Let’s Unpack All of John Mulaney’s Musical References in That Perfect SNL Sketch

I have very few joys left in this world and one of them comes in the form of John Mulaney’s New York-specific musical parody sketches on Saturday Night Live. From the Diner Lobster to Bodega Bathroom, the trilogy now has its final chapter: “Airport Sushi.” It’s an instant classic, and was widely praised across the Internet after Saturday’s show hosted by Mulaney.

Part of why I love these sketches is that they’re so specific to New York and how we function here; they’re a winking in-joke at New Yorkers and all who have experienced the strange quirks of the city. From the diner culture (specifically Uncle Nick’s in Chelsea which I still think “Diner Lobster” is based on) and using Les Misérables to tell the tale of the Lobster, to a Willy Wonka-like Bodega Cat taking you on a journey to the bathroom that no one should ever use, John Mulaney masters the art of New York life set to random musical numbers.

In “Airport Sushi,” Mulaney and a cast of SNL regulars and very special guests take aim at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, a truly miserable place to be or attempt to fly out of/arrive at. If you’re a New Yorker, or you’ve ever stepped foot near LaGuardia, you’ll recognize that every moment of this sketch is painfully, hilariously true, down to the giant dancing rats.

Let’s unpack the musical numbers that comprise “Airport Sushi.” I majored in Performance Theatre so this is pretty much why I went to college.

Kicking this thing off, Mulaney and company use Phantom Of The Opera to bring to life one of the geese who brought down Sully Sullenberger’s “miracle on the Hudson” plane, and the chef who made the sushi (truly I kept thinking that the chef was going to be revealed to be dead, to be quite honest).

While Phantom of the Opera is not a niche musical by any stretch of the imagination, it is something that ushers in the feel of LaGuardia. I’m not even kidding. If a man in a half-mask started to lead me through the terminal at LGA, I’d probably just be like “yeah, this is par for the course.”

The musical references went on, with some instantly recognizable numbers parodied, to others that you may not know at first hear. Included on the “instantly recognizable” side? “America” from West Side Story. Can we imagine that this sketch is the new Broadway production instead of whatever that production is?

Featured in a moment of … well … trying to explain LaGuardia, the song oddly matches the feel of “America” in context. That song features a character who loves Puerto Rico and wants to go back when Anita comes in, talking about how beautiful America is compared to Puerto Rico. So … basically, John Mulaney is standing in for Anita talking about Puerto Rico this entire song, only he’s telling us things about LaGuardia, like “outlets are there for a cool prank,” and “I like to be at LaGuardia, it’s hard to breathe at LaGuardia.”

Just when you think it can’t be better, in comes “Auntie Orphan Annie” with her pretzels and songs about how nobody likes NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.

An uplifting song about an orphan who sings it directly into the face of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mulaney and Kate McKinnon use “Tomorrow” to, instead, talk about how everything is blamed on de Blasio (even if some of it was Mike Bloomberg’s fault). Again, this is extremely New York so if you don’t live here or haven’t ever lived here, I truly don’t know what you’re still doing in this piece.

Just when we think we’re out of the West Side Story vibe (again, the MOST NEW YORK OF SKETCHES), an unaccompanied baby enters the scene singing “Cool.”

First of all, a baby would get through security by itself at LaGuardia. Again, if you don’t understand that airport, trust me, anything goes. “Cool,” in the context of West Side Story, is a plea for them all to stay cool after their leader was killed. It’s just Romeo and Juliet set in New York in 1957 and adding race and gangs to the mix with songs from Leonard Bernstein and company. So … course a baby would sing it about getting on a plane to Clevland all alone. Why not?

Now, I never thought in all my days that I would see special guest star Jake Gyllenhaal doing a parody of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked about a man who just doesn’t care about security aggressively touching him but …. there he is, in pajamas, doing just that.

I’m so sorry I made you all watch Idina Menzel sing “Defying Gravity” at the Tonys but … we all experienced it (those of us who love theatre) and you should too. ANYWAY, the Act 1 closer, “Defying Gravity” is the moment in Wicked where Elphaba embraces how the people of Oz see her, taking the wicked label they’ve placed on her and running off despite wanting to rely on Glinda. So … I guess yes, it is natural that Jake Gyllenhaal would parody it in PJs while flying through the air. Shout out to his sock and loafer combo that never leaves the frame.

My favorite parody here is given to cast member Bowen Yang as he sings about being a “Profiled Asian” wearing a face mask, set to the Little Shop of Horrors classic “Suddenly Seymour.”

For reference, here’s an extremely attractive Jake Gyllenhaal playing Seymour. Don’t ask me, I didn’t cast him.

Singing Audrey’s part of “Suddenly Seymour” and shocking everyone with my singing talents is my favorite party trick. Mainly because as a theatre major in 2020 whose career is not exactly performance-based, many people don’t realize I can sing until we’re at karaoke and I start belting “Nobody ever treated me kindly, daddy left early, momma was poor.”  But what this sketch did was drive home the fact that I would love to see Bowen Yang as Seymour.

Let’s further unpack the song for a moment. Seymour is a disaster human. He basically realizes that he has a plant who wants blood and instead of killing it, he gives the plant blood because it will grant him wishes. (Little Shop of Horrors rules if you haven’t figured that out yet.) But this song comes after Seymour has fed Audrey’s abusive ex-boyfriend, the dentist Orin Scrivello, to the man-eating plant Audrey II.

Yet Bowen Yang singing it as a parody to profiled Asians in 2020? This was perfect. Honestly, let Bowen Yang sing more please, Saturday Night Live.

And finally, the legendary David Byrne (also SNL’s musical guest that week) cameos with a parody of his own song, “Road to Nowhere.”

While the goose who brought down Sully’s plane and the sushi chef are forever stuck in LaGuardia, everyone else is on a “Plane to Nowhere” which is a play on the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere.” Technically, this could be considered a Broadway song now since David Byrne has his own show called American Utopia that is coming back to Broadway in the fall.

I want John Mulaney to host a fourth and fifth time, making him a member of the Five-Timers Club, just for more of these sketches. They’re my favorite, they’re very specific to me and my friends and millions of New Yorkers. Learn about New York through the warped musical gaze of John Mulaney. And fly out of JFK if you can.

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