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Saturday Night Live is one of the most iconic late-night television shows. After forty-five years on the air, SNL continues to rank highly in its time slot and produce solid household ratings. In this list, we’ll take a look at the ten funniest sketches from the program’s four and a half-decade history. Although SNL’s golden years may have passed, these ten skits convey the show’s comedic consistency over its extremely long run, while also demonstrating how style and humor have changed over the years. Needless to say, SNL continues to be one of the top comedy programs on network TV today.
10. “Mom Jeans” (2003)
As one of the high points of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Saturday Night Live careers, “Mom Jeans” highlights an oddly popular fashion trend amongst suburban moms in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Showcasing the jeans’ nine-inch zipper, rather unflattering fit, and seemingly limitless usage, “Mom Jeans” is funny because it is so brutally accurate. The cast’s mom hairstyles, coupled with the jeans’ awkward fit, perfectly capture the spirit of the 2000’s fashion disasters. We’ll never know why mom jeans were so popular, but SNL’s jab at this fashion fad bumps it into the top ten simply by virtue of its carefully crafted satire and hilariously hideous mockery.
9. “Old Glory Insurance” (1995)
Does anyone else constantly feel like they see Colonial Penn Insurance commercials on television? Clearly, the writers at Saturday Night Live felt such ads were in overabundance when they penned this 1995 skit that is a direct play on AARP commercials. As is typical of such ads, a celebrity spokesperson introduces the audience to the insurance program. In this skit, the week’s guest, Sam Waterston, fittingly introduces us to the newest, most affordable insurance plan for the over-fifty crowd. The best part: the plan protects against robot attacks.
Humorously poking at the overabundance of insurance ads on television, “Old Glory Insurance” takes standard old people’s complaints about modern society and exacerbates them to include a robot apocalypse. The general absurdity of the skit is clever, as it seems realistic that a gullible senior citizen would be liable to believe in a robot taking over as much as they are likely to purchase fraudulent insurance. In “Old Glory Insurance,” SNL skillfully crafts another mock commercial with great comedic timing and editing that transforms the daily drear of advertisement into something everyone can laugh at.
8. “Chippendales Audition” (1990)
Saturday Night Live really would not have held on to such solid ratings throughout the 1990s without the late, great Chris Farley. In one of Farley’s most famous skits, he is seen competing against none other than Patrick Swayze for the final spot as a Chippendales dancer. The judges are torn between Swayze and Farley and ask the pair to dance against each other one more time in order to reach a final decision. After a tense and hilarious dance-off, the judges ultimately decided to go with Swayze. They explain that while the two are both great dancers, Swayze’s body is simply much more attractive.
Admittedly, the humor is a bit dated by primarily relying on Farley’s hefty appearance for laughs. However, the sketch is still funny because of Farley’s ridiculous dance moves. I’m really unsure as to whether I would call Farley’s dancing “bad,” since some of the positions he contorts himself into are impressive while also being hilariously baffling. Nonetheless, the sketch endures due to Farley’s effortless ability to dance spastically and jovially. “Chippendales Audition” also arguably features the best use of a Saturday Night Live host by displaying Swayze’s real-life dance training.
7. NPR’s “Delicious Dish” With Pete Schweddy (1998)
Mocking the frequent and annoying NPR “at home” segments, “Delicious Dish” presents two of SNL’s funniest leading ladies, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon, as an extremely soft-spoken duo hosting a seasonal radio show. Their first guest is Pete Schweddy (Alec Baldwin). After some tongue-in-cheek commentary about unexciting Christmas decor preparations, the duo invited Pete on to discuss his holiday meal. The meal is, of course, Pete’s balls. Pete explains that he is the maker of cheese balls, gum balls, popcorn balls, and many other ball themed treats. Before the sketch concludes, Pete insists the audience purchase and taste his family-named Schweddy balls.
