'SNL' Cast Member Ashley Padilla Shines in Absurd Office Sketch

I don’t remember seeing Ashley Padilla that much last season, which now feels like a personal failing on my part. I’ll be seeking out her appearances today, because no cast member has made me laugh more so far this season, and this newest episode continued that trend. Padilla destroyed in every sketch I watched her in, but none more than Surprise.

Before I get into that, let me say that I had two choices for my favorite sketches of this week, and Dustin liked them too! It was bound to happen eventually. So, a special shout-out to Plans, a pre-taped sketch about the horrors of remembering you said you’d do something with family and it upending your weekend. The Shop TV: Pillow sketch was fantastic as well, and included Padilla.

I also want to take a moment and say that one of the snobbiest aspects of my personality is that I will readily turn up my nose at poop or fart jokes. My feelings toward them increased when my kids were born. Poop jokes are childish and, I’d say, easy. I laugh at plenty of things that are easy or childish, but farts just don’t do it for me. That said, I won’t deny my body happiness, and it was pretty damn happy during Surprise.

Surprise features host Sabrina Carpenter, Andrew Dismukes, Ben Marshall, and Sarah Sherman as employees at an office who decide to surprise one of their coworkers, played by Padilla, for her birthday. When they do, she farts. But they’re like, wet, long farts. It sounds more like she’s pooping herself. Whoever did the sound design deserves an award, because they sounded real and absurd at the same time.

However, it isn’t intense flatulence that makes the sketch funny, it’s Padilla. Her reactions are incredible. She lowers her head, keeps saying, “Oh. Oh. Oh… Oh.” Padilla is filled with dread, embarrassment, and disappointment. The first time I ever lived with a woman, I used to try and hold in my gas all night, ya know, to stay sexy in her eyes. Inevitably, every morning, I’d let loose in the bathroom like an elephant whose tail got stepped on. Once, I learned that she had discussed this with a co-worker of hers, and my reaction was much like Padilla’s.

We see a secret shame exposed here (or I’m projecting). But what brings the sketch to the next level is that Padilla’s character doesn’t retreat; she plows ahead. She wants to talk about the farts, whether her co-workers like it or not. Embarrassment isn’t going to stop her, but it also gets worse, as she learns that she doesn’t even have a similar job to the other people in the sketch.

It’s another great domino to knock over. Everyone is presented as on the same level. Padilla’s character even has a seat at the head of the table. She looks and behaves like a boss. But we and she soon learn that her title as CSO (Chief Snack Officer) was not real. Her character makes an hourly wage and doesn’t even understand what a salary is. Still, at every turn, she carries herself like the smartest person in the room. It’s an incredible play on hierarchy dynamics.

Padilla’s energy is so high, and her character’s confidence is so firm that she makes several other cast members break. She even breaks at one point when she flubs a line, but recovers so quickly, I forgot it even happened until I rewatched the sketch.

Padilla puts on a masterclass in sketch comedy acting. The others are helpful and supportive, but they clearly know that this is hers to run with. When she goes to replicate the surprise herself and ends up farting again, it’s even funnier. That same wave of shame hits her. Every peppered in fart noise brings such real pain. It goes all the way to the end, and works the whole damn time. Then, everything explodes, ya know, cause of the gas.

Part of me was mad that the sketch worked so well on me, but that was dumb on my part. I laughed! I laughed the whole friggin time! Ashley Padilla is a treasure, and this will get looked at down the years as one of the many successes she had in what is becoming her breakout season. I hesitate to say that it will be the best because there’s a lot left in this season. But, dammit, every time she lowered her head and took her time feeling disappointed, I could feel it in my soul.