COVID Dinner Discussion - SNL (Feb 26, 2022)

Saturday Night Live (SNL) Skit about covid and masks on February 26, 2022. A sketch so true it hurts.

The latest episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by comedian John Mulaney, who officially became part of the illustrious five-timers club of which Paul Rudd, Tom Hanks, and Tina Fey, among others, are some of its members. Naturally, as is custom, the host took part in many of last night’s humorous sketches. Some of these sketches, albeit comedic, really hit home with the truth behind them. One of these was the ‘COVID Dinner Discussion’ skit which perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to have conversations about the pandemic nowadays.

The sketch features Mulaney, Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang, Aidy Bryant, and Heidi Gardner and a trio of couples who are having a friendly dinner. However, the mood quickly grows tense as Gardner brings up, after many failed attempts with Yang interrupting her, a Bloomberg article that suggested that mask mandates “had little to no effect on COVID.” After that statement, the atmosphere grows hilariously dramatic, with each of the individuals at the table physically showing their trepidation to deal with the subject.

Although they all become clearly uncomfortable, they decide not to end the conversation there and instead persist in discussing the topic. However, there is not much discussing done. McKinnon tries to give her opinion but, as politically correct as she tries to be, she is met with words of caution and warning from her friends. Mulaney tries to help her get her message across, but he encounters the same resistance. When he concludes his train of thought with the revelation that his “oldest friend” did not get a booster shot but even so he did not dump, another string of hilarious overblown reactions ensues: from Yang measuring his own blood pressure to Gardner wearing a Thanos’ glove and disintegrating into dust particles.

They still persist in continuing the conversation, and although each manages to get some words in, it’s clear that they do not see eye to eye, not even as they try to come up with a silver lining for the whole situation. This sketch must hit home for most of us because it's nearly impossible that one could last these past two years without having been tangled in or at least witnessed a contentious COVID-related conversation. Not only do people disagree, but they are quick to shut each other’s arguments down because they do not align with their views. These kinds of conversations always escalate and have even divided friends and family members. SNL always finds a way to turn a controversial topic into humor by parodying reality to the point where we can only laugh at the absurdity.

Description comes from this article: https://collider.com/snl-john-mulaney-covid-dinner-sketch/

Video Source: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/covid-dinner-discussion/140997826

YouTube Link only accessible in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k6xroHtn-8