In his Masterpiece Theatre-style introduction, Meyers explains a simple truth about axed SNL sketches: “Some were cut unfairly. Some, like tonight’s, were cut for cause.” We couldn’t agree more. While Samberg’s repeated nasal request — “Wanna come with?” — generates laughter out of sheer repetition, there’s just not much going on here.
In an after-sketch Q&A with the cast, co-writer Colin Jost (why it took two writers to assemble this sketch is a mystery) and Lonely Island’s Jorma and Akiva (apparently just along for the ride), we learn that the sketch was based on Samberg’s own habit of asking friends and coworkers to join him at the urinal. Samberg seemed surprised at the laughs the sketch generated on Meyers’ show, a success he attributed to acknowledging that it was “crap” beforehand and setting the bar low.
In the same segment, Jost revealed his own candidate for a future Second Chance Theatre: Animal Parliament. The sketch’s premise was based on the first human being elected to Animal Parliament, a beastly government that would have been made up of actual livestock on the SNL stage wearing barrister wigs.
Meanwhile, Thompson was asked how many SNL sketches he’d done involving white people asking stupid questions. The answer, of course: “I would say all of them.” Thompson’s second-chance sketch would possibly have been Active Jack, a sketch featuring him and Bruno Mars at a 50-year reunion of a TV fitness show. After 50 years, heavy smoker Active Jack is too tired to do jumping jacks.