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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: April 5, 2014
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Saturday Night Live, “Anna Kendrick / Pharrell Williams” (Season 39, Episode 17)
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: A few months before Anna Kendrick made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut, Jimmy Fallon hosted and took part in the “Do It On My Twin Bed” sketch. Fallon was perfectly fine as one of the boyfriends taken home for a cramped and awkward holiday at his girlfriend’s parents’ house, but the real story was the powerhouse effect of putting all the SNL women together for one music video. “Twin Bed” uncannily aped the trashy style of a Pussycat Dolls and proved to be a great showcase for Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Cecily Strong, and Nasim Pedrad; it sure would have been a nice platform for a female guest host, though.
In classic SNL fashion, once was never enough, and so when Kendrick hosted, she joined Bryant, McKinnon, Strong, and Sasheer Zamata for a kind of spiritual sequel. Written by McKinnon and writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, the same team that wrote the Emmy-nominated “Twin Bed,” “Dongs All Over the World” put Kendrick’s musical talents to use. And really, any time SNL can rope Bryant and McKinnon in for a musical sketch (besides these two there have been “Back Home Baller” and “The Wishin’ Boot”), it’s inevitably the best part of a given episode. “Dongs All Over the World” was no exception.
Besides being a living tribute to vocal fry, the nasty girls of “Dongs All Over the World” delivered a clever little gender swap on sentiments like “Pimpin’ All Over the World.” What must the logistics of that be like! What kind of tight schedule must one have to keep? Exactly how many thongs to pack?
[You can watch “Dongs All Over the World” on Yahoo Screen and the SNL app.]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
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