Finn Wolfhard's SNL sketch pits indie-band teen against pop-star dad

Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard hosted Saturday Night Live after the show's hiatus and opened with a sketch in which he plays a teenager eager to hit the road with his indie band, clashing with his father, a pop star played by James Austin Johnson.

The sketch frames a generational argument over what counts as “selling out.” The father is not anti-dreams or anti-music, but objects to his son “slumming it through grunge shows at East Coast dive bars,” arguing instead that there is value in selling out arenas, asking, "What could be more fulfilling than selling out arenas for the year and a half preceding 9/11?"

Meanwhile, the sketch adds further chaos through the father’s boy band, whose members shamelessly hit on Mom (Ashley Padilla). The bandmates are named Curtis 5000 (Marcello Hernández), Cyber (Jeremy Culhane), and K-Dog (Andrew Dismukes), the latter described in the piece as unmistakably similar to Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys.

The sketch hinges on contrasting ideas of artistic fulfillment and piles on absurdity; the article does not provide any information about real-life touring plans beyond the fictional scenario in the sketch.

Key Topics

Culture, Finn Wolfhard, Saturday Night Live, James Austin Johnson, Stranger Things, Indie Band