A Sexy ‘SNL’ Ad For Zillow Certainly Got People On Social Media Talking

Fake advertisements are a Saturday Night Live mainstay, but the latest edition highlighted a very personal kink during the pandemic age: searching for homes you’ll never buy. The sketch from the Dan Levy-hosted episode got a lot of attention on social media thanks to SNL taking the rare step to post it on Twitter before the episode even ended.

The sketch is framed as a commercial for a kinky product, kind of in the style of those weird phone sex hotline ads you see during reruns of Seinfeld or something late at night.

“You used to want sex, but you’re in your late 30s now,” Bowen Yang says, as others seductively say they want something more “exciting” and “new.”

That’s when the big reveal comes: Zillow is the new sex, at least for millennials who like to fantasize about living a different kind of life without ever actually having any intention of purchasing a home.

“I’d never live in North Carolina,” Levy says. “But if I did I could buy a big, gross mansion.”

The sketch plays much better on screen than it does in print, so you should see it for yourself to catch all the references and jokes here. But it’s certainly a familiar feeling for some in the age range of the SNL cast. And people on Twitter certainly identified with the sketch concept.

Even the CEO of Zillow thinks they’re on to something.

Just don’t ever hit “contact an agent” unless you want that high harshed in a hurry by the realities of actually buying a home.