When no mention of John Mulaney’s induction into the Five-Timers Club was made in his monologue on last night’s Saturday Night Live, there was a chance that the whole thing might be skated over entirely. Alas, we instead were treated to a full-length sketch starring Five-Timers Club members Steve Martin, Candice Bergen, and Paul Rudd, who’s bitter that his fifth episode was half-canceled in the midst of Omicron (according to Rudd, though, “my party was canceled due to lazinessâ€). Tina Fey, Conan O’Brien, and Elliott Gould (Chest Hair Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive) also make appearances. The sketch might drag on a minute too long, but the obvious charisma of its guest stars as well as the unexpectedly dark ending (Rudd has to give up his place in the Club to make space for Mulaney) makes up for it.
We also got a new sketch from Please Don’t Destroy, which acted as a kind of lead-in to the Five-Timers Club sketch. In it, the boys get the news that there’s a new “good variant†of COVID-19 that “just makes you feel dope.†In a soaring montage set to a Coldplay song, Al Roker and Paul Rudd party alongside the boys in celebration of the good variant. Sarah Sherman also makes an appearance as a nurse who informs Martin Herlihy that he has “anal worms.†The sketch is almost sweet in its look at this joyous alternate universe. (Who wouldn’t want to live in a world where Anthony Fauci hooks up with Saweetie?) Watch the full sketch above.