Given the mostly terrifying, sometimes comical Scientology revelations featured in HBO documentary Going Clear, it was only a matter of time until SNL spoofed the religion. That spoof aired on the show’s latest episode, in the form of an ultra-cheesy music video for “Neurotology,” the thinly veiled Scientology stand-in that preaches the same gospel of alien invasion, billion-year contracts, and brain machines that can save mankind.
The video partly succumbs to an old SNL tic—assuming a one-note joke can carry an entire sketch—but its production value, which perfectly replicates ’90s self-help sing-alongs and the fuzzy scrim of VHS tapes, more than makes up for it. Also notable is just how true the video is to its source material: The Scientology ads on which it’s based, one of which is below, are actually even cornier.
