Here are the 12 best SNL sketches in the 50 years of Saturday Night Live — in honor of the show’s half-century anniversary and the new film Saturday Night, about the show’s first episode, which is now streaming on Netflix.
What’s your choice for the best SNL sketches? Let us know in the comments.
The Olympia Restaurant (1978)
Early Saturday Night Live sketches often felt seat-of-your pants and tended to lag at times as everyone tried to find the same pace. Not this one: A typical morning in the life of a Greek diner that refuses to adapt, it has a simple, recognizable hook and sweet slice-of-life simplicity. The rhythm is as pleasing as a morning routine.
SNL is sometimes known for big characters, but almost everyone in this sketch plays it straight and real, which adds to its charm. Gilda Radner is especially good as the one customer who seems to understand the place, and Bill Murray gets the funniest moment with his panicked nodding, using only a single word.
The sketch is a little more poignant when you know that star John Belushi’s immigrant dad operated a struggling restaurant when Belushi was growing up in Wheaton, Illinois.
Key line: “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, four Pepsi, two chip.”
Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute (1979)
The great Margot Kidder, playing a bank vice president on a business trip, receives a visit from a profoundly Midwestern, profoundly decent, assuredly unsexy sex worker: Fred Garvin, male prostitute.
Dan Aykroyd brings big dad energy to the role of a kindly, folksy gigolo, and Kidder is a perfect straightwoman. The setup is absurd, but everyone plays it with endearing vulnerability. Like many Aykroyd characters, Fred Garvin would provide the template for many played-straight ridiculous characters to come.
This one doesn’t always turn up on lists of the best SNL sketches, but it should. It also gets referenced throughout the terrific Saturday Night, in which Aykroyd is played, impressively, by Dylan O’Brien.
Key line: “Ma’am, you’re dealing here with with a fully qualified male strumpet.”
Buckwheat Dead and America Mourns (1983)
A high-flying, edgy satire of breathless coverage of President Reagan’s attempted assassination in 1981.
This sketch is the clear highlight of the years after the departure of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players. Eddie Murphy is brilliant not only as Buckwheat, but also as the man who shot him, John David Stutts.
It also foreshadowed decades of round-the-clock news coverage with just as little self-awareness as Joe Piscopo’s take on Ted Koppel.
Key line: “It’s good to see you all. Hi! I killed Buckwheat.”
First CityWide Change Bank
With maybe the simplest concept of any Saturday Night Live sketch, this piece by legendary writer Jim Downey (above) — who also stars as an eager-to-please service representative — masterfully ridicules seemingly sincere corporate ad campaigns.
The execution of a very basic idea is perfect.
Key line: “We will give you the change, equal to… the amount of money that you want change for.”
Chippendales Audition (1990)
A sketch where everyone else plays it straight so Chris Farley can give it 2,000 percent as Barney, a young man determined to be a Chippendales dancer.
Some — including the brilliant former SNL writer Bob Odenkirk — believe that the sketch was cruel to Farley. But listen to his many friends in interviews on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly on the Wall podcast and you’ll hear that Farley was very much on board with the premise of the sketch — and no one has ever been more committed to a sketch.
The sketch works not because of the jokes about Farley’s weight, but because of how sweetly and sincerely everyone plays the situation.
Key line: “I wish I could just flip a coin and be done with it, but we can’t. We’re Chippendales.”
Matt Foley: Van Down by the River (1993)
Everyone else — from Julia Sweeney to Phil Hartman to David Spade to Christina Applegate — just tries not to hold it together as Matt Foley, played by Chris Farley at his best, absolutely takes over.
The original Matt Foley sketch was a carryover from Farley’s time working with writer-performer Bob Odenkirk at Chicago’s Second City. By the time it came to SNL, it was at its full frenetic brilliance. It’s also a sketch with heart — we end up sympathizing with everyone involved.
Key line: “He’s been down in the basement drinking coffee for about the last four hours so he should be ready to go.”
Dillon-Edwards Investments (1999)
Another sketch you probably won’t fall on many lists of the best SNL sketches, but this is the perfect mix of stupid and smart. Chris Parnell plays it straight as a father concerned with his financial future.
It’s also perfectly timed at less than 90 seconds, which makes us love it even more.
Key line: “A lot of investments companies rushed onto the internet. But Dillon-Edwards took their time.”
More Cowbell (2000)
Passions run high in August 1976 as The Blue Oyster Cult records their hit song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” under the watchful eye of rock legend Bruce Dickinson (Christopher Walken). Also, let’s save you a Google: Gene Frenkle, the percussionist played by Will Ferrell, is not a real person.
This one turns up on almost every list of the best SNL sketches for a reason. Lots of reasons, actually.
Key line: “I got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell.”
Debbie Downer: Disney World (2004)
Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch, always outstanding) proves that she can even ruin breakfast at Disney World.
It’s a flawlessly written sketch that only gets funnier as everyone involved understandably falls apart with laughter. At one point, host Lindsay Lohan has no choice but to flee the sketch altogether. We’re not fans of people breaking on camera, but this one is the gold standard of breaking on camera.
Every Debbie Downer sketch on SNL is great, but this is our favorite. It’s one of the best SNL sketches and best SNL moments.
Key line: “It’s official: I can’t have children.”
Meet Your Second Wife (2015)
A brutal jab at men who marry much younger women, “Meet Your Second Wife” is a very dark, very funny sketch with a solid premise and plenty of perfect small jokes packed in throughout. The unstoppable Tina Fey and Amy Poehler anchor a basically perfect, sharp-elbowed sketch. Bobby Moynihan and Aidy Bryant especially stand out with subtle, skillfull turns.
Fey and Poehler are responsible for many of the best SNL sketches and performances, but this one’s our favorite.
Key line: “Actually it’s seven.”
Black Jeopardy With Tom Hanks (2016)
A lovingly detailed, laughs-in-the-specifics sketch that suggests maybe isn’t America isn’t so racially divided, after all. Exquisitely acted by everyone — Kenan Thompson (pictured), the longest-serving SNL castmember ever, is superb.
But Tom Hanks is especially surprising as a MAGA-hat wearing conspiracy theorist who comes off as a pretty good guy. This is one of those best SNL sketches where you catch sharp new insights every time you watch.
Key line: “What is: I don’t think so. That’s how they get ya.”
Live Report (2016)
Saturday Night Live has done multiple sketches in which a local news anchors get caught up in a very curious detail seemingly irrelevant to the major breaking story they’re covering. This is the best.
Newscasters Beck Bennett and Cecily Strong – as well as reporter on the scene Kenan Thompson — are ostensibly covering a Tampa sinkhole, but also can’t understand why a local shopper played by Margot Robbie is married to a regular-guy Matt Schatt (Mikey Day).
One of the best SNL sketches of recent times and all time, this one is a perfectly written and acted game of change-the-subject.
Key line: “So… you two are married to each other.”
Liked This List of the Best SNL Sketches?
If you enjoyed this list of the best SNL sketches, you might also like these 12 Wild Stories From Behind the Scenes of Saturday Night Live.
Also: We understand these things are subjective. So again, please share your own list of the best SNL sketches in the comments.
All images from NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Read This Next
