Kyle Mooney has become the king of the cut-for-time sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Every week, the show prepares pieces for dress rehearsal that don’t necessarily make it to the live broadcast, often because of unpredictable factors that make certain sketches or musical performances go long. Recently, SNL has begun releasing these cut-for-time sketches on YouTube, and—aside from one that revolved around Donald Trump’s hair—nearly every single clip has had Mooney at the helm.
Now, with the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler-led Christmas episode in the rearview and an Adam Driver-hosted hour on the horizon for 2016, SNL has released yet another cut for time sketch that was apparently intended to air back in October during the 41st season premiere that featured Miley Cyrus as host and musical guest.
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That week, Mooney braved the rain with hundreds of Justin Bieber fans who were waiting upwards of “four hours now”—as he painfully makes one “Belieber” say into his mic over and over again—to see the singer perform live on the Today show.
As he perfected in his pre-SNL sketch group Good Neighbor with fellow cast member Beck Bennett, Mooney shoots for maximum discomfort as he approaches fans to deliver lines like, “He can sing, he can dance and I don’t think he’s that bad to look at either.” He even scores an interview with a Bieber impersonator who’s not quite as convincing as Kate McKinnon.
With limited time on the actual SNL broadcast, Mooney is probably more famous at this point for his quirky videos that appear on YouTube on a near-weekly basis. Of the 23 cut-for-time sketches on SNL’s channel, Mooney stars in about a third of them, including a recent Family Matters parody with Ryan Gosling that has been viewed more than 500,000 times.
Mooney even has a recurring character in the format: sad-sack stand-up comic Bruce Chandling, who can be seen having awkward interactions with both Louis C.K. and Kevin Hart.
Maybe sometime soon, SNL will try cutting someone else’s sketches and leaving Mooney’s in. Who knows? It might actually make for a funnier show.
