Last week’s “Saturday Night Live” saw the return of some beloved Jason Sudeikis characters, including The Devil and Joe Biden. But it also found the “Ted Lasso” star debuting a brand new impression of Ellen DeGeneres — and the talk show host absolutely loved it.
The sketch, which “SNL” dubbed “Mellen,” turned Sudeikis into the “Male Ellen.” As the sketch puts it: “Post-COVID, men are staying home more than ever before. And they need a daytime talk show that speaks to them. ABC thought about it for 10 seconds and came up with Mellen: the male Ellen!”
In it, he was just as energetic and charismatic as DeGeneres, just with a few more “masculine” (read: violent) tendencies. You can watch the sketch here and below:
In a preview of Thursday’s episode of DeGeneres’ actual NBC show, the host said she and her wife Portia de Rossi not only watched “SNL” live — “trying to get rid of this wine that was stuck in a bottle” — but they genuinely enjoyed Sudeikis’ spoof.
“I would actually watch that show,” DeGeneres said. “That’s a show I would watch. You know, we should do that. After we finish this season, we should do a show like that. I loved it. I’m flattered by that.”
DeGeneres also noted that it was “SNL” vet Kate McKinnon who really started the “I’m Ellen” catchphrase that Sudeikis borrowed, though DeGeneres herself has no idea why it became a thing. The host later doubled down on the idea that “Mellen” should actually become a show, calling out Sudeikis directly.
“Jason, when you’re done with ‘Ted Lasso,’ we should do this show,” she added. “And if you’re a studio executive, you know what they say, when you have an Ellen, make Mellen.”
You can watch the full “Ellen” segment in the video above.