In an 'update' from the 2017 skit that saw Chance the Rapper as an ice hockey reporter, this SNL skit sees his character attending the League of Legends 2019 World Championship.
The fictitious match that saw 'Shadow Gaming' eliminate 'Team Echo', seemingly in reference to North American hopefuls Team Liquid being eliminated from the real tournament in the group stage by Invictus Gaming.
As the usual esports reporter Jake Sussman is away to take his PSATs, NBA reporter 'Lazlo Holmes' is standing in to cover the event with no idea what is going on.
"When they asked me to cover the League of Legends tournament, I assumed it was a basketball game with NBA legends" is his opening remark as he looks confused.
Lazlo Holmes reporting live from...
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 27, 2019
an eSports tournament? 👾#ChanceOnSNL pic.twitter.com/N9h7Gb2wle
The skit goes on to poke fun at the confusing viewer experience for the uninitiated to esports and MOBAs particularly, lack of personality in many of the post-game interviews from players, odd names with no clear pronounciation and the phenomenon of very passionate fangirls that adore the players.
There is also a joke about the huge prize pool awarded in many esports titles, stating there is $7,000,000 in total up for grabs. The prize pool from Worlds 2018 was $6,450,000, with $2,225,000 as the base total and the additional amount coming from 12.5% of all revenue from Championship Kha'Zix & Championship Ward skins players could buy in-game.
The full skit can be found on the SNL YouTube channel below:
League of Legends and the esports culture have been creeping further into the mainstream in recent times. The Simpsons worked with Riot to produce an episode that saw a parody of LoL played by Bart Simpson and his friends. CBS has greenlit a pilot for a comedy series based on Rick Fox and the Echo Fox saga while NBC is set to develop an esports comedy of their own titled 'The Squad'.