Michael B. Jordan and "SNL" Have News From Southwest Airlines

If you’ve been paying attention to the world of air travel, you’ve probably noticed that Southwest Airlines had a difficult time not long ago, with a number of flights being delayed and issues with customer service compounding matters. But the stuff of air travelers’ misery is also the stuff of comedy writers’ gold, and this week’s Saturday Night Live took on Southwest’s issues with a sketch in the form of an airline ad.

The sketch itself is funny, especially when it gets very specific about makes and models of early-2000s computers. It also makes use of a significant number of cast members, along with host Michael B. Jordan, whose increasingly upbeat descriptions of new Southwest features make for comedy gold.

There’s even an eminently memorable Waffle House reference thrown into the mix. The sketch finds a good balance between satirizing Southwest’s recent issues and riffing on the current state of air travel — the bit about sorting suitcases seems like it’s about 18 months from being announced as an actual policy somewhere in the industry. If that does happen, let’s hope someone on the SNL writing staff is well compensated for the idea.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…