Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey had to convince Justin Bieber’s devoutly religious mother to let the teenager appear in his iconic NSFW sketch.
“His mom was very religious, so we had a meeting in Lorne Michael’s office with Justin and myself and Lorne and his mom,” Carvey, 70, recalled on a new episode of his SNL-themed podcast, Fly On the Wall.
The SNL duo “had to kind of convince her that it’s not satanic, because the Church Lady gets a little hot and bothered in her PG-13 way,” Carvey explained of their conversation with Bieber’s born-again Christian mother, Pattie Mallette.
“Yes, she sure does,” podcast guest Adam Scott replied. “That’s what we’re all waiting for.”
In Carvey’s provocative sketch, the former cast member plays the Church Lady, a pious Christian who both admonishes her guests’ sins and becomes fixated on their “naughty parts.” She became known for her sarcastic catch phrase, “Well, isn’t that special,” and her reverb-backed invocation of Satan when a guest described their sins.
When Carvey returned to host SNL in 2011, Michaels, 81, suggested that he bring Bieber, who was 16 at the time, on the sketch. Bieber had just rocketed into pop stardom with his Grammy-nominated album, New World 2.0, which featured the smash hit, “Baby.”
In the sketch, the Church Lady begins by condemning celebrities like the Kardashians—whom he called “the Holy Trinity of sluts”— and Jersey Shore’s Snookie, all played by SNL cast members. In a surprise twist, Bieber, who was not announced to be on the show, joined the sketch as himself.
“Bieber was so good at it,” Carvey lauded. “His acting was fantastic, and he was funny.”
In the sketch, the Church Lady introduces the “clean cut” teen pop star, only to become infatuated with him.
“I have to say, seeing you in person is affecting me in a way I didn’t think it quite would,” the Church Lady says, composing herself. “With your nice new haircut and your million-dollar smile, it’s just sort of... OK.”
“Are you uh–are you OK, Church Lady?” Bieber asks.
“Oh yes, that’s right. Say my name. Say my name with your angel’s voice,” Carvey responds in-character. “The voice that makes young girls’ naughty parts tingle.”
“As well as it seems some older ladies’ naughty parts,” the Church Lady continued, cooling herself with a church fan adorned with an image of Jesus. “Some older ladies’ naughty parts that have been on a lengthy sabatical.”
The sketch ends with Jesus Christ speaking directly to the Church Lady, asking her not to “fall victim to the flesh.” After Bieber winks at the camera, the pop star joins the Church Lady for a dance.
Bieber’s surprise appearance was his first since performing as musical guest on the show the year prior. He hosted the show just once in 2013, and was allegedly so difficult to work with that he inspired an entire comedy series from the show’s co-head writers about a teen pop star and his family.
The pop star has been mocked several times on the show, most notably by two-time Emmy-winner Kate McKinnon.
