It's been 25 years since the release of Jurassic Park, a classic movie that still holds up extremely well to repeated viewings to this day. While the series is still chugging along (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, coming this summer!), the sequels have never quite measured up to that original trip to Isla Nublar back in the early 90s. Saturday Night Live tried to recapture that 90s inspired magic by imaging what celebrities might have auditioned to be in Steven Spielberg's classic dinosaur romp. Check out this hilarious and deeply specific clip from Saturday Night Live.
Bill Hader returned to host Saturday Night Live the other night and you better believe that the best impressionist of the modern SNL era was going to be wiping out some goofy celebrity voices. Hader got to do just that with "Jurassic Park Auditions," which finds 90s celebrities auditioning to appear in the classic movie. It's a familiar SNL formula (its Star Wars sketch is still on-point), as the cast takes turns going through the impressions they wouldn't ordinarily get to do in a sketch. Some are excellent and some are just okay, but it's usually always funny.
The host of the show got to do three of his uncannily accurate impressions. Bill Hader's take on Alan Alda is still as impressive as ever, and his Al Pacino, knowing there's no way he can get through a PG movie without cursing (don't tell him about Jack and Jill), is delightful. Hader also got to bring back his Clint Eastwood, but other than his impossibly high-waisted slacks, there wasn't much to this one.
Unsurprisingly, Kate McKinnon was the runner-up of the sketch. She had 90's Ellen DeGeneres, a scarily spot on Lisa Kudrow from Friends, and an amazing Jodi Foster impression. McKinnon's take on the grim Foster being the happiest she's ever been was especially good.
As for the rest of the cast, there were some solid if not entirely memorable impressions. That being said, Pete Davidson's Adam Sandler was incredibly funny to me. Other memorable impressions included Leslie Jones as Whoppi Goldberg; Chris Redd as Wesley Snipes and Jaleel White (who was auditioning as Steve Urkel, I guess?); and Kenan Thompson as Sinbad and O.J. Simpson ("1992! It is great to be O.J. right now!"). All in all, a really solid showing from the cast. The celebrity impression has always been the benchmark of SNL, so you can't blame them for relying on a whole video of them.
Saturday Night Live is on break next week, but it returns with a vengeance on April 7 with host Chadwick Boseman and musical guest Cardi B. SNL already did a Black Panther sketch last week, but I'd be surprised if we didn't get one Marvel-related sketch by the end of the night.
