Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The internet has praised a recent Saturday Night Live sketch that mocked several TikTok influencers, applauding the show for perfectly capturing content creators on the app.
On October 19, NBC’s famed late-night series welcomed host Michael Keaton and musical guest Billie Eilish. During the show, cast members Kenan Thompson, Ashley Padilla, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Bowen Yang, and Chloe Fineman posed as a handful of well known social media influencers, poking fun at their short-form videos in a sketch titled, “TikTok.”
Padilla kicked things off by posing as a fitness influencer, encouraging her followers to purchase workout equipment. In the skit, the exercise influencer popped up on the TikTok “For You Page” of an unknown user’s phone. Next, Thompson appeared as popular TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee, in which he taste tested a sandwich coated in fruity pebbles while sitting in his car, as Lee typically does.
Thompson took a bite of a “Hennessy habanero Fruity Pebbles chicken sandwich” from “Lisa’s Soul Food in Atlanta,” and confirmed it was “nasty.”
Amid TikTok’s recent obsession with “tradwives” – women who believe in traditional gender roles and practices – Gardner appeared as a pregnant wife cooking in the kitchen. Her calm voice and demure dress seemingly referenced Nara Smith, a 23-year-old creator with more than 10 million followers, who makes everything from bubblegum to deodorant from scratch.
“Today my husband asked for beef tacos and I didn’t want to let him down, so I slaughtered our cow and picked the corn myself,” Gardner joked.
Then, Walker appeared as “Dr Omar” – a character modeled after Dr Umar Johnson, a psychologist on TikTok. Walker admitted he and the fitness influencer, played by Padilla, were in a relationship.
Fineman also popped up in the sketch, saying: “What’s up Daddy gang, it’s your founding father.” The comedian – dressed in a sweatshirt that read “Unwell” – seemingly posed as Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper, who typically introduces her weekly interviews while wearing a branded sweatsuit and sitting on a couch in front of a bookcase.
Cooper recently founded Unwell, a media company that produces several podcasts by social media personalities, such as Alix Earle and Harry Jowsey.
Yang then appeared in the skit as beloved TikTok creator Harry Daniels, who’s gained popularity on the app for surprise serenading celebrities. In the sketch, Yang sang to Maya Rudolph, dressed as Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson.
At another point, Yang serenaded real-life Billie Eilish, who shooed him away as some A-listers have done to Daniels. “Here’s 10 grand, please stop following me,” she told Yang.
Daniels later responded to Yang’s impression, commenting under SNL’s TikTok account: “Truly an honor.”
On social media, fans fawned over the sketch that imitated their favorite TikTokers.
“No, but SNL really summed up the entirety of TikTok in less than three minutes,” one user wrote on X/Twitter.
Another viewer agreed: “SNL made a spot-on parody of TikTok last night.”
“SNL mocks Tiktok in a sketch, this is perfect,” a third person commented, while another fan noted: “This s*** is hilarious.”
“One of the most accurate skits I’ve seen in years,” someone else chimed in.
