Rejoice: Bill Hader Brought Back His Classic ‘The Californians’ For ‘Saturday Night Live’
"Just get on the 101, skip all the exits, AND NEVER COME BACK!"
Long time Saturday Night Live cast member Bill Hader came back for his second ever gig as host, and because he knows how shit the monologues are, cut straight into another episode of the beloved ‘The Californians’.
*extremely The Californians face* #SNL pic.twitter.com/feiKSKfR0H
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 18, 2018
We haven’t seen the beauty of The Californians on our screens since 2015, and even then it was as a part of the 40th anniversary special. The sketch was a long running collaboration between Hader and Fred Armisen, that was a staple during what some (me, mostly just me) consider the golden era of SNL between 2013-2014.
Parodying a kind of generic soap opera format, set very specifically in California, the sketch is an extremely silly dream for clever physical performers like Hader and Armisen.
Mostly the humour comes from the extreme comedy conceit of doing such an overblown Californian accent that the actor’s face literally contorts.
Also, there’s long running gags, such as describing in painful detail which route the characters will drive around California, which I have gleaned purely from years of context is something that Californian residents are known to do?
Anyway, let’s watch a classic example of this beautifully dumb sketch. Ah, I miss Kristen Wiig.
It’s wonderful to see The Californian’s back on SNL, and you can tell that nobody has lost their love for the sketch, even though they didn’t quite make it to breaking level like usual.
Probably the highlight is when they actually discuss how outrageous their version of the accent is. Have a watch!