The Star Wars SNL Sketch Fans Wish Were A Real TV Show
"Saturday Night Live" has been lovingly mocking "Star Wars" for years. The variety series began in 1975, two years before the space opera film series debuted, so the two franchises have long been intertwined. The hallowed halls of that popular subgenre of SNL sketches include Bill Murray's parody of the "Star Wars" theme song with nonsensical lyrics in 1978 in a ski lift resort, all the way to Kyle Mooney impersonating Baby Yoda from "The Mandalorian" on Weekend Update in 2021.
Perhaps it's the outlandish aesthetics that make "Star Wars" so ripe for parody. Maybe it's cast members love dressing up as alien creature and shouting lines of technical jargon that make no sense. It doesn't hurt either that the franchise has had such massive, global influence on pop culture for so long, and with the current slate of Disney+ series like "Obi Wan Kenobi" and "Andor" hitting it big on the streaming serivce, there won't be any shortage of parody inspiration for SNL for years to come.
However, for many audience members, a particular "Star Wars" sketch has towered above the rest, so much so that fans have called for it to be developed into its own series because they love it so much.
Fans loved Kylo Ren in the Undercover Boss parody
When Adam Driver hosted the return of Season 41 of "Saturday Night Live" from its winter hiatus in 2016, there was not a "Star Wars" film in theaters featuring him at the time. However, the show clearly felt compelled to include some reference to the mega-franchise.
"Star Wars Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base" parodied the CBS reality series where top level corporate employees take entry level positions in their companies to see what the day-to-day operations are like. The twist for SNL was Drive embodying his "Star Wars" character Kylo Ren, the supreme leader of the evil First Order. Driver brings his trademark moodiness and brooding stature to the role of Ren, who in the sketch pretends to be Mark the radar technician.
The sketch sees Ren trying to convince multiple low level Starkiller base workers of his coolness and competency as a leader, while also not blowing his cover. This naturally doesn't go very well, as Ren's temper constantly flares and he lashes out using the force to crush objects and people. The workers quickly discover Mark's true identity while Ren himself thinks the situation is going well.
The most popular comments one the YouTube video all praise Driver's comedic chops and the clever writing. Several point to the sketch being one of the best of the last several seasons. "Forget the movies, they should just make an entire Netflix series out of this," wrote one user, receiving more than 32,000 likes.
SNL revived the parody when Driver returned to host
The original sketch is currently one of the most viewed "Saturday Night Live" videos of all time, holding over 61 million views. Even the sketch's behind the scenes counterpart was popular, as more than eight million people have clicked on it. Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of the variety series, and the rest of the creative team made the smart decision to capitalize on the success of the first sketch by performing a follow-up when Adam Driver returned to host the show in January 2020, almost exactly five years later.
"Undercover Bosses: Where Are They Now" follows Driver's Kylo Ren and he goes back undercover at the Starkiller Base to see how things have changed for the common worker since his last visit. As it turns out, very little is different. This time Ren becomes intern Randy and deals with degrading behavior from everyone he encounter. Just like his previous undercover experience, he uses the force to break things when they don't work and kill those who disagree with him.
While the follow up sketch didn't prove as popular as its former, it has still racked up an impressive 21 millions views. The comments again included fans wishing for more of the "Star Wars" antics, with one user asking to see a parody of the film series done in the style of "The Office," with more than 1,000 other users liking the comment.