As The AP Party’s Jeremy Klumpp noted in his Saturday Night Live recaps during this past season, the show posted several “Cut For Time” sketches online that weren’t part of the live broadcast. Yet some of these skits turned out to be funnier than what made it to air, making their omission curious.
What SNL did figure out, however, is that posting those clips online was a way of providing new content throughout the week and creating viral material beyond what was shared from the regular broadcast. Apparently, producers have also come to realize that “Cut For Time” sketches also allow the show to release new material during the summer hiatus and stay in the cultural discussion.
On Tuesday, SNL released a “Cut For Time” sketch from the 2014-15 season premiere, hosted by Chris Pratt. Why exactly did Lorne Michaels and company decide that we didn’t need to see a skit with Pratt imitating Jason Statham? Well, at least we get to see it now.
OK, maybe this isn’t a great sketch. The laughs are muted, the dialogue is pat, and Pratt is in major danger of flubbing phrases like “Jason Statham’s Jason Steakums.” And that bald wig doesn’t look too good. On the other hand, Pratt is a major star even bigger — after Jurassic World‘s success. And Statham had two movies coming out in Furious 7 and Spy. This was pretty timely material.
And by cutting the skit, our culture was deprived of Pratt’s solid impersonation of Statham’s accent and demeanor. Thankfully, we get to watch it now. Maybe we’ll get to see the character again when Pratt inevitably returns to host SNL. For that matter, why not invite Statham to host? We know he can do comedy after his performance in Spy.
