Saturday Night Live (SNL) has been making us laugh for over 40 years. As societal interests expand, so do the topics on SNL. This article lists out some of the more memorable skits SNL has done that were inspired by one of our favorite escape room sources of inspiration.
Kissing Video Game Characters
Season 40, Starring Vanessa Bayer, Pete Davidson, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson, Sasheer Zamata, and Chris Pratt
A trio of game testers are tasked with giving input on no-name company’s “Puzzle World 6”. Bayer and Pratt, as the two main unnamed video game characters, explain that if the puzzles are solved, then love and happiness will be restored to the kingdom. With games like Puzzle Quest, it’s not hard to believe a narrative can be mixed into a puzzle-centric video game.
According to Moynihan, level 1 is “stupid easy”, but the celebration that Bayer and Pratt enjoy appears a bit too gratuitous. In fact, so gratuitous that the testers ALL have feedback. Zamata’s response is spot on – “it doesn’t seem like that [the kissing] goes with this kind of game”.
New Video Game
Season 42, Starring Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Ego Nwodin, Chris Redd, and Kit Harington
Earth War 3 will be available real soon and Davidson gets to be one of the first to demo it at his local GameStop! Definitely poking fun at first-person shooters games like Call of Duty and The Division, Davidson slowly realizes Earth War 3 isn’t exactly what he thought.
Davidson unwillingly learns more than he ever wanted to know about the relationship between chatty NPCs Damien and Ethan. It gets so infuriating that Davidson gives up on arming himself and runs out of the safehouse without any weapons just to find a zombie who perpetuates the drama.
Tournament Fighter
Season 43, Starring Pete Davidson, Kyle Mooney, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villasenor, and Tiffany Haddish
A video game tournament is upon us. Davidson and Thompson are battling it out in the quarterfinals at GameCon 2017. But this isn’t your regular Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat clone, this is Death Fight 12!
Davidson chooses to play as Scorponox. And Thompson accidentally locks in Boo Boo Jeffries?! All you need to know is that her weakness is… fighting! Watch how Jeffries battles Scorponox in the most ridiculous, but rational ways possible.
E-Sports Reporter
Season 45, Starring Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Kyle Mooney, Bowen Yang, and Chance the Rapper
Chance plays displaced sports reporter Lazlo Holmes covering the 2019 World Championships for League of Legends. As his co-anchors appear to follow along with this MOBA, Holmes looks more and more perplexed by what he is seeing and hearing, including mention of the $7M prize!
If you’re over 40, you probably have a better chance to relate to Holmes’ bewilderment that e-sports have become a thing.
Twitch Stream
Season 45, Starring Mikey Day
Recorded when the nation went into quarantine Spring 2020, Day solos this skit as Twitch streamer “Cam Playz Dat”. Cam hits on all the common streamer tropes like “subscribe and donate” and even does one of those semi-sincere apologies.
To cap it all off, he shows his mad skillz in Super Mario Brothers where he, of course, runs into the first Goomba. You know what I’m sayin’, right?
Fortnite Squad
Season 44, Starring Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, and Adam Driver
If you haven’t yet heard of the cultural phenomenon Fortnite, you might not be from this Earth. William McTavish, played by Driver, wants to learn how to play Fortnite in an attempt to find a bonding activity with his son. So, McTavish joins a squad of two other, very patient teenagers, played by Mooney and Davidson.
What happens next is priceless. McTavish hits the older-generation’s stereotypical lack of familiarity with modern video games in ways that result in pure eye-rolling laughter. No matter how much his teammates are trying to help him, he just keeps pressing the wrong buttons and eventually finds how to dance while the rest of his squad is toast.
