good guys?

This is a particularly funny SNL skit. It features Kenan Thompson as one of Bidens top Generals. Ego Nwodim and Alex Moffat also have starring roles as members of the presidents cabinet of advisors.

This skit also has a small appearance by Pete Davidson as Aaron Rodgers and Chris Redd as a statefarm representative. I won't gives this short vignette away but it's hilarious. 

Chloe Fineman also has a small but significant role as a teenage social media expert brought in to fight fire with fire by starting her own meme war with Putin.

James Austin Johnson turns in an applaudable performance as President Joe Biden. His portrayal of the president as a clueless boomer who still hasn't yet figured out how the internet works and who is still stuck in a post WWII mindset when it comes to Germany should not surprise anyone.

Both Democratic and Republican Presidents have been fodder for SNL comedians since the shows conception. When the sitting President is well into his golden years the Saturday Night Live writers are going to take full advantage of that. There is no political favoritism here. In the past most older Presidents have been Republicans so it's just Biden's turn.

Overall this is a really funny sketch. I think James Austin does a particularly good job of portraying the President in a comedic manner. This is a really good cold open and one that I will remember for a long time. Let's just hope the real crisis on the Ukrainian border works itself out before it turns into a disaster.