This weekend, Ramy Youssef became the first Egyptian named Ramy from New Jersey to ever host Saturday Night Live, and one of the night’s highlight sketches took aim at a beloved cultural mainstay: NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts.
The sketch featured Youssef as the leader of a band that gets to “quirk it up” on Tiny Desk, even having their cellist (Chloe Troast) playing a milk carton as a shaker for the occasion. As they begin performing, though, they are interrupted by Bowen Yang (playing a 35-year-old intern who attends “SUNY Newark”), who asks them to “keep the ruckus down” because “some of us are working.”
The band, confused that their booking to play Bob Boilen’s iconic desk at the NPR office has gone awry, tries to continue, but is again interrupted by Yang’s character (who is on an “important Zoom” with “Glass and Gross” in the other room). When other employees try to protest the interruption, saying that Tiny Desk is NPR’s “biggest thing,” Yang bites back with: “I’m brave enough to say it, that desk is not tiny.”
Continuing, Yang’s character says, “It just feels small because there’s so much crap on it,” before adding that the Tiny Desk performance “could’ve been an email.” At that point, Youssef’s character breaks down, and laments that the band is always interrupted, which finally wins Yang’s sympathies. An impromptu podcast about interruption begins — in the classic NPR style of course — and the band ultimately finishes their performance by penning a theme song for the program. Watch the sketch below.
Beyond Youssef’s hosting, last night’s Saturday Night Live featured a musical performance by Travis Scott. Next week, SNL alum Kristen Wiig will host the program, with musical guest Raye.