Garth Brooks Sold His Soul to Will Ferrell in SNL's "Devil Can't Write No Love Song"
The country singer met Lucifer, aka Will Ferrell in incredible makeup, in this iconic sketch.
Country star Garth Brooks has only hosted Saturday Night Live twice, but here's why you can consider it an epic run: He pulled double duty as Host and Musical Guest twice, in two consecutive years. While Brooks has never had an official acting career — unless you count the times he's played himself or his alter ego, Chris Gaines, onscreen — he proved a more-than-amiable Host who wasn't afraid to get (very) silly. And in addition to performing as Musical Guest, Brooks goes down in SNL history for co-starring in an iconic sketch, "Devil Can't Write No Love Song," opposite Will Ferrell as Lucifer. Ferrell's incredible prosthetic look, courtesy of SNL makeup department head Louie Zakarian, is arguably the sketch's third costar.
In "Devil Can't Write No Love Song," Brooks plays a struggling musician named Milo Jenkins. "He's starin' over a bowl of dreaaaams," Milo sings as he strums his guitar. Despite his red wig and stuck-on soul patch, Brooks' sweet vocals are unmistakeable. His girlfriend, played by Season 25 cast member Ana Gasteyer, storms into his shabby apartment to dump him when she finds out he's been fired from work.
"You'll see! I'm gonna be big! I'm gonna be a big...loser," he says, holding an 'L' up to his forehead in true '90s style. But when Brooks' character declares he'd even sell his soul for a hit song, Lucifer himself materializes in a plume of smoke.
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Lucifer's awful lyrics inspired Garth Brooks' Milo Jenkins in "Devil Can't Write No Love Song"
"I am Lucifer! And I have heard your request! And it shall be granted," the Devil tells him, as heavy metal music blares. "Do you, Milo Jenkins, Truly wish to render your soul to me, in exchange for the success you crave?"
Milo does — and once the deal is sealed, Lucifer grabs his cherry-red Fender and takes a stab at writing "music that could force kings to their knees."
"There's a guy named Fred and he's got a pair of slacks / Oooh, Fred's got slacks! / Really quite sharp but they're little tight in the waist / Oooh, Fred's got slacks on the boulevard," Ferrell's Lucifer sings, strumming a surf-rock riff. When Milo rightfully says it "sucked," the offended Devil tries another "fiendish masterpiece from the bowels of hell."
"Mondays, boy I hate Mondays / They make me so steamed / Weekends! I prefer the weekends," Lucifer squeaks, before cursing out his out-of-tune guitar. His subsequent attempt at a love song ("Zorgas borgas, I just got bit by the love bat, and its driving me MAD!"), and the rest of Lucifer's efforts, get so bad it embarrasses them both. Milo even busts Lucifer for ripping of Smash Mouth's "All Star."
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While it seems like this deal just won't work — the F chord hurts Lucifer's fingers, and he's also a terrible rapper — the humiliated Devil takes his leave. But as it turns out, he really has inspired Milo Jenkins to compose a new tune called "Devil Can't Write No Love Song":
“Oh, the Devil never could write a love song.
Didn't seem to matter how much he tried.
And ’cause the Devil never got his heart broke
and the Devil never cried.”
Garth Brooks' voice gives the song major hit potential, and we're still wishing for a full version 26 years later.
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How many times was Garth Brooks on SNL?
Three total. Brooks pulled double duty on February 28, 1998 and again on November 13, 1999, when he performed as Chris Gaines. He returned as Musical Guest to perform "Rodeo" and "The River" in the March 14, 1992 episode with Host John Goodman.
Garth Brooks told Tina Fey he didn't want to play a cowboy on SNL
Despite the fact that he performed as Musical Guest while wearing a cowboy hat during his 1998 episode, Tina Fey shared a bit of trivia about his week at the show during her first ever late night TV appearance in 2001. During the Monday meeting that every Host takes with the SNL cast and writers, Fey told Late Night's Conan O'Brien that Brooks nixed Fey's idea for a sketch about a singing cowboy.
"Yeah, I don't want to play a singing cowboy," Fey recounted Brooks saying — so she wrote a very different sketch instead, which had Brooks gamely dressing in drag. "And he did it! He did a good job, and it ended up being part of the show," Fey said. Find out which sketch she's talking about in the full interview here.
Both of Garth Brooks' SNL episodes are streaming on Peacock now.
