Why ‘SNL’ sketch showing adult sons connecting with their dads made fans ‘cry’
“Saturday Night Live” tugged on fans’ heartstrings with a surprisingly sentimental sketch over the weekend.
Bill Burr returned as host for the second time on Nov. 9 alongside musical guest Mk.gee.
The episode featured a sketch called “Calling Dad,” starring cast member Andrew Dismukes as Burr’s son, with Kenan Thompson and Devon Walker as the other father-son duo.
After a pickleball match, Dismukes and Walker took a break to call their dads, despite their struggles to connect with them about “anything real.”
Walker gave Thompson a call first to wish him a happy birthday and check in. Rather than providing a meaningful update about himself, Thompson said, “The Eagles are 6-2, so I’m doing alright.”
When Walker tried to get Thompson to open up more, he couldn’t help but continue to bring up the Philadelphia Eagles.
Walker urged Thompson to tell him “one real thing,” but Thompson balked and spit out “Quarterback” as his response instead.
Dismukes didn’t have much luck connecting with Burr on the first try, either. Seconds after Burr answered the phone and Dismukes expressed wanting to check in to see how he was doing, Burr ended the call, telling Dismukes, “Well, I’ll let you go” before hanging up.
When Dismukes called him back, rather than talking about himself, Burr changed the topic and asked Dismukes about his car.
Dismukes tried to shift the conversation back to Burr with no luck, with Burr telling him, “You got to make sure that car’s oil is changed.”
Meanwhile, Walker and Thompson began to make some progress after Thompson expressed that he thought the Eagles have “been around for a while” and he was “starting to feel like maybe the Eagles don’t got much time left.”
Walker immediately asked whether they were still talking about the football team, but Thompson continued to share his concerns over “the Eagles,” adding that they’ve “been going to a lot of funerals lately for other teams that the Eagles grew up with.”
Their conversation continued to go down a darker path, with Thompson sharing that the week prior, “the Eagles fell in the shower” and were “laying there thinking this is where the Eagles die.”
Burr and Dismukes began to have a similarly dark conversation, with Burr sharing that he was only worried about his car because “my car just wants to be closer to your car because my car’s car died around the age your car is now.”
When Dismukes tried to tell him that “your car is not your car’s car,” Burr shared some shocking news from his doctor who found “some polyps in my car’s a–” and his “car’s worried because that’s what killed my car’s car.”
When Dismukes inquired if that’s how his grandfather died, Burr immediately corrected him and insisted that they were simply talking about cars. Despite this, Burr suggested that their “cars” should go to Ireland together to see where “our cars’ family is from.”
“I think my car would like that a lot,” Dismukes said to play along.
Walker even had words of encouragement for Thompson, telling him that he thought “the Eagles still got some good seasons left.”
“And no matter what, they’ll always be my favorite team,” Walker said, before adding, “I love you dad.”
Dismukes tried to have a similar moment with Burr, but rather than saying “I love you” back, Burr simply told Dismukes, “Well, I’ll let you go.”
While the sketch garnered laughs from the live audience in Studio 8H, fans in the YouTube video’s comment section had more of a sentimental reaction.
“This made me CRY. And then laugh. And then cry,” one fan commented. “Make those calls. You truly will not know when they’re gone.”
Another fan added, “The older you get the more you will understand how real this is. Made me cry~my dad exactly!”
One comment called the sketch “oddly profound and sentimental,” adding, “Didn’t think SNL had this kind of father/son messaging up their sleeve.”
“This is a deep sketch. Gonna call my pops tomorrow,” another fan wrote. “We’re so stupid sometimes, life’s too short.”
