This week’s SNL did not hold back on the biggest issue in America right now: the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, which would see free and legal abortion outlawed in almost half the country. They hit at it with their Cold Open. They tackled it during Weekend Update. But one sketch took on the lighter side of things, addressing a big, welcome distraction from the horrors of right now: that new Marvel movie that’s making a ton of money.
The same weekend that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was Hoovering up cash money, the film’s star, Benedict Cumberbatch, just happened to be hosting SNL. He made a brief but key appearance in one of the pre-taped segments, which focused on repertory player Chloe Fineman. Called “The Understudy,” the sketch followed her around on her main duties on the show: shadowing main cast members, learning their lines, and even doing spot-on impersonations should any of them get sick.
Fineman mimicked people like Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Aidy Bryant. But at one point she played a trick on Cumberbatch, appearing in his dressing room dressed up as the Scarlet Witch, the surprise villain of the new Doctor Strange, played by Elizabeth Olsen. Cumberbatch buys it, thinking it’s really Olsen. But then the real Olsen shows up. When both actresses claim to be the actual Elizabeth Olsen, Cumberbatch comes to a chilling conclusion: “Oh my god. The multiverse is real.”
You can watch the sketch in the video above.
