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SNL’s Nate Bargatze delivers part two of ‘Washington’s Dream’ which fans hailed as ‘best skit in years’

Nate Bargatze reprises his role as George Washington to share more of his hopes and dreams for the country

Rhian Lubin
Sunday 06 October 2024 17:05 BST
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Watch: Nate Bargatze’s part two of ‘Washington’s Dream’ skit on SNL

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Saturday Night Live delighted fans by delivering part two of Washington’s Dream sketch, which was hailed last year as the show’s “best skit in years.”

Nate Bargatze reprised his role as George Washington to share more of his hopes and dreams for the country with his Revolutionary War soldiers Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, and James Austin Johnson.

The sketch mocks the peculiarities of the American–English language. As his men question whether they will win the battle, Bargatze’s Washington tells them: “We will live through the battle ahead because we fight to control our own destiny, to create our own nation…and to do our own thing with the English language.”

“I dream, that one day our great nation will have a word for the number 12,” he continues. “We shall call it a dozen.”

“And what other numbers will we have a word for?” asks Yang.

“None,” Bargatze replies, completely deadpan. “Only 12 shall have its own word because we are free men, and we will be free to spell some words two different ways.”

Nate Bargatze reprises the role of George Washington for the skit
Nate Bargatze reprises the role of George Washington for the skit (Saturday Night Live/NBC)

Day then asks: “Which words, sir?”

“Donut,” Bargatze replies. He adds: “We will also have two names for animals, one when they are alive and a different one for when they become food. Cows will be beef, pigs will be pork.”

Yang asks: “Chickens, Sir?”

“That one stays,” Bargatze says. “Chickens are chicken.”

Fans welcomed the second installment of the skit on social media. “I honestly didn’t think they could pull this off again but so happy to be proven wrong,” one said on X.

Another, taking aim at how the latest Joker: Folie à Deux film has been widely reviewed as a flop, said: “This is how you make a sequel Todd Phillips.”

Nate Bargatze delighted fans by reprising the role of George Washington
Nate Bargatze delighted fans by reprising the role of George Washington (NBC)

“I needed this this morning. Very clever & so true,” someone else said.

It follows last year’s hilarious skit where Washington outlined his dream for a country with its own “system of weights and measures.”

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The scene was a takedown of American measurements and other peculiarities, including lines like: “We are free men! And we will be free to measure liquids in litres and milliliters... but not all liquids, only soda, wine and alcohol. For milk and paint we will use gallons, pints and quarts, god-willing.”

Asked by one of his soldiers (Day) how many liters are in a gallon, he replies simply: “Nobody knows.”

Last night’s SNL also poked fun at the vice presidential debate between JD Vance (Bowen Yang) and Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan).

Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) and Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) watched on as the pair stared into each other’s eyes and found “common ground”, prompting Rudolph to spit out wine and exclaim: “Why are they vibing?”

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