Let's start things off with two universal truths. One: Saturday Night Live has put abundant amounts of attention and effort into its politically motivated cold opens in recent years. Two: Jeff Goldblum is pretty awesome. Now, what happens when we put those two truths into a pair of teleportation pods and jam the machine's "on" button over and over again? Hopefully it means we'd get Goldblum on the next SNL episode to reprise Seth Brundle from David Cronenberg's classic '80s horror The Fly as a way of parodying Vice President Mike Pence's winged buddy from this week's VP debate with candidate Kamala Harris.
For those who may have missed the debate and all of the insect-friendly coverage, the socially distanced event was for the most part a by-the-numbers affair, with each candidate offering up their views and goals while also dishing out the occasional interruption. But for casual viewers, nearly everything that was said was inevitably overshadowed by the random fly that landed on the head of a seemingly unaware Mike Pence. It must have been quite the comfortable spot, because that fly stuck around for far longer than one might have expected.
To the surprise of no one of the human or creepy-crawly variety, the Internet had a lot of fun with the debate's special guest. Many Twitter users, for example, were inspired to call on SNL to bring Jeff Goldbum back for this weekend's episode in a way that homage to his gloriously disgusting work on The Fly.
It's obviously very short notice for SNL to pull out the stops in order to get Jeff Goldblum involved for an episode that's now only two days away, but the long-running sketch comedy is definitely no stranger to making last-minute changes and additions. For instance, last week's jokes about Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, as well as the decision to oust musical guest Morgan Wallen over videos of him partying without a mask.
Plus, Jurassic World: Dominion recently had to shut production down anew over COVID concerns, with its release date also getting pushed back nearly an entire year. So that technically gives the actor a short bit of time away from his return to the dino-franchise. Which isn't to say that Jeff Goldblum doesn't have other things to do in his life or his career, but the Jurassic shake-up possibly makes it slightly easier for him to take a spur-of-the-moment SNL guest spot. Even if it doesn't involve any gnarly make-up or effects, and just has him sitting in front of a green-screen, it would be worth it.
Jeff Goldblum last appeared on SNL way back in 1997 for his second hosting gig, with the first having come in 1993 around the release of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. So even if there weren't any Fly-related reasons to bring him back, it should just happen anyway. (And if they wanted to bring Will Ferrell back to relive their memorable Harry Caray moment together, that would work, too.)
Considering Wednesday night's debate is the only one taking place between current Vice President Mike Pence and Joe Biden's running mate Kamala Harris, SNL should definitely take advantage of spoofing it in all the best possible ways. Which means Jeff Goldblum's phone should be ringing off the hook for the next couple of days.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC on Saturday nights at 11:35 p.m. ET. While waiting to see what happens next, head to our Fall TV 2020 premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way.
