Jonah Hill’s latest hosting appearance on SNL isn’t garnering a ton of positive reviews, but there were a few decent bright spots. One of them should definitely be The Champ, a sketch that starts out normal enough and soon descends into some form of dark comedy that SNL should attempt more often. The whole premise is simple enough, Jonah Hill is a school underdog who upsets the undefeated wrestling champ at the rival school, earning the adoration of his schoolmates and the respect of his family.
Or so he thinks. Things take a sharp right from there and continue to pile on. There’s no real emotional impact for the audience against Hill’s character, mostly because the sketch is just cracking the shell of the sort of inspirational, soft sports stories we get to see invade the theater time and time again. Then dumps it all into a sack and beats it against the ground, creating some sort of weird mash of ridiculous comedy.
It might not be for everybody, especially the mainstream group that likely tunes into SNL after their local news. But it is a sketch that I would gladly take ten times over another Californians or Target Lady. Just give us more of this or finally bring back What’s Up With That. I can live with that too.
