It’s not often that “Saturday Night Live” uses real animals in its sketches given their unpredictable nature, but Saturday’s episode featured an adorable golden retriever to hilarious effect in a sketch called “Dog Head Man.”
The conceit of the sketch is that a military official, played by host Simu Liu, is introducing a new tool in combat for the U.S. military: Dog Head Man. As its name suggests, it’s literally a man’s body with a dog’s head.
For effect, the sketch used a real golden retriever as human hands demonstrated Dog Head Man’s abilities, like holding a knife or feeding himself a sandwich. You can watch the full sketch in the video above.
Liu’s co-stars in the sketch – Mikey Day, Cecily Strong and James Austin Johnson – struggled to keep it together as the dog went off script, and Day had to keep trying to get the dog to face the camera, all while a person underneath the table was waving props around in the dog’s face (a trend that, to be fair, has been around for some time).
“SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels famously loathes his actors breaking character, but one imagines he can’t hold it against those involved in Dog Head Man. Moreover, some of the most iconic “SNL” sketches in history feature performers breaking (Will Ferrell is the only person with a straight face in the “More Cowbell” sketch), and Jimmy Fallon – who spent more time smiling than not on “SNL” – eventually landed the coveted “The Tonight Show” gig.
I think I speak for all “SNL” viewers when I say, please make Dog Head Man a recurring sketch.