Sometimes Saturday Night Live gets things so right, it’s almost scary.
Notice that I said sometimes there, but they do swing and miss a lot too for a show that’s been on TV for as long as they have. But I’ve got to hand it to them, these past two seasons, they’ve poked fun at the midwest a couple of times, and they’ve nailed it.
Last season, they concocted a wild and accurate depiction of the Waffle House experience, which featured basically every single thing you could think of on a “Waffle House Bingo Card.” Which means yes, they had employees and fry cooks fighting each other…
And this past weekend, they went back to the “redneck well” and created a fake country song that had themes that were all too real. Nate Bargatze, a Tennessee native and stand-up comedian, hosted the show, and I’ve got a feeling he pitched the idea for “Lake Beach.”
The pre-recorded sketch opens up with a shot of the fake band called “Mudpuddle” with Bargatze playing the lead singer, and SNL cast members James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes filling out the rest of the band.
SNL definitely took a shot at country music, and “Lake Lifers” with this song, but I’d say it was all in good fun. I’m both a fan of country music and going to the lake, and I found every bit of this comedy song accurate and relatable.
You’ll have to watch the music video to really get the full effect, which basically just goes through all of the great (or not so great things) about hanging out on a beach at the lake.
Some of the things they highlighted in the song included:
-Drinking ice cold beers with friends you’ve had for years
-Underage kids sneaking sip of alcohol out of a solo cup, then realizing it was someone’s spitter
-Water up to your knees and slipping on slimy rocks all day long
-Dragging a Yeti cooler down to the Lake Beach
-A diaper floating in the shallow water of the murky lake water
-Taking shots of whiskey and tequila, and also having to get a tetanus shot
-An uncle that is way too serious about corn hole, played by Foo Fighters lead-man Dave Grohl
-Fireworks injuries and seeing everyone you hung out with at the Lake Beach at church the next day
There’s even more that I didn’t mention in the list above, but they somehow managed to fit everything they possibly could have about the “Lake Experience” into a three minute long music video.
You’ll go in skeptical, but come out saying “man, they really hit the nail right on the head with this one.”
Take a look:
Now I’m going to have “down on the Lake Beach” stuck in my head all day long…
Everyone on social media was a pretty big fan of the comedic music video, sending out their thoughts and commentary on X:
These lyrics had so many LOL moments for me! 😂 #SNL #SaturdayNightLive
— Ryan Bartholomee (@RyanBartholomee) October 29, 2023
Bookmarking this one after watching it for the 5th time! Hilarious
— BoomZoom (@meusejw) October 29, 2023
Thank you for doing the Lords work on this Sunday.
— soccer cardz rule. #1 go team. (@sccrcardzrule) October 29, 2023
This is quite accurate here in the midwest lol!
— 🖤Spooky👻Star🌕 (@ThisIsAstartes) October 29, 2023
Nate looks absolutely at home, release album now
— Wanderer| Influenced(our romcom) out now (@justinewanda) October 29, 2023
