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SNL Second-Guessing: Why "Scooby-Doo" Edges Out "Beavis and Butt-Head"

In this week's SNL Second-Guessing, we look at why "Scooby-Doo" might just edge out "Beavis and Butt-Head" as the top Season 49 sketch...

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If it's Saturday night and NBC's long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series is still running repeats from Season 49, then that means it's time for another round of "SNL Second-Guessing," where we look back at an episode from the most recent season (based on the show being repeated during the summer off-season) and spotlight a sketch or a situation that deserved a bit more attention. Sometimes, it's for good reasons – like when we kicked things off by looking at the "Moulin Rouge" sketch from March 9th's Josh Brolin-hosted and Ariana Grande-performing show. Following that, we looked at the "Please Don't Destroy – We Got Too High (ft. Travis Scott)" sketch from March 30th's Ramy Youssef-hosted and Travis Scott-performing show. Last week, we looked back at May 11th's show with host Maya Rudolph and musical guest Vampire Weekend to make sure that the "Teacher PSA" sketch got the high marks that it deserved. Other times, it could be for not-so-good reasons, as was the case with the "CNN Town Hall South Carolina" Cold Open from February 3rd's Ayo Edebiri-hosted and Jennifer Lopez-performing show – when then-GOP POTUS candidate Nikki Haley played SNL hard.

SNL
SNL (Image: SNL Screencaps)

For this go-around, it's the Jake Gyllenhaal-hosted, Sabrina Carpenter-performing season finale – and we're going to throw down a hot take. As great as the Ryan Gosling, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, and Kenan Thompson-starring "Beavis and Butt-Head" sketch was, we might have to give the edge to "Scooby-Doo." During the filmed sketch, Gyllenhaal's Fred, Carpenter's Daphne, Day's Shaggy, Sarah Sherman's Velma, and an animated Scooby-Doo (voiced by Andrew Dismukes) take down yet another big bad who would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids. Of course, it's not "The Shadow Phantom" doing all the bad stuff – as the expected unmasking shows. In fact, we even see how he was able to pull it off – with Shaggy demonstrating how the bookcase swung open to a secret pathway and Velma pointing out the system of pulleys and wires he used to get around. And yet, Fred can't help feeling like there might just be one more shocking reveal still to come…

It would be very safe to say that there wasn't. What follows is a sequence of events that evoke Hostel and Final Destination, as Shaggy, Velma, and Thompson's police officer pay the price for a really bad situation that got really out of hand. And then things got even darker, with Fred making it crystal clear that there won't be any eyewitnesses – and he needs to know (at gunpoint) if Daphne's on the same page as him. Since we have the sketch waiting for you above (as well as "Beavis and Butt-Head"), we won't spoil it for you – but let's just say that Scooby decides to offer an "answer" on Daphne's behalf.

So why do we give "Scooby-Doo" the edge over "Beavis and Butt-Head"? It depends on how you compare them. From an overall laughter standpoint, the latter would clearly take the crown – mainstream media was still reporting on the sketch over a week after it first aired. But one of the main reasons why the sketch got so much attention is also the reason why "Scooby-Doo" gets the edge if we compare the two based on just the sketches themselves. Because as great as "Beavis and Butt-Head" was, a large chunk of its impact had to do with the cast breaking – and breaking hard – leaving me wondering how the sketch would've been without the unexpected extras. While the general concept behind "Scooby-Doo" has been tackled before, the sketch was only going to succeed based on the merits of the sketch itself – and the Sherman & Day-written effort scored big in that regard. Let us know what you think in the comments section below…

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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