‘SNL’ adds delightfully dark twist to challenges of working from home with kids

John Krasinski hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and one of his best sketches featured the actor as the father of a very creepy set of twins who take Zoom-bombing to another level.

In the sketch, Krasinski plays a character many of us can relate to — a dad working from home during the pandemic. His character is actually an economist who’s attempting to do a Zoom interview with CNBC about last week’s controversy around GameStop stock, but his kids keep interrupting.

The laughs get going when the CNBC host notices a very disturbing painting of a person peeling off his face on the wall of Krasinski’s home office.

“Oh, my daughter painted that. It’s called ‘Restless Sinner,'” he responded proudly before showing off a sculpture by his son.

“This one’s called ‘Centipediatric,'” he says, smiling, as he displays a set of baby dolls mutilated so they resemble a giant centipede.

The host, played by Cecily Strong, then asks Krasinski to cover up the artwork because it’s too upsetting. But when he moves his camera, we’re greeted by the twins, played by Kate McKinnon and Mikey Day, looking like characters straight out of “The Shining.”

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John Krasinski on

“Father,” each twin says, starring into the camera.

“Lookout, cameo alert!” Krasinski chuckles, seemingly unaware there’s something more than slightly off about his diabolical-looking offspring.

The twins, Jacob and Josephine, then reveal that they’ve come back from playing outside after the “neighbor boy” showed them some very inappropriate content on his phone.

“We liked it, father,” says Josephine in a monotone voice.

“Why did we like it, father?” asks Jacob, officially making this the weirdest at-home TV appearance of the pandemic.

As the economic debate continues, Krasinki’s camera freezes. A moment later, he rejoins the broadcast, with the twins appearing behind him again, scaring the living daylights out of his host and fellow guest, played by Beck Bennett.

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John Krasinski on

Krasinski then tells his kids to go make a snack, and as they debate who will be the one to spread mustard on toast, it looks like Krasinski is about to break character and burst into laughter.

In another hilarious moment, an onscreen poll reveals that viewers were more worried about “those twins” than anything happening on Wall Street. The sketch ends with the twins appearing behind Bennett in the CNBC studio, clearly ready to unleash their demonic powers on him.

All things considered, Krasinski pulled off the proud papa shtick quite well, but it’s no surprise since he has two daughters of his own — Hazel, 6, and Violet, 4 — with wife and fellow actor Emily Blunt.

The “Jack Ryan” star started his first-ever “SNL” hosting gig in an unforgettable fashion. During his opening monologue, he was bullied by cast members pretending to be fans of “The Office” and demanding he “kiss Pam.” On “The Office,” Krasinski famously played Jim Halpert, whose love interest, Pam Beesly, was played by Jenna Fischer.

But Fischer was nowhere to be found on Saturday night, so instead Krasinski smooched “SNL” cast member Pete Davidson.