‘SNL’: Yes, Farrow & Ball Is a Real (and Crazy Expensive) British Paint Company (Video)

And the British company really does offer 132 colours — with a U

No, that wasn’t a parody sketch on “Saturday Night Live” with an unemployed woman (Aidy Bryant) who splurged on crazy-expensive paint from Farrow & Ball.

Farrow & Ball really is a “high-end British paint company that offers unparalleled depth and colour,” as Bryant’s character Beth said, and its paints comes in cans that look like the one she showed to her brother Tom (Beck Bennett) and sister-in-law (guest host Kristen Stewart) in the sketch.

“It sounds like you’re saying ‘color’ but with a U in it,” Stewart’s character tells Beth about her Brit-style pronunciation of the word.

“Well, I am,” Bryant’s Beth replies, who goes on to put the stress on the second syllable of words like labor and squalor.

And yes, the premium paint costs $110 a gallon and comes in a select 132 colors — sorry, colours. And those colors do have names like Ammonite — which the Farrow & Ball website says is “named after the treasured fossils often found on the Dorset coast” — and Lulworth Blue, whose “comes from the shade of the sea at beautiful Lulworth Cove, Dorset.”

In response to the  sketch, Farrow & Ball’s official Twitter account posted: “It’s true, we really do offer an unparalleled depth in ‘col-our’. So whether you’re an out-of-work day bartender or an aspiring estate manager, discover our 132 colours here: f-b.ltd/2C9z8Y0 #FarrowandBall #SNL.”

In addition, Bryant’s out-of-work day bartender is right when she talks about how the paint requires special primers and brushes — and can’t be easily washed if it gets scuffed.

A lot of “SNL” viewers seemed to think it was a completely made-up product.

Watch the full sketch above.

Thom Geier

Thom is an award-winning editor and writer with a keen knowledge of American pop culture and a knack for finding original approaches that inform and delight readers. He’s handled breaking news as well as long-term feature packages, mentored young writers who have become industry leaders, and developed fresh, shareable content across both print and digital…

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