Tonight on SNL, the writer-performer trio known as Please Don’t Destroy — consisting of Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy — saw their digital sketch disrupted by technical issues.
“Disclaimer: Due to a hard drive malfunction, some of Emma Stone‘s footage from this week’s Please Don’t Destroy video was corrupted,” says the narrator. “But, using advanced AI technology, we were able to seamlessly replace any lost shots of her. Now please enjoy.”
The actual Stone is present immediately thereafter as she enters the trio’s office, one writing night after 10 p.m.
Marshall lets Stone know that they are “such big fans,” with Higgins exclaiming, “Yeah, when we saw your name, we were like, ‘Are you kidding? Emma Stone is hosting?’”
But when we cut back to Stone for a reaction shot, it’s not the actress at all. Instead, it’s a horrifically bad AI version of her, created using Punkie Johnson as a body double. “Yeah that’s me,” says Johnson as Stone. “Amanda Stones!”
Higgins tells AI Stone she’s “even more stunning in real life,” with Marshall adding that the collaborators love her new Showtime series, The Curse.
“The Curse?” asks AI Stone. “Oh! Am I that b*tch from Harry Potter?”
“Disclaimer,” the narrator chimes in. “Unfortunately, Punkie knows very little about Academy Award winning actress Emma Stone. Or Harry Potter.”
After learning later in the sketch that Stone is in love with Herlihy, we see scenes featuring a terrible AI Marshall (played by Marcello Hernandez) and a Higgins whose appearance has been ‘Yassified’ courtesy of artificial intelligence. Check out the full sketch above.
