Part of the fun of live television is those awkward moments when something goes wrong. However, it's even more exciting when the cast and host manages to pull through! That's exactly how Kevin Hart handled his SNL instagram sketch with Vanessa Bayer when a television screen in the bit wasn't working. Was there an awkward silence? Did they fumble? Not really! I'm pretty amazed with how calm and collected both performers were. While they are professionals, sketches are rewritten so often on SNL that no amount of rehearsal can really prepare you for a perfect live show. Keeping cool during a technical difficulty that could have derailed the sketch and ruined the mood of the entire show was an amazing feat. Kevin Hart was off to an amazing start hosting, and should definitely start making a habit out of this.
The concept of the sketch, titled "Why'd You Post That," was a talk show in which Hart's character "Darnell Pepper" brought guests on to criticize their 'gram decisions. We all know people who post stuff that seems unneccessary. I know I'm guilty of a few myself. So, the sketch was dependent on the visual, because we needed to see the photograph in question on the television in order to understand Pepper's criticisms. The screen was frozen, and then went black. Bayer and Hart killed the first few moments with banter about the technical difficulty, and tried to "fix" the screen by hitting it.
When it didn't look like they were going to get to look at the photo, Kevin Hart just shrugged, and described the picture (a blurry shot of the Empire State Building) to the audience instead. Thankfully, the screen was back up after a moment. However, I truly believe that they could have done the whole thing with a broken television screen.
Image: Dana Edelson/NBC
