Sterling K. Brown thought he 'ruined' Common's life with “Saturday Night Live” parody

The Emmy winner is recalling the time Common feigned disapproval of a memorable 2018 sketch.

One good joke deserves another.

Emmy-winning actor Sterling K. Brown is looking back at the time Common pulled a fast one on him over his spot-on impression of the rapper on Saturday Night Live back in 2018.

In a new Variety interview, the This Is Us and American Fiction star said he ran into Common on a plane with his family after parodying him in a Family Feud-themed SNL sketch. "He didn't speak to me until we got off the plane," Brown recalled. "And then he came up and said, 'That sketch, bro. What's up with that?' I told him it was all love — I know he's a good dude." But Common then informed him that he'd lost speaking engagements and endorsements over the spoof.  

"I kept telling him they were just jokes, but he was like, 'It's jokes to you, but it's messing with my bottom line,'" Brown said. He then began to panic. "I said, 'Common, are you serious?' And he said, 'No, I'm just kidding, dude.'"

Successfully fooled, Brown then "told him it was the worst thing he'd ever done. I was standing in front of my kids believing I ruined this man's life."

The memorable sketch, which pitted Oscar winners against Oscar losers, also featured Kate McKinnon as Frances McDormand, Beck Bennett as Guillermo Del Toro, Heidi Gardner as Allison Janney, Chris Redd as Jordan Peele, Melissa Villaseñor as Sally Hawkins, Alex Moffat as Willem Dafoe, and Pete Davidson as Timothée Chalamet. (Watch the sketch below.)

Brown recently earned his first Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Clifford Ellison in the Jeffrey Wright-led American Fiction — though he recently disclosed that he isn't betting on himself at the upcoming ceremony.

"Robert Downey Jr.'s gonna win, and he's incredibly deserving," Brown said during a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show. "He's an incredible actor. Like, you should give him love. The fact that I get a chance to be nominated along with him and Mr. [Robert] De Niro and Ryan Gosling and [Mark] Ruffalo… I'm just happy to be in the room."

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