Obviously, the SNL skit uses world play as its primary method of humor. That being said, the skit’s enduring popularity among fans likely has to do with how blatant and over-the-top the joke is. Saturday Night Live gets a bad rap for letting skits go on for too long, but “Delicious Dish” actually rides on that, adding to the general overkill of the sketch. “Delicious Dish” would still be funny if it were a bit shorter, but Alec Baldwin’s monotone voice combined with Gasteyer and Shannon’s overly repetitive innuendo enables the sketch to run over six minutes and into the Saturday Night Live sketch hall of fame.
6. “Dysfunctional Family Christmas Dinner” (2009)
“Dysfunctional Family Dinner” was originally a sketch created by Will Ferrell in the 1990s. As with most recurring Saturday Night Live skits, it took many different iterations to get it just right. When Hugh Laurie hosted the show in 2009, the skit finally hit the comedic sweet spot. “Dysfunctional Family Christmas Dinner” features five characters, all from the same family, being completely sarcastic, combative, and openly hostile to each other during Christmas dinner. While the family eventually enjoy a brief period of reprieve, they eventually return to their crude and short-tempered behavior.
There are many things that make this skit hilarious, possibly because it is at times painfully relatable, but Kristen Wiig’s “Judith” really steals the show. Judith says almost nothing throughout the entire skit, but every time tensions reach a climax she promptly gets up from her chair and throws her napkin down only to be yelled at with a barrage of “Sit down, Judith! Sit Down!” (Saturday Night Live). Judith gives the accompanying cast fierce, aggressive looks before finally resolving to sit back down at the tense table. “Dysfunctional Family Christmas Dinner” is one of the most quoted SNL skits and undoubtedly one of star cast member Kristen Wiig’s best performances.
5. “Gumby” (1982-83, 2019)
Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Molly Shannon: We’ve gone through a number of iconic SNL cast members on this list, but none quite compares to Eddie Murphy. Murphy’s tenure on the show didn’t last long, just under five years, but his impact was one of the largest and funniest. Specifically, Murphy had a knack for coming up with funny recurring characters. Although Murphy created numerous classic SNL characters such as Mr. Robinson, Buh Wheat Sings, White Eddie Murphy, and Hot Tub James Brown, Gumby is probably his most memorable.
Because Gumby appeared so frequently over such a short time, I chose to put the entire Gumby repertoire at number five. Prominently shown on Saturday Night Live throughout 1983, Gumby was an immediate hit. Murphy chose to portray Gumby as an extremely obnoxious, critical, power-mad celebrity, often proclaiming “I’m Gumby, dammit!” in an effort to remind the producers of his perceived high standing. It’s likely that Murphy’s Gumby was so popular because of how aggressive and entitled he was on SNL when compared with the original Gumby’s wholesome, friendly 1960’s appearances. Needless to say, Murphy made Gumby an integral part of his SNL stint and he eventually reprised the character in 2019.
4. “Surprise Party Sue” (2008)
Rivaling Eddie Murphy’s character-creating powers, Kristen Wiig populated the late 2000’s with some of the funniest Saturday Night Live sketches. Among the many iconic characters she created is, of course, Surprise Party Sue. Sue’s first appearance was in 2008 and it was certainly a worthy debut. The skit featured Christopher Walken attempting to set up a surprise party for his daughter by involving a few of his neighbors. One of these neighbors, Sue, immediately shows over-enthusiasm about the surprise, repeating “Oh My Gaaahd” in an enthusiastic voice, losing control of bodily functions, and eventually jumping out a glass window in order to avoid revealing the surprise.
Surprise Party Sue ranks very high on this list because of how well Kristen Wiig pulls the performance off. Wiig routinely killed it playing oddball characters on Saturday Night Live, but with Surprise Party Sue she created a persona that was both easily excitable and completely relatable. Everyone has that one family member that takes immense joy in making others happy, and for those watching Surprise Party Sue who are that family member, the skit was made all the more hilarious. Sue really couldn’t be played by anyone but Kristen Wiig and “Surprise Birthday Party” perfectly showcases her ability to portray chaotic weirdness.
