SNL's Brilliant Joker Parody Turns David Harbour Into Sesame Street's Grouch

Saturday Night Live Sesame Street Joker parody fake headlines

DC should throw all the money at whoever directed SNL's new Joker parody trailer and get them to work on a full movie. Don't act like fans wouldn't also give Grouch a huge opening weekend.

Saturday Night Live had a fake ad for Joker a couple of weeks ago, via a trailer mocking Downton Abbey, but last night SNL had a full brilliant Joker parody making perfect use of host David Harbour and -- unexpectedly -- Sesame Street. The Stranger Things star went all-in to embrace his role as a super-dark Oscar the Grouch. Check out NBC's clip:

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Yes, from director Todd Phillips and the writer of "P is for Potty" comes the next gritty antihero origin story showing the beloved residents of Sesame Street like we've never seen them before.

Guy Smiley of ABCDEF News says the once friendly neighborhood of Sesame Street has become a haven of crime and corruption. We see a female Big Bird stripper, a homeless begging Cookie Monster, Mexican Elmo getting arrested for selling crack, Snuffy as a pimp, The Count popping pills in an alley, and Ernie being stabbed in the street for his duckie.

David Harbour's Oscar the Grouch goes full Joaquin Phoenix to match many of Arthur the Joker's scenes -- as a maudlin version of the Sesame Street theme plays in the background.

If everybody calls you trash, and everyone treats you like trash, why don’t you just BECOME trash?

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No argument here. What a brilliant choice from SNL to "put on a grumpy face" to poke fun at the bleakness of Joker -- while also celebrating it by making a trailer that looks pretty damn good. Maybe Oscar is the one who should get the Oscar this year.

Stranger Things' David Harbour had a rough time at the box office earlier in 2019 with Hellboy, but he has Dhaka coming up, along with Marvel's Black Widow in 2020. And we need answers on Chief Hopper's fate in Stranger Things Season 4.

Saturday Night Live is taking a break next weekend, then returning Saturday, October 26 with Chance the Rapper as host and musical guest. Kristen Stewart and Eddie Murphy are still to come as hosts for SNL 45.

Meanwhile, Joker still has everyone talking -- whether they loved it, hated it, or something in between. The movie is still dominating in its second weekend, and it's expected to make twice as much in Week 2 as Will Smith's Gemini Man did in its own Week 1. If anyone might be feeling like a Grouch right now, it's either Will Smith or Ang Lee.

Keep up with everything still heading to the big screen this year with our 2019 movie release date schedule.

Gina Carbone

Gina grew up in Massachusetts and California in her own version of The Parent Trap. She went to three different middle schools, four high schools, and three universities -- including half a year in Perth, Western Australia. She currently lives in a small town in Maine, the kind Stephen King regularly sets terrible things in, so this may be the last you hear from her.