Everyone knows that you don’t talk about politics or religion at the dinner table.
Last night’s SNL sketch hilariously demonstrated why the #MeToo movement can be added to that list. The scene opens with three couples sitting around the dinner table at a restaurant, and the conversation begins innocently enough.
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“No, I’m telling you, this dog eats anything,” said one man, (played by Will Ferrell).
“He ate steel wool,” laughs his wife (Kate McKinnon).
After chuckling about how the dog pooped silver for three days, another woman sitting at the table (Heidi Garner) thought to steer the conversation in – ahem – a different direction.
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“Did any of you read that op-ed piece about…,” she didn’t even finish her question before her husband (Beck Bennett) cut her off, “Honey, don’t.”
“The one about Aziz Ansari?” she continues, and soon regrets that decision.
The mere mention of his name is almost too much for this group. It’s clear by the looks on their faces that a very awkward dinner conversation is about to ensue.
“I’m sorry, we can talk about something else, I was just curious about what everyone thought,” Garner relents.
However, the character played by Ferrell adds that maybe it’s a good idea to discuss it
“No, no no of course. We can talk about it. I think we should.”
A third man at the table, played by Keenan Thompson, chimes in to agree with his comrade, “I think we should.”
Ferrell’s wife, begrudgingly agrees to go go first.
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” her husband asks. However, she is incorrigible.
“Yes, yes. I will speak on the topic of Aziz Ansari. I think…”
“Careful,” her husband warns.”
“I think that some women…”
“Careful,” another one of the friends warns.
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“Rather some men have a proclivity…”
“Careful,” yet another one of her friends warns.
She finally relents and passes the torch to the member of the group played by Thompson, who attempts to broach the discussion with little success.
“While I applaud the movement…”
“Watch it,” the woman who originally brought up the article warns.
“Noted. I wonder if maybe we’re setting it back…?” He gives up before looking to the sixth friend at the table for relief.
She (Aidy Bryant) takes it from there, and while she gets further than the others, she can’t quite seem to drive her point home.
“I feel that powerful men almost always always abuse…NOPE!” she begins before realizing that she simply can’t continue.
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Beckett is determined to have this conversation however, which takes the discomfort to a whole new level.
“The thing that I keep going back to is, it seems like, if she wanted to leave….” he says as his friends begin to object. “She could have just…” he pushes on as the objections grow louder. “Left.”
At that moment, the tension is too much for the three couples. Ferrell throws his head down into his pasta, Thompson’s character stabs his hand with a knife, and Gardner casts a spell and disappears for the sake of getting out of there.
Ferrell begs and pleads to return to a happier time when they were discussing the silver-pooping dog. However, his wife knows that while uncomfortable, some conversations need to be had.
“Honey the time for talking about the dog is over, we are in a post babe.net universe now and we have to finish what we started.”
The rest of the sketch comprises several additional failed attempts to productively talk about the #MeToo movement and the allegations against Aziz Ansari, until the group comes to their senses and suggests a less controversial topic of conversation.
McKinnon begins, “Shape of water had problems right…” and is met with a flurry of moans and groans as the scene fades to black.