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Lady Gaga's surprisingly touching "Pip" song is a massive hit with fans

Leave it to Lady Gaga to record a song about an animated mouse for a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live,, and have it, arguably, be one of the best songs ever—at least according to her fans.

Gaga was both host and musical guest on the show this past week to great reviews. Vulture writer Ben Rosenstock wrote, Gaga's "easy charm and commitment make for one of the most animated episodes of season 50." Adding, "What comes across here, even more than Gaga's talent, is her sincerity—an idea tonal match for a series of pretty strange (complimentary) sketches."

In one such sketch (actually a short by Dan Bulla), Gaga stars as a high school student who urges a tiny mouse named Pip to enter a weightlifting contest. It begins with a teacher (played by James Austin Johnson) asking students to get their parents to vote yes on the referendum to get the roof fixed. He then reminds them about the school's weightlifting competition and urges everyone, no matter their gender or size, to participate.

saturday night live snl GIF by Lady GagaGiphy


But when a bully (played by Marcello Hernandez) says, "Yeah, except Pip," the camera pans over to an adorably sad mouse at a nearby desk. Everyone laughs—except Gaga, who sighs heavily.

But it gets even more delightfully absurd. It then segues into a music video wherein she sings Pip a song about how, if he sets his mind to it, he can achieve anything he wants in life. At one point, Pip walks on a moving globe, while Gaga sings, "The other kids may laugh at you, and treat you like a fool. But I believe you can win the weightlifting contest at our school."

As Pip looks up at her with soulful eyes, Gaga belts, "Pip, don't cry. All you have to do is try." This leads to a Rocky-inspired training montage, underscored by Gaga's very specific lyrics: "You've gotta start out small, Pip. With just a little bit of weight. Push yourself to the limit. That's how you get from good to great. Hit a heavy bag, that's just an old hotdog. Don't use steroids, because that would be wrong."

A chyron appears: "One week later," and Pip gives it his all. Check out the video for the rest, but disclaimer: The video contains some comical violence at the end and may not be suitable for children.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Immediately, people went online clamoring for more. On the r/LadyGaga subreddit page, an eager fan posted the thread, "Petition to make Pip the next non-single album."

Most of the comments under the official Saturday Night Live channel on YouTube agreed, with one exclaiming, "Now let's make that song number 1 on the Billboard 100." Another shared they were truly moved: "This is so funny and sweet at the same time; it brought a tear to my eye."

Another common theme among commenters? They can't get enough. "Pip needs a movie." Someone else joked, "So what's your favorite Lady Gaga song?" "It's... well, complicated."

One of the most upvoted comments sums up the communal reaction: "MOTHER GAGA serving us VOCALS."

Pedro Pascal and Bowen Yang can't keep a straight face as Ego Nwodim tries to cut her steak.

Most episodes of Saturday Night Live are scheduled so the funnier bits go first and the riskier, oddball sketches appear towards the end in case they have to be cut for time. But on the February 4, 2023 episode featuring host Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, The Last of Us), the final sketch, “Lisa from Temecula,” was probably the most memorable of the night.

That’s high praise because it was a strong episode with a funny “Last of Us” parody featuring the Super Mario Brothers and a sketch where Pascal played a protective mother.


In “Lisa from Temecula,” Paul, played by Pascal, takes a few friends out for dinner played by Punkie Johnson, newcomer Molly Kearney, and breakout star Bowen Yang. The trouble comes when Johnson’s sister Lisa, played by Ego Nwodim, orders her steak “extra, extra well done.”

The sketch is a play on the notion that it’s a faux pas to order well-done steak, especially in a fancy restaurant. However, Lisa doesn’t care and won’t tolerate “one speck of red” on her steak.

The sketch is one of the rare moments on SNL where things are so funny that the cast breaks character. Pascal has difficulty getting through his lines and Yang has to cover his face because he can’t stop laughing. But Nwodim only has one small break in the scene and keeps it together as the sketch’s comedy core.

Lisa from Temecula” got a lot of attention online, sparking articles, posts, and lots of praise. Shout out the sketch's writers Alex English, Gary Richardson, and Michael Che.


This article originally appeared last year.

Saturday Night Live/Youtube

We've all had these types of conversations with our dad, apparently.

While Saturday Night Live is normally meant to produce laughs, every so often a sketch comes along that unexpectedly tugs on the heartstrings. “Calling Dad” is one of those sketches.

The scene, as part of the November 9, 2024 episode featuring comedian Bill Burr, shows two grown men (Andrew Dismukes and Devon Walker) attempting to call their fathers (Burr and Kenan Thompson) and establish an emotional connection. Unfortunately, they struggle to talk about "anything real.”

Thompson’s dad character can’t seem to delve into anything deeper than surface level sports chat—primarily how the Philadelphia Eagles were doing—while Burr barely gets out two sentences before saying “Well, I’ll let you go.”

