Probably done ad nauseum, but what are the 5 best SNL skits you can remember? As much as I would love to have categories like Celebrity Jeopardy or anything by Alec Baldwin, I’m limiting myself to single skits. Videos included when I could find them.
Peter Boyle serenades his wife
I have no clue why Peter Boyle singing to his wife in honor of Valentine’s Day while she makes out with the stranger next to her was so damn funny, but it was.
14 February 1976
Nick Winter Live at the Powder Room on Meatloaf Mountain
I’d love to see the Torch Snake Dance down Bear Run
28 January 1978
Ronald Reagan, Masterbrain
C’mon, part of you wants to believe Reagan was really like that
6 December 1986
Audition at Chippendales
I never got the appeal of Chris Farley, but he and Swayze were hysterical.
27 October 1990
BOC: Behind the Music
Only Christopher Walken could have stolen that scene from Will Farrell
8 April 2000
Honorable Mention
Steve Martin dances with Gilda Radner
After battling cancer into remission, Gilda was denied a chance to host SNL because of a writer’s strike. Later her cancer returned and she died on 20 May 1998. Due to the quirks of the universe, Steve Martin was hosting the season finale that night. This was his tribute to her.
22 April 1978
20 May 1989
It’s hard to decide what to exclude to make just five. “Night of the Masturbating Zombies”, for instance, would have to be in my top ten, but probably not top five.
I can’t remember who the actors involved were, but I once saw a sketch in which a black prisoner was brought before a parole committee and asked what he would do if freed. He responds by singing a song with the refrain “Gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see”, and the sheer randomness of the thing made it incredibly funny.
Eddie Murphy as Tyrone Green in PROS & CONS (the “c-i-l-l my landlord” sketch)
Eddie Murphy in James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party
Christopher Guest/Martin Short training for the synchronized swimming as Olympic sport sketch
John Belushi visits the SNL castmates in the cemetery
Peter Cook casts Gigi at the state prison (“I’m gonna get me a shotgun and kill every whitey I see!”)
Of course any other time I’d probably name different ones.
I’m sure the actor singing was Garrett Morris. It was hilarious, and made more so by how well he sings. A very professional voice. The guy sings better than 90% of the lead singers you’ve heard on SNL.
“The Waltons Eat Their Young” will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you this special NBC presentation…
Too many to list but off the top of my head:
The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise (Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Elliott Gould).
Prose and Cons (Eddie Murphy…“I just hate whitey because he white. W…I…T…E. White!”
Toonces. IIRC John Goodman was hosting and Toonces was trying to type a note to tell him something. When he made mistakes and took out the whiteout, I about hurled.
Josh Ramsay, VD Caseworker. (Peter Fonda, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman).
The Church Lady interviews Sean Penn.
Belushi as Beethoven, busting into “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” then “What I say.”
And of course, the Spartan Cheerleaders.
These don’t exactly qualify as skits, but:
The Ambiguously Gay Duo.
Mr. Bill
Buckwheat Sings
Belushi does Joe Cocker
I rarely watched SNL after the original cast left, so my choices are all from the first few years.
Slumber Party (Madeline Kahn, Gilda, Larraine & Jane discuss the facts of life).
The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise
Mighty Mouse theme with Andy Kaufman
All-Time Radio (Harry Shearer as a DJ on an all-time radio format “All time all the time”)
5a. Planet of the Enormous Hooters (if it aired. The script is hilarious – Raquel Welch being ridiculed because, on that world, she is ridiculously flat chested).
5b. Star Trek Convention (with Shatner).
).
John Belushi was in a hospital bed, comatose. His wife and doctor make the decision to unplug him. Literally, pull the AC cord from the wall outlet. Just as they touch the plug Belushi jolts awake:
