Great memories reading this thread, piling on more love for Samurai, Coneheads, Jeopardy, Unfroxaen Caveman Lawyer, Theodric of York, Van down by the River, Velvet Jones, Mr Mike (especially the one with Ray Charles), and the Chris Farley show (Do you remember Beatlemania? That was crazy).
A few more favorites:
Making Copies
Goat Boy
Two Wild and Crazy Guys
Cheerleaders
Billy Crystal and Joe Piscopo doing “Don’t you hate it when…”
What If?
Keeping with the OP and going strictly with recurring skits :
Stefon
Jebediah Atkinson
Weekend Update (Tina Fey & Amy Poehler)
All of Andy Samberg’s SNL Digital Shorts
Tim Meadows as The Ladies Man was a very underrated film.
Opera Man and the Hurlihey Boy…
From the (fairly) recent seasons, Grady Wilson (Kenan Thompson) and his sexual positions. So stupid it’s funny…
*The Continental * which they did every time Christopher Walken was the guest host.
“would you like a glass of sham-pag-nee?”
Jon Lovitz’s “Master Thespian” I’m ACTING!
Also the classics already mentioned:
Wayne’s World
The cheerleaders
The Continental
Ladies Man
Makin’ Copies
The Liar
I love a lot of the current ones on Weekend Update:
Jebidiah Atkinson’s movie reviews
Girl at a party you wish you never started talking to
The little Jewish kid
Drunk Uncle
Angela Merkle
I actually kind of like the “ten-to-1AM” sketch they do with the porn stars doing ads for random designer items. Only because there’s a local radio commercial that sorta sounds like that sketch and it cracks me up.
And absolutely the Justin Timberlake dancing ones. Those are SO well done!
I really got into SNL in the late 80s so anything Dana Carvey did was gold to me. In addition, the Sweeney Sisters, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, and the Anal Retentive Chef were great. Also Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein was hilarious. Mike Meyer’s and Chris Farley’s stuff came shortly after that and they were great too.
Of he current stuff I think Drunk Uncle is probably the best. The past few years they don’t seem to be driving the recurring characters into the ground quote as much as the several years before that. Jebediah is also very funny. I don’t think What’s Up With That is really that funny but the amount of energy and the crazy stuff going on all around is just too entertaining to not like.
SPROCKETS! (“Would you like to touch my monkey?”)
Samurai, but especially “Samurai Deli” and “Samurai Night Fever.”
The Nerds. Noogies!
Tarzan, Tonto and Frankenstein
J-Pop American Funtime (my anime-phile son HATES this, which increases my enjoyment, I have to admit…)
Stefan (so good seeing him again when Hader hosted!)
Coneheads
Mr Robinson (“This is how you answer the door in my neighborhood, boys 'n girls. WHO IS IT!!”)
The Olympia Restaurant. Yeah, after the first “cheeseburger, cheeseburger,” it didn’t go anywhere, but still fun to watch.
Stefon was hilarious the first few times, but by the time he did that last weekend, it was just kind of stupid.
Bar Mitzvah Boy is one of my favorites. As is The Californians and the “Bitch Please” Movie Reviewer. Of course, there’s Pat. I would break out laughing before he/she ever even said anything.
Oh, let’s not forget Canteen Boy. And No Coke, Pepsi!
They were tiny little snippets, but every one was pure comic plutonium. (Rare than gold, more valuable than platinum, will kill you dead if you handle too much of it at one time. Ok, maybe not so much the last.)
In chronological order, more or less…**
Two Wild and Crazy Guys** (Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin)
Emily Litella (Gilda Radner)
Point/Counterpoint (Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin)
The Franken and Davis Show (Al Franken and Tom Davis)
Theodoric of York (Steve Martin)
Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood (Eddie Murphy)
The Continental (Christopher Walken)
The Ambiguously Gay Duo (Robert Smigel)
Mr. Peepers (Chris Kattan)
Celebrity Jeopardy (Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond and others)
Season’s Greetings From Saturday Night Live (Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan)
RIP Gilda
Emily Latella
Roseanne Rosanadana
The Nerds (w/Murray & Curtin)
I just remembered another recurring skit, from last season. Cecily Strong and Bobby Moynihan work for Best Buy, or a fast food place, it varies. It’s a company meeting, and they think they are being fired, so they tell everyone rudely what they really think of them.
I will never understand the underappreciation for Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph’s Art Dealers. Sure its always the same structure, but you can say that about a lot of SNL skits. How can anyone not love the hair chair? Trying to pronounce “Pam”? Drinking milk out of strap on cow udders?
I could’ve sworn I’d be the first to mention “Les Jeunes de Paris” which I find wholly irresistible–not so much for the comedy stuff but I just love the dancing (especially Nasim). So far, they’ve had Emma Stone twice, Anna Kendrick, Miley Cyrus, Zoey Deschanel and once with just the regular cast–but all golden.
Toonces the Driving Cat
Jacob the Bar Mitzvah boy
Stefon
Jebidiah Atkinson
Lucien Callow and Fagan
The Kissing Vogelchecks
Celebrity Jeopardy
Church Lady
Coffee Talk
Wayne’s World
Classic. Would you like some sham-PAHN-ya?
My 10yo self is shocked by the lack of respect for Mr. Bill.
My older self, sadly, understands. But I do have to give a shout-out to the first recurring skit that got me to watch the show.
I saw a “Frozen Caveman Lawyer” clip yesterday and noticed that it was sponsored, in part, by Happy Fun Ball™, “still legal in 13 states!”… so I guess HFB counts.
And though the individual ones aren’t recurring, the commercial parodies were always a highlight for me. Bad Idea Jeans, anyone? "Normally I wear protection but then I figured ‘when am I ever gonna make it back to Haiti?’ "
