Mikey Madison As Squidward in ‘SNL’ SpongeBob Dramedy Might Be Oscar-Worthy
Mikey Madison’s debut as Saturday Night Live host was meh for most of the night, another victim of SNL’s tendency to return flat after a long break. But at least one role gave Madison a chance to flex those Oscar-winning muscles: Squidward.
I get why we’re seeing less and less of Please Don’t Destroy, the videomaking trio that seemed destined to become the new Lonely Island. The guys are funny, but they only have a limited number of arrows in their comedy quiver, repeating concepts that aren’t always as funny the second time around. But in small doses, PDD can still deliver, and in the case of this recycled concept, the bit works better than the original.
Last year, it was Bad Bunny inexplicably showing up in the guys’ cramped 30 Rock office wearing a shoddy Shrek costume. This time around, it’s Madison’s turn in a second-rate Squidward costume, complete with blue skull makeup that’s peeling around her ears. Why the get-up?
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At first, she plays off the outfit as just some old thing she threw on. Come on, clearly she wanted to do a sketch. Not at all, she protests, she has no interest in a Squidward comedy bit, but she would do a dramedy!
A few more makeshift costumes and half-assed makeup jobs later? We’re watching Treading Water, an HBO-style prestige hour playing out the poignant pathos of Squidward and SpongeBob, er, “a friend group navigating life in their early 20s.”
“I’m supposed to hate you, but I can’t stop coming back,” says Squidward in a dark bedroom, sharing a mattress with a certain Mr. SquarePants.
“Who cares about other people’s opinions? Sometimes, you just have to laugh,” SpongeBob replies before breaking into his trademark, high-pitched giggle.
Mr. Krabs, Patrick, SpongeBob and Squidward smoke cigarettes and wander the lonely streets of New York with only their friendships to keep them afloat. The teaser-trailer implies plenty of sex (that philandering SpongeBob is also getting busy with Patrick), drinking and bouts of depression. Perfect.
Please Don’t Destroy and SNL is doing plenty of comedy recycling here — the sketch also recalls the time a couple of seasons ago when Pedro Pascal reimagined Mario Kart in the vein of his own prestige HBO show, The Last of Us. But if repurposing and remixing old ideas is what it takes for Please Don’t Destroy to score, might as well keep ‘em coming.
