The Alex Honnold SNL Skit Got A Few Things Right—And Others Very Wrong

You know climbing has officially entered the mainstream chat when it gets its own SNL skit that includes a hilarious Kenan Thompson and a Stranger Things character cameo. Airing less than  week before the Netflix special Skyscraper Live, the January 18 episode of Saturday Night Live included a sketch satirizing Alex Honnold’s upcoming livestreamed climb on January 23.

From a climber’s perspective, we’ve created a scene-by-scene look at what SNL gets right—and oh so wrong—in its spoof of this historic moment in our sport.

Before we get into it, we should note that based on Honnold’s skills and resume, we feel quite confident that SNL’s parting line will not come true: “We saw your hockey porn and we raise you a live death.”

Now, here’s what SNL botched and nailed in its skit this past weekend.

Botched it: Flattening Honnold

Did Mikey Day just roll out of his tent and smoke a J or are do his eyes always appear half closed? While the stereotype of climbers as stoned hippies camped out behind boulders in Yosemite may erroneously persist, Alex Honnold is very much not that guy. Or was Day trying to go for a bolt-clipping bro who is better with beta (aka, climbingspeak) than actual words? Whatever Day was trying to do with his Honnold impersonation, it failed.

Whether he’s playing host on one of two podcasts (Climbing Gold and this season of Planet Visionaries) or being interviewed by CNN or Jay Shetty, Honnold is quite animated, loquacious, and intellectual. For someone whose side job is calmly explaining how not to fall to your death, he has a lot of personality.

Ultimately, Day’s impression missed the real comedic gold: Honnold’s actual quirks. Where do we begin? The wild risk tolerance that’s earned him the moniker “No Big Deal.” Bluntness that lands somewhere between charmingly aloof and deeply awkward. Hands so large he’s been nicknamed “Alex Handhold.” The habit of eating whole red bell peppers like apples. The man is basically already an SNL character by nature—so getting the impersonation wrong represents the skit’s biggest failing.

Nailed it: The tape gloves and chalk clap

Is it even a climbing movie if there isn’t a dramatic pre-send clapping of the hands, releasing a cloud of magnesium carbonate into the air? SNL nailed it there. Also please give a gold star to whoever they hired as their tape glove consultant. We’d jam up a Handhold-sized crack any day with those well-wrapped gloves.

Botched it: “… prepare to witness a first-of-its-kind event.”

Respectfully, climbing history would like a word.

Weeks after we published a story about Alain Robert’s first ascent of Taipei 101 over 20 years ago, climber Steve Matous reached out to Climbing to recount a story from the archives of live free solos. On October 29, 1977, ABC’s Wide World of Sports livestreamed New York City-born climber George Willig soloing the West Buttress (5.10a) of Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon.

“I was there working with the cameramen and did the next three live televised climbs,” Matous wrote in an email. He also helped rig filming for Willig’s climbs in Zion, Utah in 1978; Devils Tower, Wyoming in 1968; and Utah’s Castleton Tower in 1980.

But, wait, there’s more. In a recent deep dive for Climbing, Jim Erickson revisits the deep history of televised free solos—including Henry Barber’s onsight free solo of a 5.10 on ABC’s American Sportsman in 1976. He also takes us back to the early ’80s era, when legendary free soloist John Bachar performed rehearsed free solos (meaning he’d worked the routes beforehand) in California’s Joshua Tree on the show That’s Incredible. 

Last, but certainly not least, Alain Robert has likewise pulled off live televised climbs (broadcast internationally), along with a number of filmed ascents for commercials and other projects. To sum it up: Climbers have been doing completely unhinged things on television—including some moments on live television—for decades.

Nailed it: Reggie’s buddy’s hot take

We’re all about the cameo from the episode’s host Finn Wolfhard (aka, Mike Wheeler on Stranger Things)—not to mention the idea that someone would put their life on the line by free soloing a skyscraper because the Taco Bell Baja Blast Pie got discontinued.

Botched it: “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to climb a skyscraper.”

For Honnold, this urban ascent represents more of a fun romp than a long-held fantasy. As an extremely accomplished climber, a skyscraper in the presumed 5.11 range is, as his nickname dictates, really no big deal. Has his whole life been leading him to “this climb?” Most definitely not.

Aside from the fun factor, Honnold has also said that his primary motivation is that climbing buildings often comes with legal consequences (the likes of Robert has been arrested for scaling buildings well over 100 times). So if you get a hall pass via Netflix to climb a skyscraper legally, you better take it. Lastly, as many have speculated, we have no doubt that January 23 will be a big pay day for this Nevada-based climber.

Botched it: The Sanni reduction

Another garbled character in the SNL Alex Honnold skit is his wife: Sanni McCandless. While we understand the well-founded critique that Honnold is risking his life as a husband and dad, we don’t love how SNL reduced McCandless to a nameless “Alex’s wife” who is ineloquent enough to use the awkward word “proudness” to describe her husband. McCandless is in fact a solid climber herself, and the well-known force behind Outwild, which runs outdoor retreats and events. But a gendered snub in climbing culture isn’t exactly surprising—female climbers are no stranger to affronts, whether by trolls or at the crag.

SNL could’ve also nailed it by integrating an impersonation of pro climber Emily Harrington as a character; she will be a live commentator during Honnold’s Netflix special in Taiwan. (Editor’s Note: For more live commentary, visit this story on Honnold’s lead-up to his ascent during the event at 6 p.m. Mountain Time to ask questions and share opinions with responses in real time.)

Nailed it: Reggie’s sticky hands

If we see Honnold whip out some blue sticky hands on the 56th floor just for a much-needed comedic interlude to break the hold-your-breath tension of watching him climb live without a rope, I think we would all be very happy.

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