An SNL Uber Parody Became Reality Just Days After The Skit Aired

Literally days after "Saturday Night Live" released a sketch parodying the idea of an Uber year-in-review feature, the company itself debuted an actual year-in-review feature. In a move that implies the Uber marketing team is either completely witless or cynically trying to capitalize on a modest post-"SNL" bump in social media mentions, the company has made it so we can all marvel at how much we're being charged for food and transport.

Spotify Wrapped is just one of the many ways companies try to distract us from the way in which art has been subsumed by corporations to the extent it's been robbed of all its subversive power — all while artists have been consistently ripped off for their work. It's a way of putting a happy face on a decidedly unhappy state of affairs, like when Joe Russo touted our AI garbage future as some sort of media utopia. While we're all at least somewhat aware of this gloomy scenario, we also can't help but get a little drawn in by the idea of sharing our most-listened-to songs and artists, especially if it means we get to surreptitiously showcase our incredibly diverse taste in music.

An Uber Eats Wrapped, however, doesn't hold the same appeal. We don't really want to share the fact that we've ordered the same late-night Taco Bell dozens of times throughout the year, and that's basically the idea behind the "SNL" sketch. It's funny because nobody would want this. Evidently, Uber didn't quite get the joke as the firm rolled out an actual Uber year-in-review feature called "YOUBER," which recaps your Uber and Uber Eats activity because everything is terrible.

The best sketches on "Saturday Night Live" often become memes in their own right. In the Lonely Island years, the pre-taped digital shorts were the segments with the most meme-ability potential, and while Andy Samberg and his compatriots have long since departed, "SNL" is still producing some decent pre-taped sketches. The "Uber Eats Wrapped" sketch was one example, attempting to skewer companies for tracking our data and our collective horror at the thought of that data being mirrored back at us. At least, I think that's what it was. Given that Uber has now literally launched a year-in-review feature days after the sketch aired, it's starting to look as though there may be some awful pre-arranged "synergy" at play here.

The December 13, 2025, episode of "SNL" featured "The Crown" star Josh O'Connor (who's also in Steven Spielberg's upcoming "Disclosure Day," a trailer for which just dropped). The British actor did a solid job on an episode that had some similarly solid sketches, including the "Uber Wrapped" sketch. Like so much of the long-running series, it was only kind of amusing. It sees the cast play users who are delighted to see their Spotify Wrapped pop up, but immediately recoil at the idea of a similar wrap-up feature for Uber Eats. Highlights include Andrew Dismukes being in the "top 1% on nuggets" and James Austin Johnson's Uber Eats age being "Dead."

Now, Uber has launched an actual version of Uber Eats Wrapped with YOUBER. It won't tell you your Uber Eats age, but it will remind you how expensive food is and how willing we all are to pay for it now that we have these ever-present portals to hell that are our phones in our pockets.

Do you really want to know what YOUBER is all about? There's a whole press release peppered with similarly tortured portmanteaus (it's so YOUnique) just waiting to be read for those interested. But ok, I'll give you the lowlights.

For one thing, the company claims that this new feature comes in the wake of "years of hearing you ask for this." Do you know anyone who asked for this? Joe Russo, did you ask for this? Unlike the "SNL" version, YOUBER combines both rides and food orders to give you a rundown of your activity from the past year. How many rides you took, how many restaurants you ordered from, and your favorite restaurant all form part of the new feature, which, while it won't tell you if you're in the top 1% of nuggets, it will tell you if you're in the top 10% of customers to a specific restaurant. All of which combine to determine on which part of the ninth circle of hell you end up, that being the part of the app where you get assigned a personality.

It's bad enough Uber reduces us to a rating already (something satirized in one of the best episodes of "Black Mirror"), but now the company has stamped us all with one of 14 "Uber Personalities," which include "Do-Gooder," "Rise and Shiner," and "Effortless Icon." What does any of it mean? Evidently, it has something to do with your ordering and ride habits, but it's not entirely clear, and I'm too much of an effortless icon to worry about that anyway.