Saturday Night Live closed out Season 47 with a particularly strong episode hosted by Natasha Lyonne. One of the first and best sketches of the night, “PSA”, brought back SNL’s classic political ads in full hilarious force.
The recent ad focuses on “stupid people” and their day-to-day lives. A lot of our favorite SNL cast members like James Austin Johnson, Cecily Strong, Kyle Mooney, Kenan Thompson, and Aidy Bryant are seen, along with Lyonne, talking about how they're stupid. Some of the sketch's highlights include Bryant rambling on about how she needs everything explained to her, Strong hilariously talking about going full speed into a stained-glass window, and Mooney revealing he has no idea what he does for work. This is when these “stupid people” turn their stories into a voting PSA.
The sketch humorously goes off the rails when reminding viewers we can “buy all the guns” and when Bryant rants about smart people “tearing us apart”. Her line delivery here, as usual, is pitch-perfect. Also, later on in the PSA, how Bryant proves she is not a robot will have you dying with laughter. Thompson also has some great line deliveries that effortlessly bring the ad together.
Overall, SNL hit it out of the park with this all too real PSA. There is definitely at least one person in this sketch that will remind you of someone in your own life, especially with the rise of misinformation and political tension spiking in the last few years. This sketch hilariously tackles that conundrum while reminding us how many of those people have important jobs and how voting plays into the equation.
While this is a funny political satire, it also captures the tone of these types of ads extremely well. Arguably, a little too well. Throughout the sketch, viewers are reminded that this is not too far off from the current state of the real world. It brilliantly makes fun of the whole situation while actively bringing to light a unique issue in the United States when it comes to voting. Lines in the sketch, such as “vote for a tall man” are comedy gold, but that is sadly many people's thought process when they have no idea what they’re doing with regard to candidates or current political issues.
You can take part in the humorous stupidity by watching the full sketch down below: