3 best sketches from Saturday Night Live at Home
Saturday Night Live at Home presented the first remote episode in the show’s history. What were the best sketches?
Saturday Night Live at Home tried to start things off as normally as possible with a recording of its traditional theme song and opening credits featuring the cast at home.
America’s dad, a.k.a. Tom Hanks, then delivered the opening monologue. It was a good choice considering Hanks was one of the first known cases of a celebrity testing positive and later recovering from COVID-19. His appearance was a surprise and provides hope during this scary time. He’s a comforting presence, to begin with, and someone that audiences trusts.
At the end, the episode shared a powerful and touching tribute to Hal Willner, SNL‘s longtime music supervisor, who recently passed away due to COVID-19. Current and former cast members joined in with their wonderful memories, which were interspersed with past photos and clips of Willner himself.
Beyond the opening monologue and the tribute at the end, the sketches varied in terms of humor and relevance, much like Tom Hanks said they would. These are the 3 best sketches of the night.
3. Bob Tisdale’s Sky Sports Report
It’s been a rough month for sports fans as every sport has come to a standstill. That makes the idea of sports commentary bold in itself. The persona of Bob Tisdale tried to channel that high-energy sports commentary by breaking down the everyday mundane things that people are doing while they find themselves in quarantine. Play-by-play commentary of a “popcorn pop-off” has never been so exciting.
Wondering which of your bananas will ripen first? Tisdale has you covered as he broke down a “ripening challenge” between two bananas, with a closeup look of the brown spots on the right banana.
The sport everyone can relate to right now is window watching. Tisdale tackled this with a segment called “things Jane and I saw from the window.” His thrilling results featured stats like 15 birds, one brown hawk, three squirrels, and one neighbor.
Hopefully sports will return soon enough, but for now we’re stuck with making these everyday activities as exciting as possible.
2. Zoom Call
The majority of jobs and schools have had to adapt to using Zoom. The platform has some undeniable advantages but provides a fair share of awkwardness and challenges for all.
This was channeled well from the beginning with the overly upbeat boss trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in a time that is anything but normal. There are the obligatory comments that followed such forced optimism, like complaining about kids driving their parents crazy or apologizing for the mess in the background.
The greatest challenge of all comes with those who are unsure of how to use Zoom. Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant tackled these parts as two employees speaking far too close into the camera, going to the bathroom and taking their clothes off while the camera was on, and spiraling into an overall meltdown of feelings. At the end, the boss just gives up on the Zoom meeting.
It was a solid, humorous sketch capturing some of the issues people all over the world are facing with Zoom. They did miss an opportunity by not having any children interrupting their parents’ meeting, though.
1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Workout Corner
Whether Kate McKinnon plays Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she nails every role she plays. This sketch was no exception as she not only nailed the role of Ginsburg but was able to provide some biting political commentary while also satirizing working out at home during quarantine.
The costume, accent, and delivery of her lines were all on point. The hilariously named in-home exercises included Abs, Gams, Tuchus, and Chicken Wings. RBG showed how to complete all the exercises while dishing some sick political burns.
What were your favorite sketches from Saturday Night Live at Home? Let us know in the comments!