This morning, Kate McKinnon and the ‘SNL‘ cast (Kyle Mooney, Alex Moffat, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, Pete Davidson, Chris Redd) played a ‘Family Feud‘ sketch for the audience at the 2019 NBC Upfront. Kate was impersonating Mika Brzezinski. Check out photos from the event in our gallery!
The pitch came from NBCUniversal, which began its not-quite-two-hour upfront presentation with a focus on the reach that the portfolio offers from longtime sales chief Linda Yaccarino. But after heavy messaging about NBCU’s powerful “content, data and distribution” — among the stats: last year alone, the company invested $24 billion to produce and acquire content — the cast of Saturday Night Live was trotted out to remind those gathered at Radio City that NBCU is in the entertainment business.
In an upfront-themed installment of Family Feud, NBC News, featuring Morning Joe hosts Joe and Mika and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, was pitted against NBC Entertainment, led by Sterling K. Brown, Jennifer Lopez and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek, all played by SNL talent. Chris Redd scored the most laughs as This Is Us Emmy winner Brown, who instilled his answers with over-the-top earnestness and heavy emotion; though Pete Davidson as a “creepy,” affect-free Malek and Kate McKinnon, as an overtly sexual Brzezinski, were a close second — at least in the nosebleeds.
Whoever wrote the bit was also eager for Kenan Thompson, playing Steve Harvey as he has so many times before, to mock the comedian’s persona non grata status at NBC. (His NBCU-distributed talk show was officially canceled last week, days before the broadcast net announced a new version of Little Big Shots would see Melissa McCarthy grabbing his hosting gig.)
“It turns out I’ve got a medical condition that prevents me from saying no,” said Thompson, as Harvey. “I’ve got to wrap this up because I’ve got an Uber pool in 20 minutes.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
