Watch enough sketch comedy and you might find yourself thinking about what the first germ of an idea was that set the whole thing in motion. Sometimes, it’s pretty clear – the Saturday Night Live sketch “Papyrus” drew its inspiration from the font used for Avatar, for instance. Watching last night’s “Hello Kitty” sketch, it’s nowhere near as clear — this is a sketch that goes to some thoroughly unexpected places over the course of four and a half minutes.
If I was to venture a guess, though, I’d bet that the sketch has its origins in the fact that Hello Kitty is, according to Sanrio, not actually a cat. In the sketch, that declaration causes two newly-hired employees at a Hello Kitty store — played by Bowen Yang and guest host Keke Palmer — to take a stand in response to it.
The sketch takes a couple of bizarre turns, and features what I’m pretty sure is an homage to a certain Sam Raimi-directed film. (No, not A Simple Plan.)
Perhaps the highlight of the sketch, though, comes when one of the other Hello Kitty store employees, played by Sarah Sherman, says, “I don’t care about this job — it just seems like an insane place to get high.” This one covers a lot of ground, and it’s all the better for it.
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