John Mulaney and "SNL" Made the Case for Fancy Pet Food

If you happen to be a pet owner, what’s your go-to pet food brand? There’s a growing trend in ads for dog and cat food to emphasize the same sort of high-quality ingredients that you might find in high-end grocery items. And while that makes sense on one level — premium ingredients may well be healthier for your dog than the alternative — it’s also worth pointing out that, if left to their own devices, dogs will eat some genuinely foul things.

All of which brings us to this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, which found John Mulaney returning to the show for his fifth stint as host. Among the sketches in which he appeared was a an ad for Blue River dog food. This was something of a follow-up to an earlier sketch; both feature Cecily Strong playing a woman with an unhealthy fixation on high-quality pet food.

What that translates to is a reason for Strong and Mulaney to go all in on playing dedicated pet owners who are genuinely terrifying to be around. From the bizarre use of mathematics to the random grocery store customers bearing pets, there’s something slightly off about this sketch, and it’s all the weirder for it.

Strong’s deeply unsettling dog voice gets extra points, as do the cameos from some adorable dogs. Surreal humor plus very good dogs; what’s not to like?

Meet your guide

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…