Is it still surprising that Brad Pitt has an impressive comic range? To anyone who’s seen him in Burn After Reading, this is probably not news. (And if you haven’t seen it, well, we have a quarantine viewing recommendation for you.) In the latest edition of Saturday Night Live, Pitt showed off another side of his comedic skills — in this case, doing an impressive impression of Dr. Anthony Fauci for the show’s cold open.
The premise? Fauci reaction to various public declarations made by Donald Trump about the coronavirus. The news clips are real; the version of Dr. Fauci onscreen is not.
Much of the sketch’s humor comes from Pitt’s Fauci attempting to respond in a straightforward, scientific way to statements that are anything but straightforward. The concept of the sketch is reminiscent of Key & Peele‘s “Anger Translator” sketches, albeit turned on its head. If the humor in those came from Keegan-Michael Key’s performance as someone with no restraint, here the humor arises from Pitt playing someone trying very hard to be restrained, even if it may prove impossible.
This wasn’t the only Saturday Night Live sketch from last night to reference current events and the coronavirus. Elsewhere in the episode, Cecily Strong played Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer — which also revealed the unexpected nicknames of many of the nation’s governors. Overall, the episode showed the show’s cast and writers adapting more easily to the new format, which made for more than a few memorable comedic moments.
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