In a terrific send-up of the idiocy that is “pickup culture,” SNL gives us a glimpse of a world where women try to be the creepy pickup artists. Cecily Strong is a Mystery-like teacher (in an appropriately snazzy jacket) guiding her pupils along the path of predatory flirting. Turns out the lessons are exactly the same (negging, physical contact, making plans), and the marks are just slightly easier to convince. But Melissa McCarthy’s Rhonda cannot be confined to the mechanical routines of the seduction community. Her increasingly weird attempts to apply the lessons may be clumsy, but they do get to pickup artistry’s desired conclusion: Your fingers three knuckles deep in a stranger’s mouth.
