Honestly, if you haven’t randomly shouted "CHAM-BUM" at a party while holding a cheap plastic cup of bubbly, did you even live through the 2010s? It's been over a decade since Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong first stumbled onto the Saturday Night Live stage in tight dresses and even tighter wigs, and yet the Moet and Chandon SNL sketch remains a permanent resident in the "Best of" archives.
It’s one of those rare bits that shouldn’t work. On paper, it’s just two people mispronouncing words. But in execution? It’s a masterpiece of character acting and sheer, unadulterated absurdity.
The Birth of Brecky and... Well, Just Her
The sketch first hit the airwaves during Season 38 in 2012. Vanessa Bayer played Brecky, and Cecily Strong played her unnamed partner-in-crime. The premise is simple: two former "adult film" stars are trying to break into the world of high-end luxury endorsements. They aren't doing it for the craft, though. They're doing it because they want the free stuff.
They basically think if they make a commercial for a brand, that brand will just mail them a Lamborghini or a case of champagne.
What makes the Moet and Chandon SNL iteration so iconic—and why it arguably stands above the later versions for Swarovski Crystals or Hermès—is the specific way they butcher the French language. They don't just say it wrong. They say it with a level of confidence that is honestly inspiring. Moët & Chandon becomes "Mo-it and Chambum."
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Why the Justin Timberlake Episode Was the Peak
While the "Porn Stars" sketch became a recurring staple, the March 9, 2013, episode hosted by Justin Timberlake is the one everyone remembers.
Timberlake joined the duo as "Ricky V.I. Penis."
It’s peak JT. He leans into the greasy, low-rent aesthetic perfectly, proving why he’s a member of the Five-Timers Club. The trio spends four minutes slurring their way through bizarre anecdotes that oscillate between hilarious and deeply dark. One second they're talking about the "fizz-azz" of the champagne, and the next, they’re casually mentioning a shoot in Mexico where "two of the girls disappeared, but I’m alive! Thanks, champagne!"
It’s that "punching down" vs. "punching up" balance that people still debate. Some critics at the time felt the sketch was a bit mean-spirited toward sex workers. But for most fans, the joke isn't the profession—it's the hilariously failed attempt at being "classy."
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The Language of the "Chambum" Universe
You’ve got to appreciate the writing here. Rumor has it that Cecily Strong developed the "Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party" vibe with Colin Jost, and some of that DNA definitely leaked into this sketch.
The vocabulary is its own dialect. They don't say luxury; they say "luzzury." They don't say expensive; it’s "’spensive."
Here is a quick look at how they re-branded the world:
- Champagne: Cham-pain (or just "the bubbles")
- Moët & Chandon: Mo-it and Chambum
- Luxury: Luzzury/Luzzur-ous
- Elegant: Eleg-nance
- Sayonara: Sayonara Muchachos (which makes zero sense, and that’s the point)
The physical comedy is just as important as the dialogue. If you watch closely, Bayer and Strong are constantly swaying. They look like they’ve been standing in those heels for 14 hours and have slowly lost all skeletal integrity.
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Why We Still Quote It in 2026
We live in an era of hyper-polished influencer marketing. Everyone on TikTok is trying to sell you a "lifestyle" with perfect lighting and scripted authenticity. The Moet and Chandon SNL sketch is the perfect antidote to that. It’s the ultimate "expectation vs. reality" meme before that was even a thing.
They want to be glamorous. They think they are being glamorous. But they’re actually just standing in front of a green screen that probably smells like a damp basement, pitching "the champagne for people who want to forget what their dad looks like."
The Formula for a Perfect Recurring Sketch
SNL has a history of run-it-into-the-ground recurring bits, but this one stayed fresh because the products changed.
- The Intro: Low-budget graphics and a distorted voiceover.
- The Mispronunciation: The hook that gets the audience on board.
- The Trauma Dump: A casual mention of a horrific injury or a legal disaster.
- The Guest: A high-profile celebrity (like Ben Affleck or Jonah Hill) coming in to be even weirder than the girls.
In the Ben Affleck version, they tried to sell "Herman’s" (Hermès) handbags. In the Jonah Hill one, it was a "Lamborg-hini." But nothing ever quite matched the bubbly energy of the original "Chambum."
How to Channel Your Inner Brecky (Actionable Steps)
If you want to revisit the magic of this era of SNL, don't just watch the clips on YouTube. Look for the "making of" stories or interviews where Cecily Strong talks about the endurance required to keep that voice up for a full five-minute sketch.
- Watch the evolution: Start with the first appearance in 2012 and work your way to the final iterations. You can see the chemistry between Bayer and Strong solidify.
- Check out "I Love That for You": If you miss Vanessa Bayer’s specific brand of awkward-but-earnest comedy, her Showtime series is a spiritual successor to this kind of character work.
- Host a "Chambum" Night: Grab a bottle of actual Moët (or a $7 bottle of Andre, let's be real), put on some blue eyeshadow, and see how long you can go without pronouncing a word correctly. It's harder than it looks.
The Moet and Chandon SNL sketch isn't just a parody of a commercial. It’s a tribute to the "hot mess" era of television, and frankly, we could use a little more "eleg-nance" like that today.