Growing up, I was introduced to Saturday Night Live courtesy of reruns on Comedy Central. It was how I got to know Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and then Adam Sandler, David Spade, and of course, Chris Farley. Occasionally I’d catch reruns of the first few seasons and once high school came around, I got to know some of the original cast members, but I think everyone has that one cast that was your first love and mine was that crew in the early 90s.
Ah but then came Will Ferrell, arguably the show’s best cast member ever. Settle down- you can say Eddie Murphy or Myers or John Belushi or Kristen Wiig and you wouldn’t get much pushback from me. Ultimately it’s subjective and Ferrell was and is my dude. When I think of my favorite sketches or characters, a lot of the roads lead back toward his direction.
But while there are favorite sketches and sketches generally considered the best, if you’re a long-time viewer of the show, then there is going to be a different kind of sketch that needs to be accounted for. It’s the sketches that occupy a permanent space in your memory and a sketch you come back to fairly regularly. I love the Cowbell sketch, but I can’t tell you the last time I watched it. But the sketch where Garth Brooks sells his soul to the devil for a great song? That’s a different story. I find myself quoting that one fairly regularly and fondly thinking about it even more.
So that’s what this list is. It’s the ten sketches I think about the most. The reason why is a little bit of a mixed bag but it doesn’t matter the how. It matters that these ten sketches are ones I think about more than any other.
10. Herb Welch: Falling Ice
Bill Hader was so much fun on Saturday Night Live and it’s hard to pick just one of his characters and/or sketches. I mean come on….Stefon? But man do I love Herb Welch. It’s Hartman’s classic Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer but less apologetic. The physical comedy is great, but the bonus is old Herb’s utter contempt for the anchors, whether calling them a “human tie rack” or asking if they should be cleaning a hotel room somewhere.
9. Amazon Echo Silver
This is one of those sketches where the show just nails it. Yeah, the Amazon Echo is mad confusing for our beloved old people. It requires patience and enunciation- two things that are not a strong point for seniors. Kenan Thompson asking about “ol’ Satchel Paige’ and replying “I don’t know about that” gets me every time. Add in Kate McKinnon playing a weird old lady was always gold.
8. Cobras & Panthers
A Norm MacDonald classic! Only Norm could drive this sketch and really highlight the absurdity of musicals, especially ones involving the tougher elements of society. I mean, who among us hasn’t raised an eyebrow when a street game breaks into song and choreography? And yeah, I know it’s a musical. It’s part of the game. Sure. But it’s still weird and always kind of funny. MacDonald’s SNL tenure is largely marked by his run hosting Weekend Update and rightfully so. But when the material was right, there were few better at anchoring sketches that really veered toward absurdity and probably more specifically, calling attention to absurdity.
7. A December to Remember
This parody of Christmas-time car commercials has become my go-to sketch to watch when December rolls around. I have no idea what A.P.R. is either if we’re being honest. But I also am smart enough to know that I’d never buy a car for my wife or even for my family without running that one up the flag pole. And that’s if I was gainfully employed! Some of the best sketches are the ones that have twists around every corner and the stakes continue to get raised throughout. So it’s not as if homeboy just bought a car without checking, but he’s also unemployed, might have a drinking problem, potentially has a thing for his son’s girlfriend, and has no idea how car finances work. It’s gold from start to finish.
6. Consumer Probe: Irwin Mainway
A bag of glass isn’t dangerous! You hold it up and you can see all the colors in the rainbow. Wonderful. Good for kids of all ages.
Part of what makes sketches like ‘Consumer Probe’ so enduring is the images that they create. You know, like the legend Dan Akyroyd wielding a chainsaw coming out of a giant teddy bear’s stomach.
5. Colon Blow
Speaking of enduring images, I don’t know why, but I always think about the ‘Colon Blow’ commercial and the late, great Phil Hartman perched atop a massive pyramid of cereal bowls. And now I watch it and am kind of amazed at the production value. They did this back in the day, so I just imagine those all being real bowls of cereal. Ah, yes. Simpler times.
4. Podcast Set for White Guys
“We’re white guys. We need to say every dumb thing into a microphone and not get in trouble.”
In the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential Election, it’s amazing how many times I thought of this sketch.
3. El Nino
Oh Chris Farley, you miraculous, hulking comedic comet of a man. He could do anything and he could do it well. I don’t know who decided to make him El Nino, but good work by whoever that was. It reminds me of how in recent years, the show has had Bowen Yang play things like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic and one of the drones flying above New Jersey. There’s something that is so much fun about making something like a weather occurrence a character and Farley making El Nino essentially a professional wrestler was a fantastic choice.
2. Devil Can’t Write No Love Song
“Weekends/I prefer the weekends!”
The idea of a struggling musician contemplating selling his soul to the devil in exchange for a killer song is a tale as old as time. Although, there’s a pretty big assumption baked in that premise that this sketch decides to tackle: what if the Devil can’t write a good song either? Yeah, no one ever thought of that. We just figured the Devil could shred and that was that.
That’s not the case here as Will Ferrell unleashes the wrong kind of hell onto Garth Brooks, who is left wondering if there’s an out clause in the agreement he made with the Lord of Darkness.
1. Jacuzzi Lifeguard
This is the one. This is the sketch I probably randomly think about the most. And every time I think about it, I laugh. Every time I watch it, I laugh. It’s the first SNL sketch I showed my oldest daughter and was so happy to watch her laugh while watching it.
The key to this sketch is that it needs to be anchored by actors who give it all and don’t hold back and that’s exactly what you get with Jim Carrey as the overzealous lifeguard, Ferrell as the unsuspecting “swimmer” and Tim Meadows, who is just looking to get some laps in.
It’s such a simple premise that gets blown up thanks to the performances and becomes this wild epic opera of beautiful absurdity. I think sometimes the show can get high on its own supply and overthink things here. But this sketch proves that sometimes all you need is a ridiculous premise and equally ridiculous performers willing to take the idea and run with it.
Or swim with it. Provided it’s lap time of course.
Categories: Television
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