This week’s “SNL” host Sterling K. Brown was like a crafty veteran rather than a first-time host. Dominating sketches left and right, he demonstrated considerable comedy chops that fans of NBC’s “This Is Us” may not have known he had. And no sketch highlighted his skills more than the one in which he berated his girlfriend’s parents for saying “Coco” is the best animated movie ever, not “Shrek.”
In the sketch, Brown played a man named Justin who is having dinner with his girlfriend’s family. Melissa Villasenor played the girlfriend, with Aidy Bryant and Beck Bennett as the parents.
“That’s a good one. Oh man,” Brown said in response to Bryant’s offhanded comment about how great “Coco” was.
“What is, Justin?” Bennett asked.
“Your wife’s joke,” Brown came back. “She said ‘Coco’ was the best animated film she’s ever seen. It made me laugh, that’s all.”
“I wasn’t joking, exactly,” Bryant chimed in.
“Oh, come on, no,” Brown said. “It’s ‘Shrek.’ Ever heard of it?”
From there the previously chill evening became increasingly unchill, as Brown’s character took personal offense at the idea that they would like “Coco” more than “Shrek.”
“I can’t believe I have to defend a movie with three hit sequels and a 4-D Universal Studios ride. But let’s all bend over backwards for ‘Coco,’ right, Scott?” Brown said as the argument began to escalate beyond just words.
“Oh, easy, Donkey,” Bennett said, referencing the character played by Eddie Murphy in the “Shrek” films. “I’m kidding, Justin. Just trying to lighten the mood here a little. Do a little Shrek for you.”
“You keep his name out of your mouth, you dumb son of a bitch. That’s it,” Brown yelled before throwing a glass of water in Bennett’s face and challenging him to a fistfight.
The twist at the end of the sketch was that the whole point of the dinner was so Brown and Villasenor could tell her parents that they’re getting married, with Antonio Banderas, who played Puss in Boots in “Shrek,” performing the ceremony. But after throwing a second glass of water in Bennett’s face, the wedding may just be off. When Brown said that he and Villasenor should leave, she replied matter-of-factly that he could go without her.
“Wait. What? Baby, what did I do?” Brown asked in a sweet tone of voice.
You can watch this sketch in full in the video embedded at the top of this post or on the “SNL” YouTube.