NBC Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
NBC Insider Late Night

Charli XCX and Oscar Isaac Duet as Singing Meatballs in This Unhinged SNL Sketch

The "Apple" singer performed a sweet duet with Oscar Isaac in Sarah Sherman's pretaped oddity. 

By Samantha Vincenty
Meatballs
Video thumbnail
Now Playing
4:11
Highlight
Meatballs
Video thumbnail
4:43
Highlight
Weekend Update: Bill Murray Ranks His Best Weekend Update Anchors of All Time – SNL50
Video thumbnail
3:37
Highlight
Weekend Update: Lorne's Best Friends from Growing Up – SNL50
Video thumbnail
4:25
Highlight
Weekend Update: The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With and Drunk Uncle – SNL50
Video thumbnail
2:46
Highlight
Weekend Update: SNL's 50th Anniversary – SNL50
Video thumbnail
9:35
Highlight
Audience Q&A – SNL50
Video thumbnail
6:13
Highlight
Paul McCartney: Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End (Live) – SNL50
Video thumbnail
7:19
Highlight
Lawrence Welk – SNL50
Video thumbnail
3:56
Highlight
Digital Short: Anxiety – SNL50
Video thumbnail
5:37
Highlight
Physical Comedy – SNL50
Video thumbnail
4:02
Highlight
In Memoriam – SNL50
Video thumbnail
4:58
Highlight
Commercial Parodies – SNL50
Video thumbnail
5:21
Highlight
Miley Cyrus with Brittany Howard and The Roots: Nothing Compares 2 U (Live) – SNL50
Video thumbnail
6:45
Highlight
50th Monologue – SNL50
Video thumbnail
4:41
Highlight
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter: Homeward Bound (Live) – SNL50
Video thumbnail
8:33
Highlight
Close Encounter 50th – SNL50
Video thumbnail
3:13
Highlight
Chad in 8H – SNL50
Video thumbnail
7:10
Highlight
Black Jeopardy – SNL50

Before BRAT summer, "Apple" singer Charli XCX was a cute little musical meatball.

How to Watch

Watch Saturday Night Live Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and Peacock, streaming next day on Peacock.

The Grammy-nominated British singer-songwriter has reached a career high with her meme-spawning sixth studio album, BRAT, which mixes dancefloor-ready bops with confessional, contemplative tunes. But Charli made her Saturday Night Live debut as Musical Guest way back in the "Boom Clap" days of 2014.

When the Covid-19 pandemic foiled Charli's SNL return on December 18, 2021, Charli rescheduled to join Oscar Isaac's episode on March 5, 2022 — and wound up delivering a heartfelt, piano-driven duet with the Dune actor in Sarah Sherman's oddball pretaped sketch, "Meatballs."

RELATED: Maya Rudolph Sang the National Anthem Version to End Them All on SNL

Split of Charlie XCX, Oscar Isaac, and Sarah Sherman

Charli XCX and Oscar Isaac duet as meatballs on SNL

In "Meatballs," body horror master Sarah Sherman plays a woman on her third date with a man who asks why she's always wearing a ribbon around her neck. (In a prescient bit of BRAT synergy, her ribbon happens to be bright green.)

"There's a little meatball guy on the side of my neck," she tells her date, played by Chris Redd. "Every time I take the green ribbon off and expose him to light, he wakes up and sings his little songs." A few more questions uncover the full truth: A full meatball band grows on her body, and they're equal parts gross and adorable.

"Yeah, they harmonize and sing together in time," Sherman's character admits, as Isaac, Sherman, Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson, Aidy Bryant, Andrew Dismukes, and Melissa Villaseñor play tiny instruments, munch on cheese and sing their strange tune. 

RELATED: Ryan Gosling's Engagement Goes Very, Very Wrong in His Emmy-Nominated SNL Sketch

"Once they get on a roll like this, it's better to keep them going until they get tuckered out," Sherman's character tells Redd's as Tiny Meatballs Oscar Isaac and Andrew Dismukes sing, "We are little meatball men, singing our meatball song, we are little meatball men, join us and please sing along!"

Catchy as their ditty is, Sherman's date decides to run for the hills. As he tries to deny her suspicion that "it maybe had something to do with the meatballs," he asks, "I'm sorry...is that a piano in your armpit?"

Technically, it's a keytar—wielded by the beautiful meatball that is Charli XCX.

"Don't give up on love just because of some meatballs," the "360" singer croons sweetly. "Don't give up on this girl because she's got eleven meatbaaaaalls," Oscar chimes in as the two gaze at each other in dreamy close-up.

"Someday you'll realize that in the end, true love will always win," Charli continues, waving her tiny, meaty hands.

"And I'm Jim," Thompson's meatball adds as a capper. It's a love song for the ages — guess Charli XCX was right when she sang that "Everything is romantic."

Watch the "Meatballs" sketch featuring Charli XCX and Oscar Isaac above. 

Sponsored Stories
Recommended by Zergnet