White ‘SNL’ Cast Members Go to a Black Barbershop Instead of Therapy

I am mixed, half white and half black, but I mostly present as white. One of my acting teachers in college once told me that I look “some kind of ethnic” (to be fair, I did ask), and that’s usually how I assume people see me, but that isn’t always the case. Regardless, my hair is curly as hell. It’s super thick, and if I let it grow out, I have an afro within a month and a half. The first time I ever had my hair done by a person of color was to get it cornrowed when I was 16.

Before that, the person who was mostly cutting my hair was my very white mother. That’s just what it is. She didn’t know how to cut my hair and never bothered to learn, so most of the time, getting a haircut meant that I was going to get my head buzzed in a way that was not even or lined up. I genuinely looked like I had gotten in a fight with a pair of clippers. It was a nightmare, and then, I moved to NYC, babyyyy.

The first time I ever went to a quote-unquote black barbershop was in Bedstuy in Brooklyn, and it was a magical experience. Everybody was really nice, they asked about my work (which was minimal at the time), and someone may or may not have sold me some weed. The only downside was that I moved to a different part of Brooklyn shortly after, and, by the next time I needed my hair cut, had to find a new spot. It worked out, but I was chasing that experience for a while. Now, my wife cuts my hair (and crushes at it, one of the few upsides to quarantine), but I still felt wistful watching Uneek Kutz Barbershop on SNL this week.

The setup is pretty straightforward. Three white guys (Mikey Day, Ben Marshall, and Tommy Brennan) talk about a new kind of therapy: getting their hair cut in a black barbershop by black barbers (Colman Domingo, Kenan Thompson, and Kam Patterson). What follows is seeing said three white guys being welcomed into a black barbershop, and hilarity ensues. They are a little thrown off at first. But by the end, they’re wearing durags, satisfying their wives, and realizing their problems are… pretty small.

One of the first things that stuck me about this sketch is how lived-in it feels. Kenan, Colman, and Kam are far enough apart in age that it makes them feel almost generational. They all seem very comfortable in their roles, and while they definitely get silly, there’s nothing that’s ever really over the top (not even Colman miming making… certain things clap). They did a great job making this feel like a real place instead of a caricature (which could have been an easy mistake).

Mikey, Ben, and Tommy also help sell the sketch by kind of going along with it. Yes, they’re not sure what to do at first, but they have little mini arcs in the sketch. They walk away as changed men, also in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s doing too much. Like, Mikey Day looks like he would fit right in at a black barbershop, but what I love the most about this is the point that anybody could have a good time at a black barbershop if they wanted to!

Going back to my very white mother, she’s one of the most Irish Catholic people I’ve ever met in my life. She doesn’t have an accent or carry her Rosary beads around, but I don’t think she can have peace of mind if she is not suffering through or for something. My wife and I have often told her that she would benefit by stepping out of her cultural comfort zone and attending another church, around new (to her) people with different experiences, but she won’t. It’s a bummer.

You can do more than just go to a different place to get your hair cut. There are plenty of ways to experience other people’s cultures and norms. But if you want to have a great time and relax a little bit, and maybe step outside of your comfort zone, a black barbershop is a great place to go. I’m living proof. If Ben Marshall were a slight shade darker, he would basically look just like me when he gets his haircut in this sketch and ends up with a Caesar cut (I just pull it off slightly better).