SNL is best known for its irreverent characters and sharp political commentary, but some of the best sketches in the history of the show are ones that make pointed observations about society. Think Mom Jeans or Meet Your Second Wife. We got another one of those bangers last night, and many fans felt so heard they weren’t sure if they could even laugh.
The sketch in question is a fake commercial for an elder care service called Sister. It recommends that instead of putting your loved one in a nursing home or spending thousands a week on professional care, you instead simply text your sister. She’ll drop everything in her life to come help while you continue to live your life as if there’s not a family crisis going on.
You can watch the all-time banger below…
Normally when SNL drops a sketch on social, all of the top comments are about exactly what you would expect. They’re messages about how it is or isn’t funny. They’re observations about who is good in the sketch and who isn’t good in the sketch. That’s not the case with this one. Instead, a majority of the comments on multiple platforms are about how the commentator either feels seen or feels called out. There are comments with first person stories and comments saying their real life is exactly what the woman in the sketch is going through.
The top comment on YouTube already has more than eleven hundred likes and pretty much tells the whole story…
As an older sister… ouch.
Other popular comments on YouTube included one woman saying she almost had “a stroke from rage” while watching. Several said they were going to use the sketch to have a conversation with their siblings because they felt heard. It was the same pattern on X too. A woman who works as an estate attorney said it’s “not funny” because it’s so accurate to what she sees every day. Others commented saying the part about the siblings who did nothing still getting an inheritance felt especially powerful since that was their real life experience. Others just commented the classic, "WTF?"
To me, this sketch is Saturday Night Live at its absolute best. I’m not saying we need this level of pointed middle fingers all the time, but it feels especially meaningful when the show gives voice to a problem or frustrating dynamic in society that isn’t often commented on. Caretakers are an underseen and underheard from group in American society, and you can tell by all the big reactions to this sketch that they’re happy to feel heard.
A strong case could be made that this week’s Saturday Night Live episode was the best of the season. Guest host John Mulaney really delivered a ton of dynamite sketches that covered a lot of territory. In addition to this little slice of brilliance, we also got a musical about central park horses, a middle finger toward boomers who betrayed the principles of Woodstock and some fun character work. Even Weekend Update was a banger and included a fantastic joke about Colin Jost’s doomed ferry boat.
SNL is off for awhile, but the show will return after Thanksgiving with guest host Amanda Seyfried, who should be spectacular in a very different way than Mulaney. I can’t wait.
