Some Favorite SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Sketches

Saturday Night Live (pr. n.): a live show in which most of the funniest sketches are pre-recorded.

On the late Norm Macdonald’s Netflix show Norm Macdonald Has a Show, he interviewed Lorne Michaels, the creator of one of the longest-running series on television, Saturday Night Live. Macdonald, of course, was the one bright spot in the otherwise dismal years of his tenure on “Weekend Update,” before his unceremonious departure due to an onslaught of jokes about “The Juice,” who happened to be a friend of the then-president of NBC, Don Ohlmeyer.

Michaels told Macdonald that most people’s favorite SNL years are usually the ones they watch in high school. For me, it was most certainly junior high school, when I first found it. After Michaels had returned to the fledgling show in the mid-80s and eventually assembled a spot-on cast that included Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, and Kevin Nealon heading the “Update.” These years (which eventually added Chris Farley, David Spade, Chris Rock, etc.) were my favorites. In fact, when Will Ferrell first appeared on the show, I thought comedy had died. It took me a long time to understand and appreciate Will Ferrell.

Of course, those early 90s years does not provide the only treasure-trove of comedy from SNL and most people would tell me Nealon, who often incorporated his “Subliminal Man” character in his newscast, was the worst ever (which is most certainly Colin Quinn). With SNL, there’s rarely an in-between. There are those who will always think the show worked best in its first five years with Belushi, Aykroyd, etc. There are those who would fight for Eddie Murphy’s star turn in the lean years. I myself have a soft-spot for the time when Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis made me laugh heartily nearly every week.

And yet the criticism that SNL is always the same is essentially true. The really funny stuff is usually pre-recorded (think The Lonely Island), some characters are overused to the point of exhaustion, the opening and closing episodes of a season are always the best and the middle part of the season lags between low-level and God-awful. This has not seemed to change in the nearly fifty years the show has been on the air.

Still, here are sketches that I find myself constantly returning to—ones etched in the memory. They are listed in no particular order (and some can no longer be found due to music rights issues or SNL’s own draconian use of YouTube). Still, I would be interested in your favorites in the comments and what era of the show holds a special place in your heart. As for the most recent seasons, only Colin Jost and Michael Che occasionally save it (and sometimes not even then), but one always holds out hope they’ll find another cast whose energy is infectious.

Sofa King

One of a series of one-joke sketches concerning professions that have almost lewd names (such as "Cork-Soaking" with Jimmy Fallon and Janet Jackson), this one is certainly the best. Shia LaBeouf, think what you will of him, had some great moments on SNL.

Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney

Bill Hader was, of course, the king of the SNL game show sketches, save Ferrell's Alex Trebek in Celebrity Jeopardy!. This sketch is nothing short of perfection with pitch-perfect performances all around, including the egregiously underused Jay Pharoah and Jamie Foxx.

Sore Toe

The rawest years were the early '80s. Almost nothing is remembered except for a watered-down Chevy Chase in Charles Rocket. But, there is a charm in this sketch which features Randy Quaid and Robert Downey, Jr.

Rosetta Stone

Sometimes, SNL walks a tight-rope with sexual subjects, somehow finding humor in pieces like "Chucky Lee Byrd" and an eventually removed sketch involving a sketchy Safe-Lite employee. But, this one holds a soft spot.

39 Cents

As you can see Hader has dominated the list so far and he does strike one as the perfect SNL cast member. Like John Cleese, it's his seriousness that's so funny in this great send-up of commercials for developing nations.

Death Row Follies

While the so-called "Golden Years" featured some great sketches, most notably a racy piece with Chase and Richard Pryor, they are usually when they are especially naughty, especially late night. I include here not the sketch, but how Garrett Morris came up with the idea for his "death row folly" number.

Herb Welch: Falling Ice

Included here is perhaps one of the few recent SNL characters that have gained national laude (including Stefan, Matt Schatt and The Girl You Wished You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party). Herb Welch began as a tribute to a viral YouTube video and became perfection.

Tales of Bill Brasky: Holiday Inn

The "Bill Brasky" series is one of my all-time favorites. Each and every one. The sketch is actually a type of sketch in which each character tries to top the other in their hyperbole (see the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch which appeared on At Last the 1948 Show and in Monty Python: Live at the Hollywood Bowl).

Gus Chiggins, Old Prospector

The only cut sketch on the list (while there are many more classics), this shows Ferrell at his finest and some of the best character-breaking ever recorded, except for Debbie Downer at Walt Disney World.

