I think we can all mostly agree that “Saturday Night Live” is, by and large, pretty unwatchable. This isn’t totally the fault of the writers, performers, and crew working on the series. But if you have a two-hour show with loads of live sketches that are written and performed within a week, there are bound to be more misses than hits. But when the show puts a bit of effort into a skit, especially one of the pre-produced sketches, then there is still the odd gem, including in the most recent episode hosted by Pedro Pascal.
Over the weekend, “The Last of Us” star, Pedro Pascal, hosted “Saturday Night Live.” And while not everything he did on the show was a home run, there is one sketch worth pointing out and commending. In a parody of “The Last of Us,” which is the new super serious, dark, emotional series adaptation of a very popular zombie video game, ‘SNL’ decided to imagine what might happen if HBO wanted to bring that vibe to another video game property. This time, though, it would be the kid-friendly “Mario Kart.”
Now, on paper, that joke is funny enough, but the execution of this idea, with Pedro Pascal involved as Mario, is just pitch-perfect. From the jokes about how everything on HBO features sexually ambiguous characters and so much dread to the way they whipped together post-apocalyptic “Super Mario Bros.” locations, the “Mario Kart” sketch is ‘SNL’ at its finest.
Honestly, watching the video (which you can see below), makes you halfway sold on the idea of a “Mario Kart” series. Maybe it’s because Pedro Pascal can do no wrong or maybe it’s just how ridiculous the premise is. But if HBO convinced Nintendo to make it happen, I’d watch, no questions asked.
You can see the full sketch below: