In a scene parodying “Blonde,” we see Chloe Fineman’s Marilyn Monroe needing a boost of confidence before going out and meeting the crowd. Two people (host Brendan Gleeson and Heidi Gardner) come in at her handler’s request to read some fan mail. Supposedly vetted, much like the scene in the film, it starts off promising. Gleeson’s character is clearly reading the nicer stuff. However, Gardner’s character is there to undercut all progress with the ruder fan mail, punctuated with the ending phrase “not a fan.”
Read with straight faces, the joke here is that none of the mail was actually vetted. That, or the comments read by the two employees don’t resonate enough for them to see the harm. As the skit goes on, Fineman’s Marilyn starts making suggestions as she becomes more exasperated by the fan mail, and a back and forth ensues between the three characters about what to toss out and what to keep. It’s in this back and forth that we see the natural humor in the situation, with all cast members milking their lines (but not overly so) to get maximum laughs.
A sketch like this could have easily gone south (though, it seems that energy was dedicated to the Try Guys sketch instead). The sketch maintains the right balance of comedy without it being steamrolled to death. Not bad, “SNL”. Not bad at all.
“Saturday Night Live” airs Saturdays at 11:30pm ET on NBC, and is also available on Peacock.
