SNL's "Chopped" Sketch Puts Kitten Sandwiches on the Menu
Leslie Jones and Emma Thompson star in this fast-moving parody of the long-running cooking competition series.
On May 11, 2019, Emma Thompson made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut—and found herself on the set of Chopped.
In a parody of the long-running Food Network competition series, Thompson and two SNL Season 44 cast members portrayed Chopped judges. Thompson played Amanda Freitag alongside Aidy Bryant as Alex Guarnaschelli and Alex Moffat as Geoffrey Zakarian, while Beck Bennett played Host Ted Allen.
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SNL's 2019 Chopped parody serves ridiculous dishes
In SNL's breakneck-paced version of Chopped, Georgina (Leslie Jones) and Claire (Melissa Villaseñor) were the last two chefs standing.
Reviewing the various dishes Georgina and Claire were asked to make, the judges were impressed with how Claire's successfully the random ingredients like "loose sugar" and a five-pound piece of horse anatomy.
"Georgina had problems too. Her appetizer was supposed to be an artichoke slider," said Freitag, as Guarnaschelli added, "but it was actually just a kitten on a hamburger bun."
It turns out the random ingredient for the dish was an adorable little kitten, which Georgina plated with a bun on top.
The Chopped parody continued with the ingredients and dishes getting crazier and crazier: a salad wearing a tuxedo, steak sauce containing marshmallow fluff, and a piece of "raw" steak that talked—with a filthy mouth.
When it came to dessert, things got so heated in the kitchen that Georgina was determined to get to the ice cream machine first, taking extreme measures to keep Claire away. But her results didn't impress, as Georgina served a dish of ice cream that contained both candy and real cigarettes.
In the end, Georgina's experimental kitten burger led her to getting chopped.
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The real-life Guarnaschelli gave the sketch her stamp of approval the day after SNL aired. "It has been a life goal to be on SNL and I never dreamed chopped would make it as a skit," she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "Amazing. Made my year. Nice work @aidybryant I feel like you understand me and my side eye!!!"
SNL continues to find new spins on the competition cooking show concept. In Season 49, Host Nate Bargatze played the reluctant winner of a soul food contest in the October 29 "Chef Show" sketch.
And in "Extreme Baking Championship" from Don Cheadle's February 2019 episode, contestants created goodies that were more Nailed It than The Great British Bake-Off.
Watch SNL's "Chopped" sketch above, and stream all 49 seasons of Saturday Night Live on Peacock.
