When Pedro Pascal hosted Saturday Night Live on February 4, 2023, the actor's popularity had reached a level that he hadn't yet experienced in his career. Between red-hot roles on The Last of Us and The Mandalorian and thousands of TikToks devoted to his appeal, to quote the SNL "Fancam Assembly" sketch Pascal starred in, he had the nation "in a chokehold." And joining Pascal in the sketch was one of his real life day-one fans: His good friend Sarah Paulson.
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The 2024 Tony winner and Pascal have been friends for 30 years, first meeting as students in New York City in the early '90s. As the two revealed in a 2014 Interview conversation, though their contact ebbed and flowed over the decades, "we somehow went into chapter two of our friendship that—we attached to each other and haven’t been able to let go."
In "Fancam Assembly," Pascal played Mr. Ben, a teacher tasked with giving a presentation on "technology use." It soon becomes clear Mr. Ben's been the frequent subject of the student body's handiwork online, in a trend he finds as bewildering as it is flattering.
After accepting a compliment on his "rizz," Mr. Ben issues some standard policy on school internet use: No inappropriate content, and no social media bullying. "And here's a new rule," he tells the students. "As of today, do not make fancams of school staff, such as this."
What follows is the first a series of expertly-assembled "fancams": The quick-cut, special-effects-laden tribute videos shared to social media in honor of celebrities, pop culture characters, and onscreen couples. Pascal's Mr. Ben is caught teaching, preening, and sneezing, soundtracked by a sped-up version of SZA's vocals from SNL's "Big Boys" pretaped sketch. Both Mr. Ben's class and the SNL audience go wild watching the clip.
Pascal's character breaks his students' hearts with the news, as one (Bowen Yang) exclaims, "Skinny legend, why are you doing this?!"
"Because you have made thousands of fancams of me, and I'm not sure what they mean, but I know it has to stop," Mr. Ben says.
"It just means your foot is always on our necks," another student (Ego Nwodim) explains, adding "see?" as she unveils a new fancam of Mr. Ben giving his presentation.
"Is that...is that me right now?" Pascal's character says. "How did you make that so fast? And how did you take over access to the monitor?"
Despite the student's insistence that fancams are good, and that he is "so father, periodt," Mr. Ben is still flummoxed.
"I'm sorry. I want to be a cool teacher. I know I'm your bias and that I always munch on it, but I just don't get it," Pascal's Mr. Ben says. "Why does your generation have to make everyone a celebrity? Why do you film everything? Why?"
The students cite Covid lockdown trauma as one reason, but also, "we made you 'Daddy' and Ms. Jenny 'Mommy.'"
As Mr. Ben asks why, Sarah Paulson joins Pascal as Ms. Jenny, to audible gasps.
"Guys, we've told you, there is nothing going on between me and Mr. Ben," Paulson's Ms. Jenny tells them — but a ship fancam of the two inspires them to come clean.
"He's Daddy, I'm Mommy, and we're all a happy family," Paulson's Ms. Jenny declares. Watch SNL's "Fancam Assembly" sketch above.
