Crawdaddies, N’awlins molasses, and a topless voodoo priestess were the makings of “N’awlins” folklore in a Saturday Night Live skit on January 26, in which James McAvoy and Heidi Gardner play a couple returning from a two-day vacation in New Orleans.
The couple join their friends hours late for dinner, telling them to “blame N’awlins.” One friend, played by Kenan Thompson, declares he grew up in the Crescent City and repeatedly denies the truthfulness of account of “authentic N’awlins magic.” McAvoy and Gardner disregard these objections and even dismiss the announcement of their friend’s pregnancy as they proceed to tell a tale of how they took part in an authentic N’awlins voodoo ritual--which was really just a robbery in an alley on Bourbon Street.
McAvoy and Gardner annoy their friends but certainly amuse New Orleans locals and out authentic tourists alike with their phony comedic accents and exaggerated stories of life in the Big Easy, poking fun at the classic New Orleans tourists who do actually return home irrevocably changed by their vacation in our enchanting city.