SNL Video: Bad Bunny's Tía And Pedro Pascal's Mamá Are The Ultimate Tag Team
They say, if you've got it, flaunt it. And this week, Saturday Night Live had Pedro Pascal handy, so what else are you going to do with him? Flaunt him, obviously, along with guest host Bad Bunny in Pascal's first recurring character sketch.
This is Pascal's second appearance as the overprotective mother of Marcello Hernandez's Luis. Despite some objections to a possibly offensive stereotype (Hernandez is one of the credited writers of the sketch and based the character on his own mother), SNL chose to double down and give us a mamá and a tía – played, of course, by Bad Bunny.
Chloe Troast, the show's latest cast addition, replaces Chloe Fineman as the girlfriend du jour, Casey. She's nervous to meet Luis' family – and she's right to be. After a brief hug and a jokey (but still a teensy bit uncomfortable) bump 'n' grind with her nephew, Tía Rosa sizes up the girlfriend and immediately doesn't like her. That goes double when Mamá arrives, dumping the Danish cookies Casey has brought and replacing them with sewing thread and needles. It's a fun detail that almost anyone with immigrant parents will recognize.
The sketch continues with Mamá and Tía chattering on in Spanish, but pointedly dropping in shots at Casey. "Nepo baby," "flat butt" and "sneaky link" feature prominently, as does Mamá's fear of white grandchildren named Tyler and Haley. Also likely familiar to kids or grandkids of immigrants: nobody has depression. Not if Mamá has anything to say about it. "Mijo does not have depression! He just likes the dark!"
It's unclear whether or not Pascal and Bunny are friends in real life – their names first came up together with rumors that Pascal would be replacing Bunny in the now possibly canceled Spider-Man spin-off, El Muerto – but their chemistry here is fantastic. At many points during the night, Bunny struggles with timing and reading cue cards; here, though, he's sharp and energetic and oh-so-passive aggressive. It's a positive sign for his future acting career.
Watch the full sketch above and then grade this weekend's SNL: