Bowen Yang has practically made a career out of playing objects and insects (the iceberg that sank the Titanic, the speckled lantern fly), but this week he took to the SNL stage as a particularly infamous inflatable. i am back. Last night’s cold open teased Hulabaloo over a Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier this week by the Biden administration. Yang appears as a balloon and moans about everything from reported size (about 3 buses) to being “Osama for Joe”. It turns out that balloons, like all of us, just want to be understood (and see Yellowstone).
Chloe Feynman reports this story as MSNBC host Katie Tarr, interviewing an uptight Pentagon official played by SNL veteran Kenan Thompson. This week’s host, Pedro Pascal, was clearly absent, but Maricato made an appearance in a number of excellent sketches, including one imagining his HBO’s dystopian take on the franchise.
