The advantage of working at 30 Rockefeller Center as a Saturday Night Live writer means you can enlist any NBC star who happens to be roaming the hallways. Today Show meteorologist Al Roker must have had some free time on his hands last week because the Please Don’t Destroy team roped him into their latest bizarre sketch. In “Good Variant,” the trio learned that there is now a coronavirus variant with good traits, and craziness broke out in their office.
At the start of the sketch, Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy were shocked to hear that scientists discovered a good COVID variant. They switched their TV on, with Roker introducing a Today segment. Next, they swapped to MSNBC, where an anchor played by host John Mulaney delivered the news. “They’re calling it a miracle: a new strain of COVID-19 that’s mutated so hard, it’s actually good. It’s called the GelviniVariant and it doesn’t make you sick. It just makes you feel dope.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
The guys then started celebrating in their offices before Paul Rudd stopped by to report that he tested positive for the Gelvini Variant. It made Rudd sick… at playing synth! The partying continued to escalate as a nurse (Sarah Sherman) stopped by to test everyone for the variant. Then, Higgins asked who was hungry. Roker then popped in to deliver a long sandwich! Roker joined the celebration, and there were more symptoms, like “long, luscious locks.”
The party got even wilder when Mulaney’s anchor reported that Pokemon are real! They all stormed the Capitol, but they were only there to help pass awesome legislation. Just as the partying got out of control, the sketch ended with Roker popping champagne. Al “Forty-Hands” Roker was also credited as the executive producer of the sketch at the end.
Roker and Rudd were hardly the only stars to stop by during Mulaney’s episode this week. Candice Bergen, Tina Fey, Elliot Gould, Steve Martin, Rudd, and Conan O’Brien helped induct Mulaney into the Five-Timers Club. The show also opened with a performance of “Prayer for Ukraine” by the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The next new SNL episode airs on March 5, with Oscar Isaac and Charli XCX. On March 12, Zoe Kravitz will host with Rosalia performing. SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC Saturdays and is available to stream on Peacock.
