Will Ferrell & Eddie Murphy Teach Mikey Day a Lesson in SNL50's "Scared Straight"
Ferrell played a leggy convict named Big Red whose life story admittedly mirrored Buddy's from Elf.
Officer Sikorsky was back in the building when Jason Sudeikis revived his "Scared Straight" character on SNL50: The Anniversary Special. And joining Kenan Thompson's no-nonsense criminal McIntosh? A hilarious Eddie Murphy, as well Will Ferrell playing a convict named Big Red whose life story admittedly mirrors Buddy's from Elf.
"Alright, you knuckleheads, listen up! I bet you think robbing a convenience store is pretty 'boss,' huh?" Sudeikis's cop character asks three juvenile offenders (Season 50 cast members Marcello Hernández, Mikey Day, and Michael Longfellow). "You may think this is one big joke, but it's not. It's why I invited two representatives from the Scared Straight Program."
Enter Thompson and Murphy, who confuse the young delinquents with dueling commands to get "on your feet" and "sit your asses down!" Murphy introduces himself as "All the Way" Ray May. 'Cause I don't do nothin' halfway," despite having half-finished braids.
"Boy, you better listen up You think you tough, huh? You real 'street'?" Thompson asks the shoplifters.
"Well, guess what? When I was a boy, I watched both my parents die in these streets!" Murphy's Ray tells them.
"And the family that adopted him made him sleep under the staircase," Thompson adds.
"Until one day, I got a letter from an owl telling me I had to report to some kind of school for wizards," Ray continues. When Longfellow's character calls out the Harry Potter plot — and the convicts have rolled out every Hogwarts innuendo imaginable — they pivot.
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Eddie Murphy references his own movies in SNL50's "Scared Straight" with Will Ferrell
"You think I never tried to impress a woman? You know once I was a 400-pound professor? Huh?! And I fell in love with Jada Pinkett?!" Ray says, roughing up Hernández.
"But he was ashamed of his weight, so he drank a serum that turned him into Buddy Love. Is that what you want? Huh?!" Thompson adds.
"Then you go to a dinner at the Klumps' house, and you realize that everybody at the table is the same person," Ray continues. Day's character earns a beating after pointing out, "That's almost certainly The Nutty Professor."
As Murphy bursts into "Hercules! Hercules!" Officer Sikorsky shuts it down, telling them, "I let that go way too long 'cause I'm a fan of the film. These are children, fellas, alright? 30-year-old children."
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That's when Will Ferrell's Big Red enters wearing his short "spring uniform," offering a "counterpoint" to the scared straight talk. "Prison? Actually really fun," he tells them. "I'm in an improv group. I'm scrapbooking like crazy. Outside, I never used to get laid. Now I'm having sex 50, 60 times a day."
In a refreshing turn, though, Big Red doesn't even pretend that he didn't steal his life story from Ferrell's film Elf. "And forget about your North Pole. What you gonna need to be worrying about is your South pole," Murphy's character warns the boys.
"The year is 2025... and we FINALLY got a sketch with Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell," wrote one commenter on SNL's YouTube channel. Watch "Scared Straight" from SNL50 above.
Taylor Swift and Paul Rudd have appeared in SNL's "Scared Straight" sketches
Eight celebrities got the chance to play either a budding delinquent or a movie-referencing convict in the "Scared Straight" sketches from 2008 to 2012, including Zach Galifianakis (who popped up during the SNL50 special), Lindsay Lohan, and Taylor Swift. Though the most fun instance might've been when Betty White played a baddie in her May 8, 2010 episode, making Bill Hader giggle as she smacked him around a little.
Watch "Scared Straight" with Betty White
Taylor Swift in SNL's "Scared Straight"
