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Hilarious ‘SNL’ sketch was set in Detroit during the 1950s

According to “SNL,” “Hey, Soul Sister” was actually written in Detroit!

Andrew Dismukes and Ego Nwodim on "Saturday Night Live." (SNL.)

Michael Keaton hosted this past episode of “Saturday Night Live” that aired over the weekend, and if you paid close attention you may have noticed that a sketch took place in Detroit during the 1950s.

The sketch is called “Forbidden Romance,” but people online are calling it the “Hey, Soul Sister” sketch.

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Cast members Andrew Dismukes and Ego Nwodim play an interracial couple telling their families that they are in love and don’t care what 1950s society thinks about them, despite how scandalous something like this was back then. Like any “SNL” sketch, things start to get off the rails once Dismukes says that he wrote a song for the love of his life.

Not to spoil it too much, but Dismukes busts into a beyond cringy rendition of the hit song “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train, which was pretty much all over the radio back in 2009.

The joke may seem that “Hey, Soul Sister” is a modern song and the sketch takes place during the 1950s, but what really is happening here is you are realizing (just like Nwodim and Kenan Thompson’s characters) that “Hey, Soul Sister” may just be the cringiest song ever written, especially when sung by an overly enthusiastic white guy. It’s actually wild to think that the lyrics “So gangster, I’m so thug” is an real lyric in the song.

Could this sketch had been set in any major US city? Sure, but I don’t know, there is something that makes this sketch even funnier knowing that is was set in Detroit. What do you think?

You can watch this very fun sketch from “SNL” above.


About the Author
Jack Roskopp headshot

Jack is a Digital Content Editor with a degree in creative writing and French from Western Michigan University. He specializes in writing about movies, food and the latest TV shows.

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