Little town, it’s a quiet village… or is it? In thisSaturday Night Livesketch, we get a peek at how Maurice used his alone time while Belle was trapped in the castle with the Beast. Belle (Chloe Fineman) uses the Beast’s (Pete Davidson) magical mirror to look at her father at home, only to find that maybe he does live up to the title of “crazy old Maurice.“Willem Dafoeas Maurice dances around his house, lights candles, and hides photos of Belle to do what many men do alone.
The sketch begins with Fineman clad in Belle’s iconic golden gown dancing with the Beast, presumably right after dancing to the titular song “Beauty and the Beast.” At this point in the film, Belle and the Beast have fallen in love, and she is no longer there against her will but rather sees something beautiful after the Beast makes an effort to change. Davidson’s Beast, in his deepest ‘beast’ voice, asks if Belle is happy with him. Belle admits that she misses her father, so the Beast gives Belle his magic mirror, which can be used to see someone upon request. At this point in the actual story, Belle sees her father being taken by Gaston, but this time things go a little differently.
Instead, Dafoe’s Maurice enters their cottage home calling out to see if anyone is home besides “crazy old Maurice.” Davidson drops the Beast’s bellowing voice, saying “Uh oh,” much to Belle’s confusion. After Belle says he’s probably frightened, the Beast remarks that “we’re the ones who should be frightened” before cutting back to Maurice lighting dozens of candles around his house. Maurice frantically puts all the photos of his deceased wife and Belle’s faces down, yelling “don’t look at me,” but knowingly leaves up the photo of his horse while proclaiming “look at me!”
RELATED:‘Saturday Night Live’: Willem Dafoe’s Best Sketches, RankedMaurice puts on sensual French music and begins dancing around his cottage, while back at the castle some other characters come to see what is going on. Lumiere (Mikey Day), Cogsworth (Kenan Thompson), and Mrs. Potts (Punkie Johnson) are all infatuated with watching Maurice, while Chip (Kyle Mooney) is hilariously confused as to what is going on.
Finally, Maurice takes a photograph of his deceased wife and laments her passing, wishing he was “holding” him and “spanking [his] ass.” Belle smashes the mirror, pretending to do it as an accident, after reaching her breaking point seeing him address her dead mother. After she leaves, the Beast jokes he has many more magic mirrors. The sketch ends with Chip asking the Beast what was happening, with him singing “a tale as old as time… which is a song I would sing if we had the rights.”
This funny take on the classic film lets Dafoe show off his comedic range and may answer the question why the townsfolk call him crazy old Maurice. You can watch the sketch here:
