The 43rd and 44th seasons of Saturday Night Live came crashing into one another this weekend when returning guest host Chance the Rapper squared off with former host Jason Momoa in the “Judge Barry” sketch. What made the pair’s brief moment toward the end of the sketch so good, though, was its surprise, as no one in the audience knew that the Aquaman star would be stopping by for a brief cameo.
As cast member Beck Bennett’s narration explained, “Judge Barry” operates much like your standard daytime television courtroom show, but with a slight catch: “He takes no mess, he takes no nonsense, and he takes no more than 10 seconds to reach a verdict.” Sure enough, nearly all of the characters who are paraded through Barry’s (Chance the Rapper) court don’t last too long before a decision is made.
“Guilty, he’s guilty!” he exclaims at a creepy ventriloquist played by Kyle Mooney. “But I’m the plaintiff!” the latter responds. Barry’s rebuttal? “Plaintiff, defendant, I don’t care. I just know that you’re guilty.”
Enter Gladys Feldman (Kate McKinnon), an elderly woman who is suing her former live-in nurse, Apollo Benz (Momoa). The former’s entry onto the stage is enough to elicit a few well-deserved cheers from the Studio 8H audience, but as soon as Momoa — complete with a leopard-print coat, a slight hairdo, and nipple rings — enter the pictures, everyone loses it. Including Chance, who has to cover his mouth with his hand to avoid breaking character entirely. Of course, Momoa struggles just as much — especially when he misreads “paralegal” and “paraplegic.”
