Melissa McCarthy Leaned Into This Classic ‘Bridesmaids’ Scene On ‘SNL’
Melissa McCarthy’s sixth hosting stint on Saturday Night Live reminded everyone that she belongs in Chris Farley’s class as a physical comedian.The Groundling veteran leaned into the praftfalls all night, a welcome, promotion-free return to Studio 8H after a too-long eight-year absence.
McCarthy hit it hard from the top of the show, taking a face full of fake snow during her opening monologue, then getting her paws slammed inside a piano by Marcello Hernandez’s elf. The bit’s central joke — McCarthy is a virtuoso on the mouth horn — simply wouldn’t work if Sabrina Carpenter or Bad Bunny tried to pull it off. But McCarthy gives 150% to her bleating horn honks, turning a non-gag into a tour de force.
The comedian kept it going in “Free Sample,” a reprise/mash-up of several sad-sack SNL characters that she’s brought to life in the past. While the sketch is more subtle, McCarthy’s deft physical work is on display as a woman who mistakes a free cheese sample for a declaration of love. She turns shopping carts into weapons of destruction, sending one shopper spinning while launching a baby down the condiments aisle with another. Shout out to newbie Jeremy Culhane, who more than keeps up with McCarthy as the bewildered grocery employee who wants no part of her affections. (At least at first.)
McCarthy saved her most physical character for “UPS Delivery Driver,” a coiled-up ball of anger bringing new meaning to “What can brown do for you?” As Donna Fonda, McCarthy plays a fed-up delivery driver caught on security cams taking out her frustrations on a customer’s porch, plants, and packages. The crimes against the customer escalate until Donna Fonda channels her inner Bridesmaid, squatting down to unleash her bowels on her enemies.
“It's not my fault, okay? I'm a human being!” Donna protests. “I had to go, and I couldn't hold it.”
“Donna, you squatted for 45 minutes before you went,” replies her boss.
The UPS driver continues to defend herself. “You shouldn't shame people with UTIs.”
The hilarious scene harkened back to McCarthy’s Oscar-nominated turn in Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids, specifically to the scene in which the food-poisoned pal wreaks havoc on a bathroom sink.
SNL isn’t R-rated, so the gross-out could only go so far, but McCarthy made up for it with fake fainting spells and choking down written affidavits.
Season 51 — better as late! — hasn’t leaned into physical comedy much, but McCarthy gave SNL a much-needed electric jolt in that department. She’s another in the long line of Great Cast Members That Never Were — here’s hoping we don’t have to wait eight years for her next appearance.
