SNL's ode to the overused #Papyrus font goes viral overnight

This week Saturday Night Live entered the typographic realm with one of it's best sketches in ages. Host to SNL's season 43 premiere is a man haunted by Avatar's font of choice, the overused computer default font Papyrus. Psychotic Gosling is mad at James Cameron’s Papyrus font to his 2009 blockbuster Avatar movie - many graphic designers are still furious over the kind of random choice for one of Hollywood's most best-selling brands.

"As far as fonts go, Papyrus isn’t quite as laughable as the beloved joke that is Comic Sans, but it’s pretty close. In this short but hilarious skit, Gosling’s character can’t stop obsessing over the laziness of Cameron’s decision to slap a slightly modified version of Papyrus onto a movie that cost $237 million to produce. After a failed attempt to explain the issue to his therapist, played by a baffled Kate McKinnon, we see him driving around and brooding, not unlike his character in Drive" reports VOX. James Cameron himself is just another reason to watch this hilarious typography infused skit.

#Papyrus #SNLPremiere were the hashtags which quickly earned acclaim on Twitter.

Speaking to CNBC, the font's creator Chris Costello, shared his enjoyment over SNL's acclaimed sketch. "I woke up this morning Sunday and my email was full. I had a lot of people telling me, 'Did you see this 'Saturday Night Live' thing?' I took a look at it and me and my wife were like cracking up, I mean we couldn't stop laughing. It was one of the best things I've seen". 

"I designed the font when I was 23 years old. I was right out of college. I was kind of just struggling with some different life issues, I was studying the Bible, looking for God and this font came to mind, this idea of, thinking about the biblical times and Egypt and the Middle East. I just started scribbling this alphabet while I was at work and it kind of looked pretty cool. "I had no idea it would be on every computer in the world and used for probably every conceivable design idea. This is a big surprise to me as well" he added. CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano asked Costello why he thinks Papyrus became one of the most hated fonts by graphic designers.

"I really think -- and again if I can take this time to apologize to my brother and sister graphic designers. I'm a graphic designer as well, I'm an illustrator ... I believe it's a well-designed font, it's well-thought out" he replied on the story of the font which he sold for a mere $750 and "very low royalty payments".  "It was sold to Microsoft, it was sold to Apple ... it came packaged with Mac OS. It ended up being a default font set on every computer since 2000. Since that point, it's been on every computer in the world ... anybody who has a Mac or Microsoft operating system. With that broad range, that broad appeal, anybody could use it, not just graphic designers," he said. "So that's when I began to see it turn up everywhere: mortgage ads, construction logos. It was kind of out of control. It was not my intent to be used for everything -- it's way overused" reports CBS News.