Lorne Michaels Has Really U-Turned on That Idea That ‘SNL’ Characters Shouldn’t Be in Commercials
Saturday Night Live’s upcoming 50th anniversary special will no doubt bring back a number of past characters, as long as they weren’t played by Joe Piscopo or Jim Breuer, we assume. The show doesn’t air until February, but SNL’s nostalgia-fest has already begun. Yes, two beloved cast members just revived two beloved SNL characters — but it was all in the service of promoting a credit card company.
Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer’s soft-spoken “Delicious Dish” hosts are best known for the time they interviewed Pete Schweddy about his coveted balls.
Don't Miss
Then, of course, there was the time the pair went to town on Florence Dusty’s yeasty muffins.
And now they’re back! And they’re hawking credit cards! Margaret Jo McCullen and Teri Rialto just showed up in a commercial for Capital One, interviewing the company’s celebrity spokesman, Samuel L. Jackson. Weirdly, the ad takes place, not in their NPR studio, but in the Capital One offices, which, sadly, may foreshadow the actual future of public broadcasting.
Fulfilling the sketch’s mandatory double entendre, Jackson has made some “sweet buns.” Pretty weak, guys.
This is a stark contrast from how SNL has previously operated. There was a time when Lorne Michaels wouldn’t let his cast appear in commercials, even as themselves. Although he eventually relented. “I don’t like it,” Michaels stated in 2017. “But if someone is going to be well paid and it’s not next to us in the show, then I’m okay.”
As we’ve mentioned before, Hans and Franz were asked to be the face of Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign until Michaels put his foot down. Michaels did okay MacGruber’s use in a Pepsi Super Bowl ad, but historically, SNL characters haven’t shown up in commercials.
When Kenan Thompson started doing spots for AutoTrader, a company rep told Variety that the show is a “little more careful about trying to preserve the SNL characters and celebrities.” But Michaels has relaxed that policy in recent years, at least for legacy characters like Wayne and Garth who apparently still hang out in Wayne's basement, and took a break from partying to shill for Uber Eats.
Apparently they will bow to any sponsor.
And Kristen Wiig’s Target Lady actually showed up in ads for Target, thus ruining the joke forever.
The “Delicious Dish” spot is seemingly just the beginning of the SNL 50 marketing glut. The season has a laundry list of corporate sponsors and, as reported by Adweek, Capital One is planning to create more “custom content with SNL characters.”
We all look forward to seeing Samuel L. Jackson chat about low monthly interest payments with Massive Headwound Harry.
