SNL Scraps: 7-20-16 Edition


To start off the roundup, we have some sad news. Matt Villines, a digital short director for Saturday Night Live, has passed away at the age of thirty-nine. He directed many of the greatest shorts in recent SNL history. The official Saturday Night Live YouTube channel has been posting some of his greatest work. The uploads included "Uber For Jen", in which a woman makes friends with her Uber driver and a music video parody of "What Does The Fox Say?" entitled "My Girl." My personal favorites out of the selected tributes include "Sad Mouse" and "The Hit."

"The Hit" is about a group of gangsters getting ready to kill an unlucky victim. However, they become distracted by the burgeoning snow and begin waxing nostalgic about baby deer, hot cocoa, and the beauty of the individual snowflakes. The humor mostly comes from the sharp contrast between awaiting their target and the criminals poetically musing about the weather.


"Sad Mouse" is equally emotional, but for different reasons. Taken from the spectacular Bruno Mars episode, it shows the struggles of Mark, a lonely Times Square performer (Bruno). It plays out as more of a dramatic short film than a skit on a late night comedy show. It only has a brief conversation at the beginning, meant to provide exposition for the premise. Mostly, it consists of Mark desperately trying to find a human connection while wearing a patriotic mouse costume. He is in a deep depression and severely needs a dose of human kindness. The ending provides a spark of hope for his future, but most of the humor comes from how heartbreakingly sad it is. Similar to Bojack Horseman and The Last Man On Earth, it expertly melds human loss and the potential comedy that can be found in tragic situations. "Sad Mouse" is one of the best SNL digital shorts, purely for the emotional resonance. It is impossible for me to watch it without empathizing with Mark.


In case you missed it, the nominations for this year's Emmy Awards have been released!

Firstly, Kate McKinnon has been nominated for "Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series" based on her SNL characters and impressions. This has been a banner year for McKinnon, with a starring role in Ghostbusters and becoming the new breakout star to come from SNL. Secondly, Larry David and Tracy Morgan have both been nominated for the "Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" award. Larry David has made several appearances in the season as Bernie Sanders, even hosting the show at one point. Tracy Morgan, as you'll recall, made his first appearance on the program in years after recovering from a car accident.

For the "Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series", SNL racked up three nominations for the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler Christmas episode, Melissa McCarthy's hosting experience, and Amy Schumer's episode. In terms of the show as a whole, Saturday Night Live has been nominated for the "Best Variety Sketch Series" award.

Finally, Michael Che and Colin Jost will be performing two special editions of Weekend Update on MSNBC. If you've been wondering exactly what the crew of SNL have to say about the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, then this is definitely for you. The two specials will air on July 20th and July 27th at midnight. There is no word on how lengthy the installments will be, but if you're really eager for more content, you can also follow the official Saturday Night Live Snapchat or catch footage of their appearance on NBC's Today Show from this morning.



Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.