Michael Che reveals the ‘Black Adam’ SNL sketch he pitched that never got made
Michael Che is naming the lone Black Adam script Dwayne Johnson rejected—curious which idea didn’t make the cut?
On a recent appearance on GOAT Talk, Michael Che said he once pitched Dwayne Johnson on a Saturday Night Live sketch tied to Johnson’s DC antihero — and Johnson passed. The bit leaned into a biblical gag about Black Adam that Che knew would be edgy.
“He asked God to remove his rib,” Che said about his Adam script for Dwayne Johnson.
Che didn’t share when the pitch happened, only that it came during Johnson’s Black Adam moment and that Johnson declined to take part. Even so, Che called Johnson his GOAT SNL guest on the same show, a nod to how often the wrestler-turned-movie star has thrown himself into sketches over the years.
Why this stood out
SNL has a long tradition of inviting celebrities to roast their own image or latest project. Kim Kardashian leaned into jokes about her public persona when she hosted, and Ariana Grande gamely spoofed her own franchise ties. Johnson is typically as game as anyone to be the punchline.
That’s part of why Che’s story lands with a thud-and-a-smirk. Johnson has built a career on swerving between action hero and self-parody — squeezing into a tutu for Tooth Fairy, belting as Maui in Moana, and clowning through the Jumanji reboots — and he’s rarely shy about getting silly on live TV.
His SNL résumé backs that up: Johnson is in the show’s Five-Timers Club and has anchored multiple crowd-pleasing monologues and sketches. Che’s takeaway, even after the rib-bit rejection, was pure admiration — he still puts Johnson at the top of his SNL guest list.