Our favorite sketches from Ian Abramson's solo Saturday Night Live livestream

Last week, comedian Ian Abramson casually declared that, with Saturday Night Live currently on hold, he would take it upon himself to bring late-night joy to a quarantined culture. Last night, he lived up to his promise, taking to Twitch to livestream a wild, sweaty night of offbeat comedy from his mom’s house.
Abramson’s broadcast hit a number of the traditional SNL beats, from an opening in which he played grotesque versions of Anderson Cooper and Donald Trump to a Weekend Update detour from comedian (and The A.V. Club contributor) Tim Barnes that felt both reverent of the modern form and satirical of its often groan-worthy content. A number of his comedian pals also got a chance to share their own pre-taped sketches.
Abramson also offered up some deranged, homespun spins on classic SNL characters like Mr. Bill, Toonces the Driving Cat, and Chris Farley’s Matt Foley, who, in this iteration, is called Can Of Beans Man (we think?). Throughout, technical mishaps, chaotic frames, rushed costume changes, and awkward fumbles became bits in themselves.
Only those who caught it live can claim to have seen the chaos in its purest, most unfiltered form, but you can catch a slew of clips from the evening on Twitch, watch some pre-taped versions of them here, and seek out some of the individual digital shorts online.
Below, we’ve shared a handful of our favorite “sketches,” which you can watch in anticipation of next week’s stream—Abramson has confirmed both online and to The A.V. Club that he is “absolutely 100%” returning. What he’s going to do about the patch of hair he sheared off at the end of last night’s stream, however, is anyone’s guess.