‘SNL’ Creates a Very Special Episode of Your Favorite ’90s Sitcom
As is often the case, the weirdest sketch from last night's 'SNL' season premiere was easily the funniest in the entire show. The latest in Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney's series of truly strange sketches and shorts, the scene is an exacting parody of lousy '90s television that sidesteps all obvious jokes in favor of making fun of a very specific kind of TV show. Guest host Chris Pratt plays a grown man who shares an apartment with his two friends (Bennett and Mooney) but who longs for new buddies. After an encounter with a group of "bad" kids at the park, he finds himself accepted into a new gang, where peer pressure forces him to do things like stay out late, listen to rock music and steal his best friend's kickball. Naturally, the whole thing is garishly lit and set in a room that wasn't production designed as much as it was cobbled together. For anyone who watched an awful sitcom in the '90s, the bad memories will come rushing back. It's the surreal touches that really make it work, like the stock footage exterior shots between scenes that grow increasingly inaccurate or the deliberately poor acting from everyone. For some people, this sketch will prove unbearable, but for comedy fans on Bennett and Mooney's specific wavelength, it will be a joy.