The Domingo Sketch: How SNL's Running Bit Started

You've probably sat through a wedding toast that went on too long, sung by a friend who should not have been singing, while the couple tried to keep smiling. That is how SNL's Domingo started. A real maid of honor's off-key toast went viral, and two SNL writers turned it into "Bridesmaid Speech," which aired Oct. 12, 2024. The sketch got no laughs at the table read and nearly didn't make it to air. It turns two years old this month and has grown into one of the show's longest-running recurring bits.

The real toast behind it

Domingo was created by SNL writers Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O'Sullivan. As reported by Vanity Fair and reprinted by AOL, the idea came from a viral Instagram video. In it, a maid of honor sang a Hamilton-themed wedding speech badly off-key.

Fowlie said he wasn't mocking her: "God bless her, it really was so genuine." What caught his attention was how the bride and groom looked as they sat through it. Their pained faces made him think "this is so good." The sketch is built on that discomfort. The joke isn't really the singing. It's watching everyone at the table who has to sit through it.

Writers Sudi Green and Allie Levitan were also reportedly brought in to help develop the sketch.

The table read where nobody laughed

Every week, SNL's cast reads through the possible sketches, and many get cut there. "Bridesmaid Speech" got no laughs at its read. "We almost gave up on it," Fowlie said, and he even wondered if the sketch was cursed.

The host, Ariana Grande, helped save it. O'Sullivan said the writers showed Grande the wedding video, and she "immediately understood" that she had to sing off-key. A trained singer singing badly on purpose was the missing piece. According to the AOL reprint of the Vanity Fair interview, Grande pushed to keep the sketch after the read.

What actually aired

The finished sketch is set at the wedding of Kelsey (Chloe Fineman) and her groom Matt (Andrew Dismukes). Kelsey's bridesmaids are Grande, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim and Sarah Sherman. They give a toast set to Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso," sung off-key. Verse by verse, the song reveals what happened on the bachelorette trip: Kelsey had an affair with a man named Domingo.

Then Domingo walks in, played by Marcello Hernández. He's only on screen for the last few seconds of the first sketch.

The guy who barely knew his role

Hernández didn't know much more about the character than the audience did. He said that just before the table read, the writers told him they had a fun bit for him at the end of a sketch, and all he knew was that it was "a Latino guy."

Fowlie said Hernández even asked to change the character's name to James. The writers kept "Domingo," and that name became the hook of every sequel.

Most of the origin story comes from the writers, Grande and Hernández. The other cast members in the first sketch have said little in public about how it came together.

How a 30-second cameo became a franchise

The sketch spread quickly online, but the view counts depend on which platform and which date you check. TODAY reported that the original clip passed 100 million views on SNL's TikTok. A Forbes count cited by Wikipedia gave about 11 million YouTube views and 15.2 million TikTok views as of Nov. 26, 2024. Either way, the clip reached people who don't usually watch SNL.

The show brought the character back several times:

• "Babymoon" (Nov. 16, 2024): Host Charli XCX joins the bridesmaids at Kelsey's baby shower, this time to Chappell Roan's "Hot to Go!" Her "babymoon" trip to Miami turns out to have been a trip to see Domingo, and Kelsey is expecting twins, one by Matt and one by Domingo. According to TODAY, clips of this sketch passed 40 million views.
• "Vow renewal" (Feb. 16, 2025): On the SNL50 anniversary special, the story brings in Domingo's family. Pedro Pascal plays Domingo's older brother (sources spell his name differently), and Bad Bunny plays another brother, Santiago. This time the groomsmen sing, and their song reveals that Matt had an affair too.
• "Birthday" (Oct. 18, 2025): A cold open at Matt's 30th birthday party, in the episode hosted by Sabrina Carpenter, whose song started it all.

Sabrina Carpenter's reaction

Carpenter's reaction helped the bit grow. After the first sketch aired, she posted on Instagram that the parody was "Very nice and on pitch." O'Sullivan said Carpenter told the writers, "People don't even care about my version anymore."

On Nov. 17, 2024, the night after "Babymoon" aired, Carpenter brought Hernández onstage as Domingo at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. "I'm from Miami, baby," he told the crowd. "I wish you were from my bedroom," she replied.

The character spread beyond SNL in other ways too. The New York Mets gave Hernández a "Domingo" jersey when he visited Citi Field in October, and he also made a brief cameo as Domingo during Jack Black's induction into SNL's Five-Timers Club.

Most recurring sketches start out as a hit. Domingo started as a sketch nobody laughed at, with its title character on screen for only a few seconds. It made it to air because a host understood the video it was based on, and it has stuck around because almost everyone has sat through an awkward toast like that one.

Sources (7)

• TODAY: Domingo SNL sketch explained
• Wikipedia: Domingo (Saturday Night Live)
• AOL: SNL's Domingo sketch was inspired by a real wedding video
• AOL: SNL's viral Domingo sketch inspiration
• Vanity Fair: "It's Domingo": How the viral SNL character took over your feed (as reported)
• Remezcla: Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny star as Domingo's brothers on SNL50
• Billboard Canada: Sabrina Carpenter brings Domingo onstage in Los Angeles

Photo by OleksandrPidvalnyi on Pixabay.