By Cheri Sicard
In case you missed it, Saturday Night Live did a hilarious take on full-time RV life back in 2018. The SNL RV Life video pokes some laugh-filled fun at the fact that not everyone is as enthused about RV life as those of us who have wholeheartedly embraced the lifestyle.
In the sketch, Steve Carell plays a banker who suddenly convinced his wife that he should retire early, and they should sell their house and move into an RV… with their newly acquired Great Dane.
Heidi Gardner plays Carell’s goodhearted wife who is trying to go along with her husband’s dream, but is not quite thriving in the RV lifestyle like he is.
Things all come to a head when the couple gets a visit from their adult children, played by Aidy Bryant and Mikey Day.
SNL RV life: Heidi Gardner steals the show!
The casting is exceptional.
Carell’s character is so gleefully enthused about their new lifestyle, he is completely oblivious to his wife’s suffering. He loves (almost) everything about RV life. He joyfully regales his kids about getting to jog buck naked around the lake: “Just socks and Crocs, real man stuff.”
But Gardner steals the show. Her portrayal of the wife going along with the life-changing decision to please her husband had me rolling on the floor. The SNL RV life sketch made me appreciate her talents as a comedian more than I ever had before.
Of course, with some nudging from her skeptical children, Gardner’s character does finally manage to find her voice, but not before they get a visit from their “RV friend,” Jibs, played by the always brilliant Kate McKinnon.
In my years of RVing, I have met variations of all these characters, and you probably have too.
With so many people spontaneously jumping into full-time RV living, I have to wonder how many times this scenario has played out in real life. Probably a lot, but I bet those scenes were not nearly as funny.
##RVDT1970
We started with a Winnebago Trend and a Great Dane so I can relate! Luckily we loved our dog more than that MH so upgraded after a year to a Class A. Having lost her 2 years ago at 11 years old, now the big rig is kinda empty.
Fun, thanks. And yes, maybe hits a little close to home for those where one spouse loves it more than the other!
As is typical, I didn’t laugh at any of it, probably the reason I never watch SNL. I grew up with real comedians of the 50’s-70’s. Not the wannabes later. Sorry
As is typical, why am I not surprised the one negative comment came from Bob P the king of negativity? I bet you yell at kids to get off your lawn too. 🙂
‘real comedians’ of the 50s/70s like Don Rickles? Jackie Gleason? mostly misogynist hateful one-joke acts.
Ok boomer
So sorry for you 😢
Well it did get over 4M views and 42K likes so it’s nice that some enjoy SNL’s sense of humor and enjoyed the irony. And speaking of the 50’s-70’s and humor, there’s also some irony that the most popular RV movie of that era (and all time) was the Long, Long Trailer with Lucy and Desi! To me, SNL’s skit was an homage that also followed the similar struggles!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long,_Long_Trailer