What Is Kyle Mooney Without Beck Bennett On 'SNL'?

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What Is Kyle Mooney Without Beck Bennett On 'SNL'?

Google "Kyle Mooney," and you get a myriad of auto-fills, including the reliable "net worth" and "wife," and less predictable options like "sports jacket." (In case you're wondering what that is about, look here.) But Google "Kyle Mooney and," and the inevitable pops up: "Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett," two Saturday Night Live cast members so inextricably linked, they might as well be peanut butter and jelly. That is, if the peanut butter was a particularly trippy strain of peyote and the jelly was a shaman helping you realize everything would be OK.

Because Bennett and Mooney are the most bizarrely complementary duo in Saturday Night Live history. Though they often existed on their own — Mooney with roles like Bruce Chandling, Bennett with Vladimir Putin or any generic White Guy needed in a sketch — their best work was together in a continuation of Good Neighbor, the troupe that attracted underground attention prior to both comedians entering Studio 8H in 2013. For the uninitiated, Good Neighbor was a weirder version of Lonely Island — whereas Andy Samberg might talk to bros while eating lettuce, Good Neighbor would talk to lettuce while eating bros.

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It was absurd comedy that bordered on dangerous — exactly the type of work that would get Lorne Michaels' attention, but never actually make it to air past dress rehearsal. But while it was extraordinarily unlikely to ever see something like "Unbelievable Dinner" (the Hook-inspired sketch that even caught Steven Spielberg's attention) on the sketch comedy series, Bennett and Mooney were able to make the Saturday Night Live format work for them.

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