Imagine if Janet Snakehole fromParks and Recreationtook overAubrey Plaza’s body. Well, that’s basically what happened onSaturday Night Live. Plaza was hosting with musical guestSam Smithand while she knocked every single sketch out of the park, it was intriguing to see a character described as a “black widow” appear in the film noir sketch and not have it just be Janet Snakehole fromParks and Recreationback in the flesh. The sketch came at the end of the night and it was one of the funnier sketches of the episode.
In the sketch, Plaza’s Black Widow is a woman who just likes an older man leading to five dead husbands. Jack Raughley (JamesAustin Johnson) is trying to figure out how this case works when Plaza comes in and she tries to convince him of her innocence, revealing how all her husbands die of natural causes because she marries old men. In the process, she starts to hit on Rally until her mother, played bySharon Stone, comes in.
Stone was onSNLas part of Smith’s performance of the song “Gloria” and while many were confused as to why, it is because Stone appeared in the 1999 filmGloria,a remake of John Cassavetes' 1980 film of the same name. We also were gifted with Plaza recreatingStone’s iconicBasic Instinctlook for one of her promo pictures. What’s more, this was the perfect sketch to include Stone who is a noir icon in her own right.
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The sketch makes fun of how film noirs work, our obsession with them, and was also just a hilarious gift to fans of Plaza who know her work and would appreciate the Janet Snakehole-esque performance. For those who don’t know, Plaza’s character April Ludgate onParks and Recreationwould often dress up as Janet Snakehole, a woman who seemed to have a love affair with Burt Macklin. In reality, it was April and Andy (Chris Pratt) essentially just role playing. In this sketch, she often falls into the same cadence as Janet Snakehole which was nice to see.
The sketch also revealed Stone and Plaza as a dynamic duo and honestly, we’re not opposed to an entire femme fatale movie franchise with the two as a mother and daughter duo. The sketch also made Stone’s inclusion in the Smith performance even more laudable. Perhaps it’s time to get Plaza in a film noir.
