After receiving an Oscar nomination last week in the Best Supporting Actor race, Stellan Skarsgård helped actor and son Alexander Skarsgård during his Saturday Night Live debut tonight, with the Sentimental Value actor and Golden Globe winner playing backup with surprise cameos.
It was obvious the elder Skarsgård would pop up as soon as SNL opted to spoof the gloomy subset of Scandinavian dramas with “Stench of a Family,” in which two Swedish siblings (Alexander Skarsgård and Chloe Fineman) express grief and despair over the laborious care of their ailing father. However, the supposedly self-serious actors cannot get through their respective scenes without flubbing lines or pushing hard for a blooper reel. Toward the end of the sketch, Stellan Skarsgård appears as the patriarch, interrupting a somber monologue with a prop gag.
It’s worth noting this is the second time SNL has satirized such European projects. When Glen Powell was a first-time host last year, the sketch “Norwegian Movie” struck a similar tone.
Shortly after, Marcello Hernandez resurrected his popular “Immigrant Dad Show” skit, first originated in 2024 with guest hosts Ramy Youssef and later redone with Dave Chappelle. The revival, which features Hernandez as reprising as host Joaquin Antonio, also includes a well-meaning Mikey Day, who flashes his “Melt the ICE” shirt to prove his allyship bona fides. “Hola, Joaquin. I just want you to know that I’m thinking about your people lately, and I wanted to do something to help, so…” he begins, flashing his top with a dramatic “dun-dun-dun.”
“Thank you so much, man,” Antonio responds sarcastically. “That is gonna fix everything.”
The sketch grows stronger upon the appearance of a haggard-looking Stellan Skarsgård, once again playing a father to Alexander Skarsgård’s character, an unnerving Finnish parent whose sternness is surpassed by his elder. But it truly shines upon the surprise appearance of Cardi B — who is musical guest tonight — playing Antonio’s disgruntled spouse, who clearly runs the household.
“To all the dads out there, do whatever your wife say,” Antonio says with a harried signoff.
