Jack Black Finally Reveals the Amy Poehler SNL Sketch You Never Saw
Jack Black just spilled on an SNL sketch that never saw the light of day: Boys Night Out, written for him by Amy Poehler. Appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the frequent host looked back at the cut piece and how it came together.
Jack Black just dug up an SNL sketch that never made it to air, and the backstory is peak SNL: tailor-made for a host, crushes in one room, dies in dress, disappears forever. Except now he sang the hook on TV and told the whole tale.
- The sketch was called 'Boys Night Out' and was written specifically for Black by Amy Poehler (with Emily Spivey also credited by Poehler later)
- Black wanted it as a short song and performed the hook on Late Night with Seth Meyers
- Premise: a guy is insanely pumped for a boys' night because his wife is out for the day
- It bombed at SNL dress rehearsal and got cut; Black agreed with Lorne Michaels pulling it
- Meyers praised how hard Black tried to sell it anyway; Black joked he only has one speed
- Poehler says the full bit was Black waiting for friends who never show, ordering wings on repeat
- Side note: Black has hosted Saturday Night Live multiple times
What 'Boys Night Out' was supposed to be
Black says Poehler wrote the piece for him and that he pushed to do it as a quick, punchy song. On Late Night with Seth Meyers, he even sang the chorus, and yes, it absolutely sounds like a Jack Black ditty:
'Boys night out / Boys night out / Now we're really rockin' / And the chicks are all a-squawkin' / 'Cause we're talking 'bout a boys night out!'
The setup: a husband is ecstatic because his wife is gone for the day, so he can finally have a bros-only rager. That was the vibe.
Great in one room, dead in dress
According to Black, the song went over big with Meyers' audience. At SNL? Not so much. In dress rehearsal, it tanked hard. He says he thought it was funny, but when it flatlined in the room, it was clear: cut it. He backed Lorne Michaels' call to kill the sketch before air.
Meyers and Poehler add context
Meyers, who has seen a few sketches go sideways in his day, complimented Black for committing to the bit even after it had face-planted at dress. Black laughed it off, saying he basically only knows how to go full throttle, which tracks.
Meanwhile, on her Good Hang podcast, Poehler explained she wrote the piece with Emily Spivey. Her version of the sketch is extra bleak-funny: Black's character keeps waiting for his friends, who never show, so he just keeps ordering wings. That's the whole escalating joke. It's the kind of oddly specific premise that either slays or evaporates depending on the crowd.
So, in the end, no live SNL debut for 'Boys Night Out' — but it did get a second life as a late-night mini-performance and a nice little peek behind the show's process from three people who know it inside and out.