When Andy Samberg first returned to Saturday Night Live in the season 50 premiere to play second gentleman Doug Emhoff, fans didn’t realize he’d be bringing his comedy rap group The Lonely Island back with him.
For their first digital short on SNL since “Natalie’s Rap 2” in 2018, The Lonely Island returned with a premise even more profane: Samberg and Akiva Schaffer play two entrepreneurs pitching their exciting new business idea: what if there were glory holes, but for sushi?
“Hear us out, you got nothing to fear. Sushi Glory Hole is a good idea,” Samberg and Schaffer rap. “So hear us out while we tell you what the concept’s all about: It’s sushi being fed through a hole in the wall… Where you going?”
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The short’s reminiscent of The Lonely Island’s iconic “D--k in a Box” short with Justin Timberlake in 2006, where the two main characters confidently sell a simple, gross idea as if it’s smart and sophisticated.
“You run to a club, hit the bathroom stall, find a sushi-sized hole in the bathroom wall,” Samberg raps, “Then make a wish, and prepare for some shockingly high-grade fish.”
Although the businessmen they’re pitching to (played by Bowen Yang, Maya Rudolph, and Kenan Thompson) are disgusted by the concept and try to leave the room, Samberg and Schaffer corner them and keep explaining all the ways a sushi glory hole can come in handy.
Cue a gag-inducing montage of SNL cast members eating anonymous sushi out of various bathroom stalls throughout Manhattan.
The sketch confirms that Andy Samberg has not lost his penchant for juvenile material delivered with the charm and confidence of a seasoned performer. There’s a moment where he elicits cheers and laughter from the audience purely from how hard and fast he’s dropping his bars.
“Sushi Glory Hole” also serves as a promising hint of what may be to come from the show’s historic fiftieth season. If The Lonely Island can show up out of nowhere like this in just the second episode, there’s no telling what other sorts of crowd-pleasing throwbacks the show might offer in the weeks ahead.
