It wasn’t the frenzy of Mr. Music on John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, but Jake Gyllenhaal gave Saturday Night Live an injection of bonkers tonight with a reunion of sorts from the Netflix’s musical comedy special.
As a Mulaney-led song fueled skit about the horrors and “mysteries” of LaGuardia Airport ground on, the Oscar nominated actor suddenly bound before the SNL cameras as “guy who travels in pajamas,” to quote the host.
“Did someone say security?” asked Gyllenhaal to Mulaney, who was fronting the NBC late night show for the third time on Saturday. “That’s right, I dress so TSA can have easy access to my body,” proclaimed the Nightcrawler star, before bursting into song and up up and away.
“You can search up way inside my cavity,” Gyllenhaal belted out as clearly visible strings lifted him out of view – as you can see above with the PJs guy coming in at the 4:35 mark.
Besides the cameo rich and politically charged coronavirus cold open of tonight’s SNL, the over eight-minute LaGuardia skit was the tour de force of the 885th episode of the Not Ready for Primetime Players series. With Gyllenhaal providing extra star power, almost every member of the cast got to appear or sing, as did musical guest David Byrne. Slagging the NYC airport that isn’t JFK, the skit for this 45th season had some localized Phantom of the Opera, a swipe at NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, more on the coronavirus and a quick reference to Oscar Best Picture winner Parasite, sushi and infants on intercontinental flights.
Gyllenhaal joined Mulaney, Byrne and the SNL cast at the end of the show goodbye shout out. (You can watch the full sketch above.)
Along with Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne, Annaleigh Ashford, ex-Talking Heads frontman Byrne, Richard Kind, and André De Shields, Gyllenhaal was a part of joyfully crazed John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, which debuted on Netflix on Christmas Eve last year. Part Electric Company, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and putting pedal to the mocking pedal, the Mulaney created kids special presented itself as just one episode of a classic children’s show. From his hyperbolic entrance onwards, Gyllenhaal’s off the rails performance as the slippery Mr. Music proclaiming “music here, music there, music is everywhere” is something to be seen and heard, if you have seen and heard it already – take a look
James Bond himself Daniel Craig is hosting SNL next week as the latest 007 installment No Time To Die premieres in the US on April 10