Tonight on Saturday Night Live, host Michael B. Jordan and Bowen Yang got into the voice-over booth for Street Fighter 6 — the latest in the combat video game franchise from Capcom.
The sketch titled “Video Game Session” opens with the director, played by Andrew Dismukes, kicking off the day’s session with voice actors Trace (Jordan) and Danny (Yang).
“Excited to be here, thanks,” says Trace — with Danny adding, “Thrilled to be on board. Woo!”
“Thanks for coming in last minute, Danny,” says the director. “Our last actor Frank quit due to creative differences — and because I slept with his wife.”
“Actors,” shrugs the director’s assistant, played by Marcello Hernandez.
“I know,” says the director. “So, Trace, you’ll be playing Ken, a former U.S. National fighting champ…”
“I’m totally in my element,” notes Trace. “I served for years.”
“…And Danny,” says the director, “you are a martial artist seeking true strength, Ryu.”
“Woo! Love,” responds Danny.
“All right, well for this first take, let’s just get you both recording efforts,” the director asks, “taking blows, landing hits, that kind of thing.”
When he calls action, Trace makes the kinds of sounds you’d expect from Street Fighter (“Oo! Eh! Huh! Huh-yah!”) with Danny going off in his own direction. “Woo! Woo-hoo! Awoo! Yay! Hoo!” he exclaims.
The director then calls cut, asking Danny for more grunts in his voice-over after reminding him that his character is “fighting” and “in pain.”
Somehow, though, Danny doesn’t get what’s being asked of him, with the director reframing his request as being for work of a “more aggressive, animalistic” quality.
“Mm. Yes, chef,” says Danny, who then proceeds to make animal noises — and manages to get Trace doing so, as well.
“Don’t match what he’s doing!” the director pleads.
“Oh okay, he’s just an amazing scene partner,” says Trace. “So, you know…”
“Thank you,” Danny tells Trace. “And I was just taking your note. You said to do animals.”
“Yeah, but I said a bunch of stuff before that,” replies the director.
“Well, I have auditory recency bias, so you can’t say that to me,” retorts Danny. “I could sue you.”
The director looks to press ahead, asking his actors to move into phrases to correspond with game play, with Danny improvising things like “Hey, I like your necklace!” and “See, kindness wins!”
The director ultimately asks Danny to bring a “more hetero” quality to his character, with Danny going into phrases like, “Hey, brother Ken. Your biceps are looking huge!”
Just then, Frank (Mikey Day) storms into the room, reminding the director he’d said he’d kill him for sleeping with his wife. Fortunately, though, Danny and Trace are on hand to come to his defense — making their silly video game sound effects as they take the intruder down.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” says the director. “You two just saved my life.”
“No, sir,” says Danny. “Ken and Ryu just saved your life.”
Jordan was joined for his first appearance as host of Saturday Night Live by musical guest Lil Baby. Watch his Street Fighter sketch by clicking above.