Space the Infinite Frontier: Dr. Kent Wahler

Ferrell, of course, saved the show from its mid-'90s doldrums and ushered in an era that included women becoming more prominent on the show, more razor-sharp "Weekend Updates," and future internet memes ("I need more cowbell"). His Harry Caray is terrific.

One More Mission: Acting Career

Phil Hartman was, in some ways, the most talented SNL cast member. He had a perfect voice, was a perfect actor when necessary, and had more than a baker's dozen of spot-on impressions. This little sketch with Jon Lovitz was actually one of his earlier career routines which was incorporated into the show.

M&M Store

Zach Galifianakis (and Larry David and Dave Chappelle) have been wonderful SNL hosts. Zach's turn as the racist M&M Store employee is uproarious and the other characters really make it work.

Grossed Out Cruise Ship Singer

This one gets short shrift as it appeared late in the episode at a time when audiences were just beginning to accept Miley Cyrus instead of Hannah Montana. But, while a slow burn, this sketch has something special.

The Sinatra Group

Hartman dominates as the Chairman of the Board in a bizarre variation on the McLaughlin Group (a direct parody by Carvey ranks high up there also), this sketch shows how talented the cast of my favorite era really were.

Jingleheimer Junction

Tim Meadows was never used to his full potential, but has gone onto great work in film including Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Mean Girls. His Perspectives sketches are sadly not preserved anywhere to stream, but his professionalism in what could have been a disastrous sketch is a great example of what he brought to the team.

It's a Match

This one's just for laughs. I like it. I hope you do too, especially if you loved Match Game.

Notes from the Hospital: A Prose-Poem

They said it was bad and my decision to come saved my life. Ten and a half hours in the emergency room, I spoke maybe a few words to my brother, who had packed me a bag for when a hospital room would be ready. A wave of depression and shock at the news; could not speak—even scarier, I could not bring myself to pray.

Admitted to a critical care unit, technologically advanced, state of the art, a camera where Big Brother would occasionally watch me while the nurses had their breaks or were with other patients and check on me. I had been on the drip twelve hours, and I still could only state the bare facts to the staffs helping me.

The nurse for the evening shift asked me many questions—some easier to answer than others. I was still in a daze, petrified, stupefied. But the first question I remember: “Will you accept life-saving measures?” I had to pause at that one. I stumbled out, “No.” The other nurse and the tech made me comfortable on the bed.

The questions kept coming and I answered by rote. But, in my head, two tracks of thought can run simultaneously, and I thought about how I answered. There was the brother and sister-in-law and their family. Most especially there was mom. I had watched her mother deal with losing a child before her time had come.

The nurse was about to leave to allow me the requisite fifteen minutes of rest I was bound to get. I stopped her. “Can I change my answer to the first question?” “Yes, of course.” “Have to think of other people besides myself.” She said, “It’s hard sometimes.” We shared a look. Four days later, I went home.

Blue Collar Poems

Special to the Blog: a little late, but still within "the week." A few down-to-earth, blue collar poems. Enjoy!

Raised Right

We are impressive to people.

We were "raised right."

We know how to work hard for very little.

We know the games people play

and how to play them.

So what if to be "raised right"

we had some rough wake-up calls

and sleepless nights

as our God our moral center

slipped through our fingers?

You can't spend all your time

blaming the birth-givers.

They did what they thought was "right."

They were "raised right."

And when they had us, ha ha—

they were scared-shitless kids.

We were their wake-up calls.

Now we slip through their fingers—

but not like sand, like salt.

Some grains stick and don't pass through.

Working at Walmart

Past one irregular step,

where the sole of the foot

is still shattered, skinned, flayed,

exposing cracks of skin and

blood underneath.

Try to be happy, damn you!

There are many others worse off.

Play a little into the sham.

Daub a little in un-tempered mortar.

Then, go home and forget

in clouds of smoky ringlets,

praising God—as the Heavenly

Hosts sing songs of victory

and assent while your body

trudges on in the muck.

The Offended

Do you have the right to be offended?

Will your offense kill you like a bullet?

What gives you the right to assume your offense

            means something to me, to everyone?

I think of the greatest generation.

Are you keen to make mine the worst,

An offended generation, offended by the free speech

            men and women have fought & died for?

Where is your strength, your ethics, your civility?

Do you assume everyone else is civil?

If you do, this is a fault—naive, like you.

            Repent of your offense.

            It is time to grow up.

            You are a budding flower

            in the Spring of life.

            Yet, it is now Fall.

            When you droop and drop, there will be no sound

            & the offended generation

            will inherit the Winter it deserves.