TV

Maya Rudolph, Jim Carrey swat flies and Mike Pence's lies in SNL VP debate sketch

Saturday Night Live cold open poses a bonkers theory about the origins of Pence's fly.

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Published on October 11, 2020 12:17AM EDT

Good superheroes save the day, but only the greatest crusaders (like Wolverine, Wonder Woman, and more) get big-screen origin stories establishing their iconic legacies. While the show-stopping fly that landed on Mike Pence's head during Wednesday's Vice Presidential debate didn't exactly solve the global chaos of 2020, this week, Saturday Night Live's cold open posed a bonkers theory for the winged creature's humble beginnings that turned Pence into a viral mockery.

The sketch opened with Kate McKinnon portraying debate moderator Susan Page, who introduced Harris (Maya Rudolph) and Pence (Beck Bennet) before theorizing that "one thing is for sure: If anything is going to be trending on Twitter tonight, it'll be one of the humans involved in this debate."

Harris sets the stage by hilariously narrating her heavily-memed facial expressions in response to Pence's answers to Page's questions: "While he speaks, I'm going to stare at him like I'm in a TJ Maxx and a white lady asked me if I work here," Rudolph says, contorting her face with pursed lips, forced smiles, side-eye glances, and framing her head with vogue-ready hands. "I'm going to fix my face so that you have no idea what I'm thinking, but every Black woman at home knows exactly what I'm thinking, And a few of the white women... and all of the gays!"

Later, we cut to Joe Biden (Jim Carrey) watching the debate from home, and ultimately devising a plan to teleport himself to the stage to save Harris and "the soul of this nation." Recalling the plot of Jeff Goldblum's 1986 horror film The Fly, a tiny bug makes its way into the device as well, and transforms Biden into the fly that lands on Pence's head.

When Page asks Harris if she'd like to tell Pence about the mishap, she responds: "Oh no, I'm good. Lookin' real good, Mike! Keep it up!"

We then see that Biden's genes have fused with both the fly's body and Goldblum's personality: "God created dinosaurs, dinosaurs became Republican, Republicans created Trump, Trump destroys God!" he theorizes, channeling Goldblum's trademark line delivery from Jurassic Park.

The sketch ends with another fly landing next to Biden to convey a special message: "I'm Herman Cain reincarnated as a damn fly," Kenan Thompson says. "These fools, Trump and Pence, killed me, man! They invited me to a rally with no mask, said 'Everything is fine, Herman'.... the White House doctors checked me out and said 'Everything is fine Herman! Three days later, I'm gone! Don't trust this white devil about this 'rona!"

Back on the debate stage, Harris closes the moment by promptly smacking Pence on the head with a bright red swatter.

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