Dismukes decides to call his dad back for another attempt, which doesn’t prove much better as Burr is solely focused on whether or not his son has had the oil changed in his car.

As the scene progresses, however, both sports and cars become metaphors for something else weighing on the dads’ minds. Thompson wistfully shares how, even though the Eagles have “been around for a while,” he was “starting to feel like maybe the Eagles don't got much time left.”

On a much more blunt note, Burr admits the real reason behind his oil change concerns, saying “my car just wants to be closer to your car because my car’s car died around the age your car is now.”

When Dismukes tries to suss out whether his dad is trying to share something a little more vulnerable than auto maintenance, Burr insists they’re only talking about cars…just before suggesting that their “cars” go to Ireland together to see where “our cars’ family is from.”

And the pièce de résistance: when Dismukes says “I love you” to dad, he is met with “Well, I’ll let you go.”

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Though the scene did have some funny moments, it clearly struck a deeper emotional chord with viewers who have clearly had these exact same types of conversations with their own fathers.

“This made me CRY. And then laugh. And then cry,” one person commented. “Make those calls. You truly will not know when they’re gone.”

“The older you get the more you will understand how real this is. Made me cry~my dad exactly!” another added.

One viewer called it “oddly profound and sentimental,” adding, “Didn’t think SNL had this kind of father/son messaging up their sleeve.”

Quite a few were compelled to revisit memories of their own late dads.

“My dad died last year. He was from Boston and when I called him he ALWAYS said ‘what's going on, buddy?’ And now I'm in tears,” said one person.

Another wrote, “My dad always asked if I've checked the oil lately and always told me to drive safe when I left my parents' house. ‘I love you’ is said in many ways. <3”

And of course, many were inspired to call their own dads immediately, even if they knew the conversation would be about the same old trivial subjects. Because maybe they're not so trivial after all. Maybe in a world where men being affectionate is still a somewhat novel concept, we cherish being told “I love you” in whatever way they can manage. After all, we won’t hear those messages forever.

Nate Bargatze and Kenan Thompson star in SNL's follow-up to "Washington's Dream."

In 2023, “Saturday Night Live” struck gold with a historical sketch where, in 1776, then-General George Washington laid out his dream for the future of America after the Revolutionary War. The twist is that his dream is to promote a series of nonsensical American cultural quirks, such as the refusal to adopt the metric system and the arbitrary ways American English differs from the UK’s.

The sketch was a great send-up of the cultural differences that separate Americans from their cousins across the pond and stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze, as Washington, delivered them in a pitch-perfect deadpan.

The sketch was the second most popular from SNL season 49 and introduced the low-key stand-up comedian to a much wider audience. On October 5, 2024, Bargatze returned to host SNL and once again donned the powdered wig as Washington. This time, America’s first president addressed his troops, played again by Mikey Day, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang, about his dream for America from a boat crossing the Delaware.


In the second “Washington’s Dream” sketch, the general tells his soldiers that he hopes the new country will "do our own thing with the English language."

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"I dream that one day, our great nation will have a word for the number 12. We shall call it a dozen," Bargatze's Washington says.

"And what other numbers will we have a word for?" a soldier asks.

"None," Washington replies. "Only '12' shall have its own word because we are free men, and we will be free to spell some words two different ways." Which ones? "Doughnut, and the name 'Jeff'," he explains, noting that there’s "the short way with the J and the stupid way with the G."

Washington also plans to differentiate some living animals from those on our plates. "We will also have two names for animals: One when they're alive and a different one when they become food," Washington explains. "So cows will be 'beef.' Pigs will be 'pork.'"

"And chickens, sir?" Yang asks. "That one stays. Chickens are 'chicken'," says Washington. "And we will create our own foods, and name them what we want. Like the hamburger."

"Made of ham, sir?" Day asks. "If it only were that simple," Washington adds. "A hamburger is made of beef, just as a 'buffalo wing' is made of chicken." However, he assures his troops that a hot dog is not made from man’s best friend. "A real American would never want to know what's in a hot dog, just as they will never know why."


Just like the original “Washington’s Dream,” the sketch was co-written by cast member Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, with Mike DiCenzo.

The bit was initially conceived by SNL writer Seidell, who was surprised by how well the counterintuitive casting worked. “I forget who we originally wrote it for, but it was very much a dramatic actor who would play more of a serious Washington,” he told Indiewire. “You can see that version of it, but in hindsight Nate was the perfect person to do it because it had this charm that I don’t know that it would have with a real powerful George Washington. An Academy Award-winning actor might have taken it too seriously.”

Here is the original "Washington's Dream" sketch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

SNL will return on Saturday, October 12, featuring host Ariana Grande and a musical performance by Stevie Nicks.