Alex Hutchins
Opinions Editor
@aHutchCourant
Before joining the list of featured players on the famed live late night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live in late 2013 and HBO’s Hello Ladies, the 30-year-old comedian Kyle Mooney was a member of comedy sketch group Good Neighbor along with fellow featured player Beck Bennett and newly added SNL writer Nick Rutherford. While his fame on the small screen may be relatively new, Mooney and the rest of Good Neighbor have gained a widespread following on their youtube channel GoodNeighborStuff as well as their respective satellite channels(kyle, nick, beckbennett).
While each member of Good Neighbor is hilarious in their own right, Kyle Mooney has a certain je ne sais quoi about him that elevates his comedy beyond the point of a simple gag. Rather than relying on the strength of a punch line, Kyle is somehow able to add a level of realism that transforms each of his characters into a multidimensional entity.
Take for example Kyle’s characterization of a guy who posts a YouTube video of his different voice impressions(video here). While an impersonation alone of this genre of YouTube video would be funny on its own, Kyle goes one step further by incorporating the narrative that this same guy who posts a light-hearted video has a darker, more serious side of domestic issues. The juxtaposition of this seriousness with something as ridiculous as doing a faux British accent saying, “Oh, I know, we’ll go and have a pahty” makes this particular sketch stretch beyond punchline comedy.
Now on Saturday Night Live, Mooney’s comedy has translated from the YouTube screen to the stage. However, where Mooney’s sense of humor really shines is in the SNL Digital Shorts made famous by the likes of Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island trio with videos like Lazy Sunday and I’m on a Boat. One of the many highlights from these gems is the short titled, Flirty. Based on the premise of an awkward set of interactions between neighbors in an apartment building, the clip epitomizes the definition of comedy through awkward situation; a phenomenon that is present in many of Kyle Mooney’s sketches.
With so much work on his résumé, you might wonder why it has taken so long for Mooney to make it to the famed SNL stage. Even so, he is still only a featured player, whose future on the show still weighs in the balance. In my opinion, anyone who can bring a fresh breath of air to an increasingly dry show deserves to be kept on long into the future.
Here’s Kyle Mooney as mediocre comedian “Bruce Chandling” in a recent SNL sketch that was cut for time:
