Sometimes, for whatever reason, a sketch doesn’t make its way on to Saturday Night Live. And after seeing Will Forte’s rejected “Jennjamin Franklin” skit, you can see there’s a reason some things just aren’t ready for TV.
The sketch, performed here for Late Night With Seth Meyers “Second Chance Theater,” sees Jason Sudekis on a blind date with a hirsute young woman (Will Forte) who looks a lot like a sexually aggressive Benjamin Franklin. Basically, the idea is that Sudekis’ character (whose last name is Gacy) is sexually frustrated and “Jennjamin” has come into his life at just the right time.
The whole thing has got a lot of moving pieces that don’t quite move well together. For instance, Sudekis’ “Dance Music” bit seems stripped from another bit entirely, and Forte doesn’t seem to have much for Jennjamin to do besides be a lady with a beard. Then there are Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer’s characters who are, I guess, supposed to be freaked out by Jennjamin’s antics but why would they since they’re the ones who set up the date (I’m big on spending a bunch of words breaking down comedy).
The cardinal sin of “Jennjamin Franklin” is that it’s too damned long. Clocking in at approximately seven minutes, the bit loses steam after we’re first introduced to Jenn and only sputters and drags until the second (!) seemingly improvised song from Sudekis at the end.
This was the first installment of “Second Chance Theater” so I’m curious what other oddities Meyers and other SNL alum can conjure up for future episodes.
HT: The AV Club
Want to hear more about Jennjamin Franklin? Check out Will Forte on the Nerdist Podcast.
That was incredible. For everyone saying that it was terrible, that’s kinda the point of a rejected sketch and is what made this such a beautiful disasterpiece.
Worst. Sketch. Ever.
lol That was disturbing.
I think your looking at this wrong. It is a rejected sketch. I think what makes it interesting is it gives a glimpse of what wouldn’t pass snl standards.Critiquing the sketch for not being good is like whipping a dead horse.
How bad does a skit have to be to get rejected? SNL is coming off the worst two season ever.
I actually laughed out loud during this. Unlike any SNL sketch (I stopped watching SNL a year or two ago).
I actually enjoyed the sketch a lot. I think looking at it as if its a SNL sketch is the wrong way to look at this sketch, I think looking at as just a sketch put on by a late night show is a better description of the “jenjamin franklin sketch”. I thought it was a funny sketch that I enjoyed and I’m very excited to see what is up next for “Second Chance Theater”.
Been wanting to see this ever since I heard about it in his podcast episode. Weird, but I watched the whole thing.