At last night’s Regé-Jean Page, presented –it is very fun–Saturday Night Live, a sketch opened in a bar of tough guys who play pool. Led by Page and Beck Bennet, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, Alex Moffat, Kenan Thompson and Pete Davidson, they all did what the guys do, drinking beers, bragging and betting, rocking and basically being homies. The fact that there was a jukebox in the corner wouldn’t make any difference, even when Page put on his unlikely psychological billiard anthem, “Driver’s license” by Olivia Rodrigo, and – no, here comes the hydraulic system.
Not all at once, of course, as Bennett and his team pretended not to be aware of the sweet and painful musical lament of a young woman whose first legal impulse is salted with her tears over her ex-boyfriend’s broken promise to be with her on the big day. “It’s bittersweet because it’s something that she and her ex always talk about,” Bennett shrugged, adding hastily, “I think that’s what I’m hearing for the first time now.” Moffat, crossing out his cue, offers his insight that the song is about the first High School Musical (the series, duh) the star’s break with costar Joshua Bassett, who is now reportedly dating actress Sabrina Carpenter – at least that’s what he thinks he heard on the news.
The thing continues in that deliciously silly way, while Page’s blatant adoration for Rodrigo’s success gradually infects everyone with the singalong fever of teary eyes. At least after discussing all the Taylor Swift-Billie Eilish comparisons. If you agree with Page’s vehement claim that Taylor only went “creatively into the pocket” when “she moved away from the autobiographical, ”You better not go, as these guys reveal themselves more than willing to overturn subtle ratings and analysis of singer-songwriters. In fact, Page and Davidson are so at odds that they almost conflict. (“Well, I still feel like it’s Taylor, do you have a problem?” “With you being purposefully reducing? Yes, I have a problem!”) Fortunately, cooler and more harmonious heads prevail, as the chorus of the song (“the bridge of our lives !,”Affirms Kate McKinnon’s older mustachioed barfly brings everyone together in an unashamedly tearful fear. Keep going through that house, guys. Eyes on the road.