‘SNL’: First Thanksgiving Sketch Serves Up Paleface Illegals And Corny Ending
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Politics have been ruining holiday gatherings since the First Thanksgiving it turns out. The First Thanksgiving sketch on tonight’s Saturday Night Live also revealed that homeland walls and political correctness are unexpected leftovers from the pilgrim era, as well.
The sketch was a 17th century variation on Guess Who’ Coming to Dinner with Pochoantas (Melissa Villase?or) bringing her “illegal immigrant” boyfriend, John Smith (Beck Bennett), back to the teepee to meet her parents (Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen) and her cranky grandfather (Will Ferrell), who gets all his news from Fox (as in the woodland creature) not a liberal-leaning source (like the peacock that keeps his granddaughter informed).
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Ferrell’s character bemoans all the negative things that he associates with Smith’s ilk (the dwindling amount of land and buffalo, for instance, or the blankets that Fox says carry disease)and he frets about the hygiene and honesty of the European newcomer.
The divides of the First Thanksgiving, however, are bridged by the shared experiences and common issues that remind the dinner party that people are the same wherever you go. Sounds corny? Oh, yes, the common bond definitely qualifies as corny but it’s not an especially appetizing dinner topic.
The sketch ends with Ferrell breaking the fourth wall to bring it all together with some heartfelt words. “You know there’s a lot of problems in this crazy, crazy sketch. I mean, white actors playing Native Americans? What is this? 2014? But no matter what year it is or what color we are or whether we get our news from a Fox or a Peacock one thing is for sure. None of us can digest corn.”
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