The Super Mario Bros. Movie Snubbed Funky Kong, But SNL Lets Him Speak His Truth
Of all the members of the Kong family tree, there are none quite so funky as the inimitable Funky Kong, with his polka dot bandanna, cut-off jean shorts, and wraparound purple shades. Keep your Swanky Kongs and your Crankys Kongs; Funky Kong is where it's at. Sadly, though, Funky Kong was simply too funky for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," and only appears as a background character without any lines.
Even a mere glimpse of Funky Kong has been powerful enough to make "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" the highest-grossing video game movie of all time, as well as the biggest movie of 2023 so far — but how much funkier could the movie have been? To answer that question, Funky Kong himself (Kenan Thompson) joined Colin Jost on the Weekend Update desk for this week's "Saturday Night Live," to offer his funky wisdom, show off his funky dance moves, and reveal some of the funky deleted scenes that we can hopefully expect to see on the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" Blu-ray.
'Funky don't wanna be what they want, Colin'
"I guess Funky Kong is too real for them," Mr. Kong laments when Colin inquires about his scenes being cut from "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." The renegade Kong describes a life on the edge, spending his evenings with a "glass of banana rum, and a bed full of toads."
He also references a hitherto-unknown member of the Kong clan, Monkey Kong, who is apparently a donkey. This is a nod to the somewhat confusing name of the original Kong, Donkey Kong, who is decidedly not a donkey. Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" franchises, has explained that he wanted the character's name to convey that he was stupid, so he looked the word up in an English dictionary that gave "donkey" as a translation for "manuke (stupid)" — perhaps trying to convey the word "ass."
Funky Kong might not be as famous as his brother, Stupid Ass Kong, but it's safe to say he won hearts and minds during his visit to Studio 8H. And with the Super Mario Bros. Cinematic Universe now a financial inevitability, perhaps Funky Kong will get his own spinoff movie soon.
"Saturday Night Live" is taking a couple of weeks off, but will return on May 6 with Pete Davidson hosting and Lil Uzi Vert as the musical guest.