Often the only restaurant in town that’s open all night, Waffle House has long been a hub for general late-night anarchy. So what better place for a moving, dramatic scene Saturday Night Live–style?
Marcello Hernandez and guest host Jenna Ortega get to show off their great acting chops in the sketch above as Zack and Casey, delivering an entire goodbye scene in the style of Friday Night Lights as the two high school sweethearts head off to different colleges. But who cares what’s happening in the foreground? The action’s all in the Waffle House behind them.
Heidi Gardner and Molly Kearney are a waitress and belligerent patron, respectively, who get into it because “these waffles are too small!” The screaming match swiftly escalates with a WWE-style suplex. Mikey Day jumps in playing a shirtless guy with nipple rings, cornrows and a Dukes of Hazzard back tattoo who brings his huge dog in to sit on the counter. Ego Nwodim is a woman who takes offense at the “no dogs on counter” rule, so she climbs up and starts dancing. Punkie Johnson arrives as a woman in a wheelchair. We have no idea what happens to her, but her empty wheelchair is seen rolling off immediately thereafter.
A cop (Andrew Dismukes) enters. In case you’re wondering, a “724” isn’t a real police code – unless it’s a new addition created especially for Waffle House brawls? He tries to tase the shirtless guy while a child grabs his gun and runs off firing rounds into the ceiling. Kenan Thompson is an old man welding a toilet paper torch. (?!) The whole affair degenerates into something like Lord of the Flies — or maybe the diner episode of Netflix’s The Sandman (with a little less blood). It’s all pure nonsense, which is probably what the show could use a little more of these days.
Watch the skit above, and grade this weekend’s SNL.