Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | February 2, 2026
My wife and I got very lucky with our kids. Not only was the process of my wife getting pregnant more extensive than usual (making us feel truly blessed when they arrived), but, as we often say when one of them claims to be bored, “we built [them] a friend.” And they are friends. That doesn’t mean they always want to play together. Right now, one is sitting across from me, coloring in a water-pen book and listening to Weird Al, while the other looks at comic books in another room. But, more often than not, they can keep each other entertained.
Another way we are lucky is that our kids are very well-behaved. Recently, an Uncle on my wife’s side even asked how they are always on their best behavior at parties and family functions. Ironically, I had learned a lot from his wife, but there I was, explaining that we always try to talk to them about why they are in a time-out, enforce good manners all the time, and how sleep-training and set schedules played a big part in it. So, to give ourselves some credit, there is luck, but there is also work.
It’s never more evident that our kids have good manners than when we are around… other kids. Despite having “forever play dates” with each other, my kids have had a couple of play dates with other children, and they’ve mostly been nightmares. Some have happened recently that involve new friends from school, and they’ve been mostly fine, but any play date proceeding that has been an absolute nightmare. We’ve been faced with kids with terrible manners who yell at their parents, often leaving my sweet little kids shaken and confused (and it occasionally rubs off on them).
Raising kids is hard, and every child is different, so I can only ever be so annoyed. That didn’t make a new SNL sketch featuring Alexander Skarsgård any less triggering (and funny). Titled Play Date, the sketch saw Skarsgård playing a young girl who just moved to town and has a play date with new friends (played by Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Jane Wickline, and Veronika Slowikowska), and proving to be too intense and violent when it’s revealed she isn’t familiar with various things they all know (like TikTok dances).
Admittedly, the premise is pretty thin. Alexander gets mad, yells at Sarah Sherman, and, eventually, his anger accelerates to involve tossing a phone and then Sherman herself. But, first and foremost, the escalation works. It also helps that the people he’s surrounded by are so funny and good at reacting to chaos. There’s also absurdity with different props, like, presumably, several dummies made to look like Sherman, and fake braces on Skarsgård that he has trouble talking with. Also, we get an always reliable Ashley Padilla as a wine mom.
There is also a beauty to its simplicity. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Alexander Skarsgård is a big dude. Massive, even! So, pairing him with several women and telling us they are all the same age is just a good way to start. He’s so big that Padilla can’t even look offstage to call him in without adjusting her eyeline upward. Also, they put him in pigtails and a little dress, but that’s never the main focus of the joke. It’s silly, of course, but it’s not beating the “look at a guy in a dress” thing to death. It’s more about him having an anger problem (and, look, been there).
I also want to give extra props to Sherman. She quickly found her niche when she started on the show. She does big, ridiculous characters that love to make fun of Colin Jost or have living meatballs on different parts of their body. But she’s also a pretty incredible straight man, and that’s on display here. The way she reacts to Skarsgård chasing her or throwing her out the window works because there’s also a touch of absurdity to her. It’s wild to think that she hasn’t been with the show that long (relatively speaking) because she’s always felt right at home.
Maybe this sketch isn’t as funny to you if you haven’t been stuck having to entertain a kid that’s rude or aggressive to yours or had to talk to their boring parents, but this hit all the right spots for me. I also love every cast member that was featured in it, and think they really found a sweet spot for Alexander Skarsgård, though it helps that he was so clearly game. He may not be as multi-hyphenated a performer as Teyana Taylor, but I won’t kick a gung-ho attitude outta bed.
