Science has benefitted immeasurably from bold risk-takers that have thought outside the box to unlock new discoveries. Apparently, horned-up aquatic mammals occasionally reap the benefits too.
In the delightfully disgusting SNL faux-doc “The Dolphin Who Learned To Speak,” Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon play researchers reflecting back on the work they did to encourage a dolphin to communicate. Their brilliant method? Uh… It’s, um, it’s not something you can show on TV unless we’re talking Ecco After Dark.
“When a dolphin reaches sexual maturity there’s no stopping them,” recalls McKinnon’s researcher. “And then one day I was in the water with Gerald when he got the glassy look in his eye that meant he was having ‘an urge’ so to speak.”
The two found a solution to this problem and we’ll let the sketch do the explaining. Let it be known that Gerald is not above leaning into said solution. Speaking of which, host Tiffany Haddish‘s colleague character wrote down her thoughts on Bryant and McKinnon’s ethically questionable methods.
“We knew what they were doing in there. I wrote about it in my field notes,” shares Haddish. “April 25, 1965. NO NO NO! THAT’S NASTY!”
“The Dolphin Who Learned To Speak” mixes some yuck with the yuks, but it’s paired with all these nice little touches and turns that escalate this mock-doc into an instant season 43 highlight. Good luck thinking of a dolphin’s squeal in the next five years and not think of Gerald.
