Photo: SNL
The pandemic has prompted many of us to specialize our streaming viewing habits — despite the seemingly endless hours of alone time that have become available, some of us have found our ability to sit still and focus has evaporated. Pete Davidson captured this phenomenon in one of this week’s Saturday Night Live digital shorts. In the rap video “Short-Ass Movies,” he praised films with an efficient running time and rapped that he was “a simple man with no attention span.”
“Night after night there’s only one type of film I’m always on the lookout for and that’s a short film. A really short film, an hour 40 at most,” he said.
Referring to Netflix’s scrolling and winnowing, Davidson said, “Right before I click on it, I look under the line and that’s where I see the runtime.” In one example, he’s startled at Once Upon a Time in’s three-hour, 47-minute duration America Back (which is really awesome and a must see if you have the patience – although we get where Davidson is from). He also reveals that he saw The Batman in the cinema and “wet his pants” because it was “longer than The Hobbit”.
“You’re not going to get a yes on movie night if you show up with any double VHSs,” Davidson warned.
Chris Redd joins this week’s musical guest Gunna, who champions his favorite movies Liar Liar, Evil Dead, Punch-Drunk Love, Eraserhead – all of which hit the 90 minute mark.
Taking to Instagram this week, Simon Rex (star of the critically acclaimed Red Rocket) teased that he would be appearing in a filmed segment with Pete Davidson on this week’s SNL, and that was it. As his alter ego, Dirt Nasty, he promises he has “nine great things just waiting for you.” These are all 80’s Ernest movies created by Jim Varney. Rex’s eerie recreation of promo photos for the character is worth the watch alone.