Sabrina Carpenter, already a Lorne Michaels favorite based on musical appearances, Domingo cameos and a spotlight duet with Paul Simon at SNL50, showed off surprising comedic chops in her Saturday Night Live hosting debut this weekend. From an “I’m very comfortable up here” monologue in which she flirted with eager audience members, to one of the low-key fire bros in the Boys Podcast sketch, Carpenter shone in a moment where other up-and-coming stars have stumbled.
But perhaps those comedy skills aren’t a surprise at all — Carpenter is just the latest in a long line of kids who cut their teeth on Disney Channel shows, then went on to excel on Saturday Night Live.
The list is impressive. Justin Timberlake, Keke Palmer, Ryan Gosling, Selena Gomez, Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus all started on Disney Channel shows. Add Nickelodeon’s Kenan Thompson, Taran Killam and Ariana Grande to the list of SNL all-stars who got their feet wet on long-running kids series as well.
In 2011, Thompson and Cyrus did a funny sketch called Disney Channel Acting School, making fun of how the networks’ kid actors are taught to create over-the-top characters and mug for the camera. Those skills wouldn’t win anyone Academy Awards, but is it crazy to say that kid shows are the perfect training ground for SNL?
The Disney sketch makes jokes about young actors learning oversized reactions to stinky feet, but those outlandish takes are exactly how Thompson became SNL royalty.
Showbiz history is littered with sad stories about the pressures of Disney and Nickelodeon creating miserable lives for some kid stars. But for other tween show veterans, the actors emerged as steel forged in fire. Live television for 90 minutes? As children, they performed live in front of screaming teens, signed hundreds of autographs outside of malls and waved from frenzied theme park parades. A few comedy sketches on a Saturday night are the last thing that’s going to phase them.
Talent helps too, and Carpenter showed plenty of it on Saturday, doubling as both comedian and musical guest. (Disney Chanel training helps there as well.) It’s hard to say if her Disney Channel skills would translate to the big screen, though a Netflix rom-com would be a no-brainer as a next career move.
Last night, Lorne Michaels’ long-running show once again proved to be a Mickey Mouse enterprise. For funny voices, goofy wigs and sarcastic one-liners delivered straight to camera, Carpenter had the perfect education for her big SNL moment.
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