3. “Debbie Downer: Disney World” (2004)
It’s always fun to watch SNL actors break character. What is exceedingly rare, however, is for the players to barely even finish the skit due to uncontrollable laughter. In “Debbie Downer: Disney World,” the character’s started breaking down almost immediately. The goofy, Disney World atmosphere certainly served as a good dichotomy between friends trying to enjoy a theme park lunch and Debbie incessantly bringing their mood down. As always, Rachel Dratch completely aces it with Debbie’s deadpan demeanor, delivering mood-killing one-liners. Notably, the week’s SNL host Lindsay Lohan also could barely keep a straight face during the skit.
Saturday Night Live usually produces its best sketches when the plot is kept simple. In “Debbie Downer: Disney World,” the plot could not be kept simpler with a group sitting down for lunch while continually being interrupted by the unrelenting mood-killer, Debbie. The skit jumps to number three not only due to its hilarity, but also because it is the single worst, and by worst I mean best, instance of the SNL cast hysterically laughing in the middle of a show, entirely breaking character. For that unique accolade alone, “Debbie Downer: Disney World” will always be remembered well in the Saturday Night Live archives.
2. “More Cowbell” (2000)
“More Cowbell” is undoubtedly one of the most famous SNL skits in the show’s forty-five-year history. Showcasing Will Ferrell’s unparalleled ability to play overstated characters, “More Cowbell” depicts the popular 1970’s band Blue Öyster Cult’s recording of the song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” However, the skit fictionalizes the studio recording by introducing The Bruce Dickinson, a music producer played by Christopher Walken, and the band’s cowbell player, Gene Frenkle (Will Ferrell). The punchline being that Bruce Dickinson repeatedly forces the band to stop and start again in order to capitalize on Frenkle’s cowbell playing.
“More Cowbell” ranks highly on almost every SNL top skit list. Will Ferrell wrote the sketch and he did a great job of exacerbating the kind of absurd plot devices that make great Saturday Night Live skits. Christopher Walken adds a great deal of strength to “More Cowbell” with his inflated sense of ego and classically nonsensical line, “I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!” Best of all, guitarist and singer of Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma, gave “More Cowbell” his stamp of approval, claiming to thoroughly enjoy it. Ultimately the skit leaves viewers with genuine laughs and an extremely pressing question: why in God’s name was there so much cowbell in the original song?
1. “Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker” (1993)
There really is no sketch quite as outlandish as “Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker.” I often wonder how Chris Farley came up with the premise of two teenage kids getting in trouble for smoking pot and being forced to entertain an off-the-wall and openly hostile motivational speaker by their parents. The skit is funny precisely because Matt Foley is anything but motivational. Foley openly discourages David Spade, Farley’s real-life best friend, from becoming a writer and scolds the parents after they show their son support. Put simply, Matt Foley is an aggressive moocher who screams, bounces, and tugs at his overly tight belt to make his point: he’s really tired of living in a van down by the river.
Chris Farley was on camera for just three and a half minutes, but his presence is hilarious and historic. Saturday Night Live just wouldn’t have been the same show without Farley’s unrelenting physical humor, volatile and unstable character, and general awkwardness. “Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker” snags the number one pick on this list due to its pure absurdity and over-the-top acting, but also because of Farley’s unparalleled legacy on the show. Matt Foley epitomizes the essence of what makes a good Saturday Night Live sketch and Chris Farley should be recognized as one of the most committed, hard-working, and hilarious actors the show has ever produced. Above all else, he will be sorely missed.
Go Forth And Watch SNL
Saturday Night Live may not be the show it used to be; its ratings have dropped somewhat in recent years and the cast relies on a collective few for laughs. However, the show has run for an unprecedented forty-five years on television.
It is an accomplishment very few comedy shows, let alone late-night comedy shows, have achieved. While most fans likely long for the better days of SNL, its milestones cannot be understated and its value is still relatively intact. Even today, SNL is led on by its original creator, Lorne Michaels, and still seeks to ignite laughs from its audience and inspire ambition from young comedians, as it did in 1975.