Before he was seduced by the Dark Side as the intense Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver was best known as Hannah’s intense boyfriend on Girls. He has stretched his comedy muscles before, albeit in his typical melodramatic fashion...He co-starred with Daniel Radcliffe in the romantic comedy What If and alongside SNL veteran Tina Fey in This Is Where I Leave You.
But how did the classically trained emo master handle the cut-and-run comedy when he hit the SNL stage for the first time? Did the 30-minute delay from the football game throw him off his game? Here are three of the highlights from Driver's turn on Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Chris Stapleton:
1. Undercover Ren: This video spoof of Undercover Boss has Driver put on his Kylo Ren mask, but only after he goes undercover on the Starkiller Base. Disguised as Matt, a radar technician, Kylo Ren spends a day with his underlings on the First Order’s mega-weapon. Driver, wearing an orange jumpsuit, eats in the cafeteria, interacts with his coworkers, and gets reprimanded by his boss. In typical Undercover Boss fashion, there's a down-and-out worker helped by the bossman. In this case, it's an officer who lost his son. Kylo Ren’s Matt is touched, “Especially since I’m the one who killed him.” Unfortunately, Matt outs himself when he uses the Force to slam a coworker against a soda machine.
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2. Aladdin: Cecily Strong is Jasmine to Adam Driver’s Aladdin, soaring through the air on a magic carpet ride. Things start out just fine, with the two singing "A Whole New World." But the vibe goes south for Jasmine real fast. First, a bird smacks her in the face. Then, she’s hit by a stray bomb. “We must be over Syria!” says Aladdin. Driver never breaks character, though there is a goofy smile on his face, even as an airplane dumps its toilet on their magic carpet. Driver and Strong do a great duet — almost theme-park worthy. The sketch loses some of its steam as the magic carpet goes into free fall and has to make an emergency landing, but neither actor gives up on it, smiling all the way to the end.
3. Go To Bed!: Ever wonder what is going on at home when awards winners tell their children to “Go to bed!” in their acceptance speeches? Driver and Vanessa Bayer play Golden Globe winners who do just that in this video short. After the speech, we cut to the kids at home, played by Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney. The kids are left alone for the night and are sad, scared, and lonely. A frightened McKinnon asks, “Do you think mommy and daddy are thinking of us right now?” Mooney answers, “I know they are.” But we see Driver and Bayer partying hard. Night turns into day and the kids wake up to see their parents passed out on the couch. “I told you they’d come home,” the little boy says. The best bit of this short didn’t involve Driver, but a cameo from a shirtless Liev Schreiber making breakfast. He tells the kids that he and their parents had a “good, cool time.”
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In a heartfelt moment, Fred Armisen made a special appearance to pay tribute to David Bowie. Armisen introduced an SNL clip of Bowie singing "The Man Who Sold The World." "Watching him for me was a life-changing experience," Armisen said. "That night, he transformed live television."