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Jheri’s Place
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.
The setup
Watch on YouTube
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The premise
Here’s the bit.
At Jheri's Place, a manager warns her wigged staff that a health inspector is on the way and that the restaurant's hair-in-the-food complaints must stop. The employees promptly point fingers at one another until the inspector arrives, and the scene is cut short. A deadpan Inside SNL reporter calls it a thin premise undone by technical slip-ups, then hands off to a press conference where the cast faces questions in character as embarrassed sketch performers. They blame the wigs, cue cards and a botched accent, and the host admits he hoped for another David S. Pumpkins.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 9
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
I think we relied on the wigs too much.
Man, the wig was funny, all right?
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:00
Manager
Listen up, Jerry's Play staff. The health inspector is coming today, and I need this place to be clean. Understand? Because lately, we've had a lot of complaints about hair in the food, and that cannot happen.
- 00:13
Dante
Oh, don't even look at me, Don. You know whose fault it is. Yeah, all signs point to Benjamin.
- 00:18
Manager
What the hell, Benjamin?
- 00:20
Benjamin
Me? Uh, Uh, let's not point fingers.
- 00:29
Employee
Aw, I think it was Dante.
- 00:33
Dante
-"Excuse you? The only thing I'm doing is standing here looking so goddamn beautiful."
- 00:38
Manager
Oh No -"The health inspector is here. Uh-oh. We're not off to a great start." to Benjamin!
- 00:53
Reporter
And And that about does it for the Jerry's Place sketch here at Studio 8H. In a word, ouch. A very thin premise beset by technical slip-ups and performance issues. Let's now go live to the post-sketch conference, and we start with a statement from Dave Chappelle.
- 01:09
Dante
-"Uh, Uh, hello? That was a tough one. But, you know, we're gonna keep our heads down and just look forward, keep moving on to the next sketch."
- 01:22
Reporter
So, Dave, what do you think went wrong out there tonight?
- 01:26
Dante
-"Well, for starters, it was the wigs, man. I think we relied on the wigs too much. You know, you got to realize a wig can't carry an entire sketch. I knew that, and I take responsibility for that."
- 01:39
Reporter
Okay, well, speaking of mistakes, Leslie, can you tell us what happened with your wig?
- 01:44
Manager
I ain't mess up.
- 01:46
Reporter
Okay, well, let's take a look at the replay.
- 01:51
Benjamin
Uh, let's not point fingers.
- 01:56
Reporter
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it really seems like you were having trouble with the cue cards there.
- 02:02
Dante
Alright, look, SNL knew what they was getting into when they hired me, man. You know what I'm saying? When we talking about cue cards... now really we talk about cards that's not the sketch we talk about cards right man next question kyle
- 02:19
Reporter
You took a big swing with that accent there. Tell me, what was going through your head?
- 02:25
Health Inspector
Um, I guess I just didn't have it today.
- 02:28
Reporter
Well, do you think you will find it for the remainder of the show?
- 02:31
Health Inspector
-♪ I don't know, you'd... Nope, I don't think so.
- 02:35
Reporter
Aidy, you were quoted earlier in the week as saying this sketch was a heater and was going to break the Internet. Do you think either of those things came to pass?
- 02:47
Employee
Next question.
- 02:50
Reporter
Dave, you're a comedy legend. Why this sketch?
- 02:54
Dante
Man, the wig was funny, all right? I put it on, I really thought I was gonna be the next David S. Pumpkins. Clearly, I was wrong.
- 03:06
Benjamin
Uh, any questions for me, Mikey Day? No.
- 03:12
Reporter
Kenan, I have to ask. With all your experience on the show, could you have done anything to save this?
- 03:18
Employee
Yo, I ain't got time for this, man. I've been on this show for 62 years. And you gonna dwell on this? Come on, man, I got to go get ready for my Puerto Rican Peter Pan sketch. Yeah, yeah, you're live from New York. Y'all can kiss my ass.
- 03:36
Reporter
We'll be back with more SNL.
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
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