I don’t know what the hell an NFT is. I’ve read like three articles trying to figure it out and remain confused. Thankfully, some of the fine folks at Saturday Night Live seem to feel the same way. This week, the cast busted out a sketch trying to explain the hot new trend, and while I’m still confused on some of the specifics, I laughed at the attempt, which starred Pete Davidson dressed as Eminem dressed as Robin doing his take on the rapper’s “Without Me”, alongside cast member Chris Redd and musical guest Jack Harlow who got their own verses.
The sketch, which got a good response on social media, especially Pete Davidson’s Eminem, also features Kate McKinnon as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Kyle Mooney playing the straight man, though to be clear, a straight man with a really solid teacher look. You can check out the really funny and somewhat informative sketch below…
Whenever people talk about Saturday Night Live being topical, it’s almost always in reference to how many political sketches the show does. That’s fair. Obviously SNL has generated most of its headlines over the years by parodying presidents and top political figures, but I really love when the show takes on the random trends and weird fads and minor scandals of the moment. For example, earlier this season, we got Regina King and Kenan Thompson as Gorilla Glue lawyers. That kind of topical humor works really well for the show.
Of course topical probably requires a bit of an asterisk here. The core subject matter about NFTs is obviously extremely topical, as is Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, but humorously, a lot of the references are anything but topical. Emimen’s “Without Me” came out in 2002. There’s also a reference to The Matrix, which came out in 1999 and maybe a subtle reference to 1997’s Good Will Hunting since Harlow plays a super well-informed janitor, though I might be reaching with that last one.
I’m not going to pretend to explain any of the takeaways here about NFTs. I feel slightly more well-informed after watching this sketch, but I still don’t feel comfortable enough to put myself out there and then get bombarded with angry messages about how I misunderstood some minor aspect. So, if you want to do some more research, I would suggest checking here or here or talking to a friendly young person in your life.
While this sketch didn’t feature the host herself, former cast member Maya Rudolph returned this week to take top billing. She, of course, got in sketches playing her noted impressions including Vice President Kamala Harris and Beyonce. She did a very good, highly professional job throughout in a development that should surprise absolutely no one.
