Ryan Gosling looks exhausted. He’s staring into the middle distance, a cigarette dangling from his lip as he recounts a trauma that most people wouldn’t even notice. It’s not a lost love or a tragic accident. It’s a font. Specifically, it's the fact that James Cameron—the man behind the highest-grossing film of all time—decided to use Papyrus for the Avatar logo.
If you haven't seen the SNL Papyrus skit, you're missing out on what might be the most relatable five minutes of television ever produced for anyone who has ever opened Microsoft Word. It’s a masterpiece of high-concept comedy. It treats a minor typographical grievance like a psychological thriller.
The Obsession That Defined a Decade
The sketch premiered on September 30, 2017. It was the Season 43 premiere. At the time, Avatar was almost a decade old, yet the joke landed with the force of a freight train. Why? Because the font choice for Avatar was objectively bizarre. You have a $237 million budget, and you settle on a font that comes pre-installed on every budget laptop since the late nineties?
Gosling plays Steven, a man gripped by a singular, burning rage. He can’t move on. He sees the logo on sweatshirts, on posters, in his nightmares. He tells his therapist, played by Cecily Strong, that it looks like Cameron just clicked the drop-down menu and picked the first thing that looked "tribal."
That’s the hook. It’s not just about a font. It’s about the laziness of greatness.
It’s about the idea that a visionary filmmaker could spend years developing motion-capture technology but couldn't bother to hire a graphic designer for the title card. The sketch works because it taps into a very specific kind of professional "nerd rage." It’s the same feeling a historian gets when they see a digital watch in a movie set in 1776. It’s a glitch in the Matrix.
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The Creator Behind the Chaos
Julio Torres wrote it. If you know his work on Los Espookys or his film Problemista, the vibe makes perfect sense. Torres has this uncanny ability to take a microscopic inconvenience and inflate it until it takes up the entire room. He understands that humans are weird. We fixate on things that don't matter because the things that do matter are too big to handle.
The production value of the SNL Papyrus skit is what really sells the joke. It’s shot like a prestige drama. Think Manchester by the Sea or a brooding indie flick. The lighting is moody. The music is somber. Gosling gives an Oscar-caliber performance over a typeface created by a guy named Chris Costello in 1982.
Costello actually spoke out after the sketch went viral. He wasn't mad. He was actually pretty humble about it. He designed the font when he was 23 years old, just out of college, looking for something that looked ancient and "biblical." He sold the rights for very little money. He had no idea it would end up on every hookah lounge menu and New Age candle shop in the Western world. And he certainly didn't expect it to become the punchline of the decade.
The Sequel Nobody Expected
Fast forward to 2024. Ryan Gosling is back on SNL. Everyone thought the joke was dead. Avatar: The Way of Water had already come out, and—surprise, surprise—they changed the font. Sort of. They used a modified version of Papyrus.
In "Papyrus 2," Steven is doing better. He’s found a new life. But then, he sees the new logo. It’s just Papyrus... but bold. The betrayal is even deeper this time. It’s a commentary on corporate stubbornness. The sketch even features a cameo from the actual designer who "made" the change, playing into the idea that millions of dollars are spent on doing the bare minimum.
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It’s rare for a sequel to hit as hard as the original, but this one worked because it acknowledged the passage of time. It turned the SNL Papyrus skit into a saga. It’s a testament to the cultural footprint of the original that people were genuinely waiting to see how Steven would react to the sequel's branding.
Why Graphic Designers Can't Let It Go
If you ask a designer about Papyrus, they’ll put it in the same "forbidden" category as Comic Sans. It’s overused. It’s "kitschy." It tries too hard to be something it isn't. But Papyrus is worse in some ways because it pretends to be sophisticated. It’s the "Live, Laugh, Love" of fonts.
When James Cameron used it, he validated every "spiritual" spa owner and amateur scrap-booker in the world. He gave the font a billion-dollar platform.
The sketch isn't just making fun of a font; it's making fun of the lack of intentionality. In a world of high-gloss branding, seeing something so "off the shelf" feels like a personal insult to anyone who cares about aesthetics. It’s the ultimate "you had one job" moment.
The Cultural Legacy of a Typography Joke
Very few SNL sketches stay relevant for seven years. This one did. It’s frequently cited in marketing classes and design seminars. It’s a cautionary tale.
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It also changed how we talk about movies. Now, every time a big blockbuster comes out, people look at the font. When Joker used a font that looked a lot like the one from The Hangover, people noticed. When Marvel uses specific kerning, people tweet about it. The SNL Papyrus skit gave the general public the vocabulary to be pretentious about graphic design.
Honestly, it’s kinda beautiful.
It’s a reminder that details matter. Or, at the very least, it’s a reminder that if you’re going to make a movie about blue aliens, maybe don't use the same font that's on the menu of that one Mediterranean place down the street.
Actionable Takeaways for Creators
If you're a creator, a brand owner, or just someone making a PowerPoint, there are real lessons to be learned from the Papyrus saga:
- Avoid Default Settings: Whether it's a font, a filter, or a template, "default" often signals a lack of effort. Even if you love a standard option, tweak it to make it your own.
- Context is Everything: Papyrus isn't a "bad" font in a vacuum. It’s a bad font for a sci-fi epic. Match your aesthetic to your message.
- Listen to Your Audience: The fact that Disney/Lightstorm changed the font for the Avatar sequels proves that they were listening to the memes. They knew the "Papyrus" brand had become a liability.
- Lean into the Critique: If you make a mistake and the internet calls you out, the best move is to acknowledge it. The "Papyrus 2" sketch was only possible because the Avatar team leaned into the joke.
- Research Typefaces: Before committing to a logo, check where else that font appears. If it's synonymous with something else (like "ancient scrolls" or "cheap massages"), it might undermine your brand authority.
The next time you’re scrolling through your font library, take a second. Think of Ryan Gosling’s haunted face. And for the love of everything, stay away from the "P" section of the menu.