Several cast members weren't safe from breaking character during one “Saturday Night Live” sketch with Jack Black.
The actor made his way back to “SNL” on April 5 as a host for the fourth time, with Elton John and Brandi Carlile serving as the musical guests. In one sketch, a group of friends met up for dinner and were waiting for Jack Black and Bowen Yang to show up.
Before they arrived, Sarah Sherman took a moment to share her honest thoughts about the two absent friends, explaining, “Wait, can I just say, I love those guys, but I feel like they’re always trying to one-up us.”
Ego Nwodim brushed Sherman’s comments off and pointed out that they had “all grown.” However, it quickly became clear that not everyone had changed that much since college.
When Black showed up, Nwodim, Sherman and Chloe Fineman all talked about how high the screen time was on their phones, but Black only clocked two hours because he “gave up all social media.”
His not-so-humble brag was accompanied by a sound effect of a loud bird screech, followed by a close up of Black posing for the camera.
His friends started to express their jealousy over his choice, giving him the opportunity to continue to show off.
“Well, look, being off grid isn’t that great. I’m so boring, all I do is, like, read physical books,” Black said, followed by yet another bird screech and a “Blue Steel” pose for the camera.
The one-ups became even dramatic when Yang showed up late after a “long day” at a protest, earning a bird screech of his own. Black commented that Yang seemed to have had a “crazy day” and offered to get him a drink to unwind, but he opted for a club soda, as he wasn’t drinking at the moment. Cue the bird screech!
The sketch was chock full of opportunities for Black and Yang to try to one-up the group, and each other. When Sherman complimented Black’s sweater, he said he thrifted it from Goodwill where he is a volunteer, earning a rare triple bird screech that had several cast members breaking on camera, including Sherman.
He even snuck in a moment to try to embarrass Yang by suggesting he got his sweater from Zara or “the evil Temu,” but he was bested in the end.
“Oh, uh, neither, actually. I made it,” Yang replied. The bird screech reaction was accompanied by the actor pointing up toward the camera and making dramatic eye contact.
The rest of the friend group eventually got involved, including Fineman, who said that she “saw a foreign movie with no subtitles.”
Nwodim got interrupted by a phone call from work, explaining, “I normally wouldn’t take it, but you’re always on call when you’re a teacher.” Rather than a bird screech, she gave a fierce look to the camera after a tiger growl. And she wasn't done there.
When she specified that she was a teacher “for special-needs kids,” the sound effect for a drawn sword played, and when she added that the children spoke Spanish, “SNL” took it one step further by playing the opening scream from “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed, which immediately caused Yang to break.
Sherman and Andew Dismukes tried to get in on the action, with Dismukes telling the group that they are polyamorous, which was followed by a fart sound. When Sherman tried to apologize, she started to laugh and had to cover her mouth with her hand.
By the end of the sketch, even their waiter — played by Heidi Gardner — had a chance to one-up the group by saying her shift was ending so she could “get home to my son, who I adopted from China.” It was then that it was revealed that the bird screech wasn’t a dramatic effect, rather, it was Gardner’s pet eagle, Aurelius.
