Saturday Night Live's "I Drink Your Milkshake" sketch is a thinly veiled excuse for Bill Hader to unleash his Daniel Day-Lewis impression. Some of the best comic actors came up through SNL, including Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Bill Murray and countless others. The show is a good testing ground for comedians and even the lamest of skits can be saved by a committed performance. Bill Hader made his SNL debut in 2005 and while he had a regular habit of corpsing during sketches - especially as his most popular character Stefon - he was still one of the best cast members to emerge from the show.
Bill Hader left Saturday Night Live in 2013 and his reputation only seems to grow each year. In addition to being a prolific voice performer, as seen in the Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs movies, he regularly jumps back and forth between movies and TV series. He won praise for his turn as the adult Richie in IT Chapter Two and in addition to playing the title role in the acclaimed Barry he also co-created the show and directed some episodes.
Bill Hader is also a film nerd who is great with impersonations, which informed some of his sketch choices on Saturday Night Live. Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood obviously left an impression on him too. This 2008 drama starred Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview, who isn't above committing fraud or murder to reach his goals. It's an iconic performance with one of Plainview's most memorable lines being "I... drink... your... milkshake!" This forms the basis for SNL's "I Drink Your Milkshake" skit, where Hader's Plainview makes an unusual show for the Food Network.
Saturday Night Live's "I Drink Your Milkshake" sees Bill Hader's Plainview and his son H.W. (Amy Poehler) traveling the country and visiting various establishments to drink different milkshakes. The twist is that instead of just ordering his own he just bullies and harasses others into letting him drink theirs. Truth be told SNL's " I Drink Your Milkshake" isn't one of their better sketches, and features scattered nods to 2008's other big Oscar-nominated films like No Country For Old Men and Juno, but what makes it worth seeing is Bill Hader's scenery-chewing impression of Daniel Day-Lewis.
He perfectly captures the look, tone and body language of Day-Lewis' Plainview and gets to recite lines with gusto, like "I've abandoned my boy!" Saturday Night Live's "I Drink Your Milkshake" seems to have been an excuse for Bill Hader to do his impression but on that front, it was totally worth it.