Pedro Pascal and The Last Of Us Inspired His Viral SNL Sketch "Waking Up"
A joke that began on the set of an HBO drama became a delightfully goofy sketch.
Pedro Pascal is a master of drama on shows like The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, but he's also a brilliant comedian.
In a sketch titled "Waking Up" from his Emmy-nominated February 2023 Saturday Night Live episode, Pascal played a man named Charlie who'd woken up from a coma. His wife (Heidi Gardner), friend (Kenan Thompson), and sister (Sarah Sherman) are excited to welcome him back to the land of the living, only to be shocked when he speaks with what Thompson describes as "this L.A. mush mouth thing." It's an accent that must be heard to be understood, and even then, you might not. Oh ma gah!
He's got no memory of the old Charlie, even when shown a video of his old self, though is a fan of the man in the clip. "He's the hottest gah I've evah seen," he says, about himself.
The doctor (Bowen Yang) tells them a temporary personality change is normal for people coming out of comas, and advises Charlie's wife to meet Charlie where he's at. Gardner, Thompson, and Sherman try out their own "LA mush mouth," and while the sketch manages to end before anyone actually breaks, it's a close call.
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Pedro Pascal invented his "Waking Up" accent on The Last of Us set
The best thing about "Waking Up" (other than hearing Pascal do the voice) is that he actually came up with the idea. The actor revealed on Late Night with Seth Meyers that he came prepared with that voice. Pascal said it was originally a jokey accent he and the cast used to add levity between takes.
"We would talk like that on the set of The Last Of Us," he shared during the February 16, 2023, interview. "Basically...to deal with someone dying every episode in front of you."
As he and Meyers took turns using the voice to talk about the HBO drama ("Those monsters mean business!" "I can't believe he died!"), Pascal warned that it's "very contagious."
"It will not stop," he said "It spread like a fungus amongst the set."
Pedro Pascal recalls being on SNL for the debut of "Lisa From Temecula"
While "Waking Up" nearly broke Pascal and the cast members on stage, one other sketch from his episode did send the actors into hysterics.
Ego Nwodim starred as "Lisa from Temecula," a successful lawyer visiting her sister (Punkie Johnson) for her birthday. As the table kept shaking and Johnson desperately tried to hold on to the pitcher of sangria, Lisa accused Pascal of hitting on her and said lines like "Cook my meat!" and "Don't think I'm giving up the butt tonight." After a while, the actual jokes barely even mattered anymore. Everyone in the sketch was unable to keep it together, especially when Lisa put her leg up on the chair to get more leverage when cutting her steak.
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Pascal told Meyers the sketch actually "bombed" at dress rehearsal.
"There was a big bone in the middle of the steak that she couldn't saw through, for one," he explained. "And they were just being a little tame about the table moving, and it didn't really work. We said, 'Oh no, please don't cut it. If you really, really shake the table and give her a steak that she can saw through...'"
Pascal immediately blamed Yang for starting the laughter, and Meyers agreed.
"There was a real moment where it cut to the [wide shot] and Bowen seemed to have no idea it was in the wide," Meyers recalled. "'Cause he wasn't even trying not to laugh."
"He tossed his fork and fully gave up," Pascal said.
Watch "Waking Up" and "Lisa From Temecula" from Season 48, Episode 12 above, and stream every episode of SNL on Peacock.
