Last Saturday, Donald Glover lit up the Saturday Night Live stage with a ratings-boosting performance that included the release of Childish Gambino’s powerful new music video, “This is America,” and a series of inspired comedy sketches. One of those, the Minos-Inspired “Friendos,” has a funny behind-the-scenes story, which skit director Paul Briganti, writers Will Stephen and Gary Richardson, and cast member Chris Redd revealed in a new clip, which you can watch above.
Stephen said the team had been thinking of doing a parody of the Migos “style” ever since he and Redd wrote the similar “Come Back Barack” with Chance the Rapper and Kenan Thompson. Redd thought the idea to talk about therapy in a culture that doesn’t usually talk about therapy would be dope. Still, the whole thing only truly came together when they found out Donald Glover would be coming on the show.
They rehearsed the skit with SNL’s music director, Eli Brueggemann, who also made the beat, but Glover picked it up quickly because he’s “such a pro,” according to Stephen. That’s a good thing, especially considering how late the whole thing came together: the therapy section of the skit was shot separately from the rest of the skit on Thursday night. Plus, no one on set understood how that would fit into the larger skit, which was fun for the cast involved.
“The lambo was insane, it just smelled like money,” Redd said, reminiscing on the stage prop in the music video portion of the skit.
A lot of thought when into “deciding when to [cut] to Kenan in the therapy office,” and what would be the funniest angles and moments for his ad-libs, according to Briganti.
Redd also revealed that ASAP Rocky’s surprise cameo happened quickly during the rewriting process. “We were all really excited when we got him, he’s the coolest dude, just loves art,” Redd said. “Easily the most charming person I’ve ever seen in my life,” Richardson added, with literally zero irony.
Another excellent sketch from Glover’s SNL appearance last week is the A Quiet Place spoof “A Kanye Place.” The producer and writers of that skit also explained how that one came together earlier this week.
