Blog

Scooby-Doo and the gang did what they do best in a pretaped sketch for Jake Gyllenhaal’s May 18 Saturday Night Live finale. But after they solved the mystery and the culprit’s mask came off, their classic Scooby-Doo double-unmasking went horrifically awry — and things only got crazier from there.

Gyllenhaal led the gang as Fred, while “Espresso” singer Sabrina Carpenter made for a great Daphne. It’s unsurprising that Mikey Day and Sarah Sherman absolutely nailed their live-action Shaggy and Velma. Definitely more surprising is the Sarah Squirm-style turn the parody took in its final act, blood-spraying body horror and all.

RELATED: Watch Jake Gyllenhaal’s SNL Sketches and Monologue from May 18

Things got very weird in SNL’s “Scooby-Doo” starring Sabrina Carpenter and Jake Gyllenhaal

Aesthetically, the sketch looked exactly like a live-action version of the cartoon that’s been running in various incarnations since the late 1960s. Opening on a shot of The Mystery Machine van parked outside a seemingly-haunted house, the action began with the gang prowling past a picture with cut-out eyes and capturing the spooky Shadow Phantom.

RELATED: Colin Jost’s “Joke Swap” Baited Michael Che into a Kendrick Lamar Feud

Ripping off a mask, they soon discovered it was actually Old Man Franklin (James Austin Johnson), a typical end to most Scooby-Doo mysteries. Shaggy uncovered a bookcase that opened a hidden passage, while Carpenter’s Daphne lowered two pulleys that pulled a line of piano wire taught. (If you’ve seen any films in the Final Destination franchise, you probably sensed the foreshadowing in that shot). 

“But who is Old Man Franklin — I mean, really?” Gyllenhaal’s doofy Fred asked. “No one is who they appear to be.” And that’s often true in the real show — but when Fred went to tear off his presumed second mask, he wound up tearing his actual face off. 

“Quick, we need to put the face in a bowl of dry rice!” Daphne declared amid the gang’s screams.  

“It’s not a cellphone, you moron!” Velma told her.

Then Scooby (voiced by Andrew Dismukes) rendered the face irretrievable. 

RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” Song Meaning Explained

In the gang’s subsequent panic, the swinging bookcase and piano wire became several members’ undoing. The bloody finale took another turn when a police officer (Kenan Thompson) becomes an unwanted witness. But the biggest shock of all? The reveal of the product this all wound up being a commercial for.

“Scooby-Doo” is a fine companion to earlier pretaped sketches from Season 49 that have found Sarah Sherman wielding CGI and prosthetics to bend reality, such as “UNTOLD: Battle of the Sexes” featuring Jason Momoa and “The Anomalous Man” with Dua Lipa.

Watch SNL‘s “Scooby-Doo” parody above, and stream every episode of Saturday Night Live Season 49 on Peacock.