Saturday Night Live‘s Latest Cut for Time Sketch is a Hilarious Vietnam Bit Starring Chris Redd and Daniel Kaluuya
Hey! This Saturday Night Live sketch—which didn’t actually air during last night’s episode—is good! Wow.
“The Hero” rests almost entirely on a singularly dependable reservoir of comedy: Chris Redd’s ability to play unearned confidence that immediately turns reluctant. Between his last few years on SNL, his role on NBC’s Kenan, and his pivotal appearance in The Lonely Island’s Popstar, Redd has established himself as one of the best modern practitioners of an outsized sense of self. He’s like a current day Fred Willard, only with a more immediate—and hilarious—sense of self-doubt. Redd’s best work is when he cavalierly puts himself in a position requiring courage, and then quickly reveals himself to be a coward at heart.
That’s how “The Hero” operates. Set in Vietnam in 1970, the sketch is based around a POW/MIA rescue mission that echoes every other ‘80s action movie. Redd’s Marine proudly, courageously speaks up on his Marine unit’s behalf, before finding out that he basically committed himself to a quick death sentence. I won’t say any more: just watch it. You’ll either find if funny, or find out that you have an insufficient sense of humor. One of the two. Them’s the rules.