Favorite SNL Sketches: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is Still Dead

[Kromm]

I was originally going to try to make one thread for favorite sketch by period, but figured that might get complicated.  So put it all here in one place I guess.

-----------------

For example:

I don't care that it's actually pretty stupid.  I've just always defined this particular period of SNL by THIS sketch.

https://screen.yahoo.com/james-browns-celebrity-hot-tub-000000926.html

Edited April 14, 2014 by Kromm

[JTMacc99]

Hee! That was a great one.

Here is one of my favorites from what was probably my favorite period of the show.

And there is also the 1990 episode when Tom Hanks joins the five-timers club. I loved this so much.

Edited April 14, 2014 by JTMacc99

[Kromm]

I know there's a good percentage of people who hated Norm MacDonald, who never got or liked him.  Me, I'm on the Norm is a genius train and always have been. He told jokes when he did Weekend Update that people often didn't laugh at, or even groaned at.  Which was fine with me.  He still does comedy that way.

Consider this exhibit.  May induce absolute rage in some, but laughter in others.  I won't (or can't) predict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCPBwuQKJx4

[tinaw]

My favorite skit was when john goodman played Linda Tripp and shannon played monica lewinksky and they were talking in the restaurant. Tried to find it on youtube but no luck. John was so funny. Shannon too

[formerlyfreedom]

Is this it, @tinaw?

 

https://screen.yahoo.com/linda-tripp-monica-lewinsky-cold-000000087.html

[tinaw]

I think so Stacey. I thought there was more to it though like about the stain on the dress, but I could be remembering wrong. Still funny though. Thanks for finding it

[Milburn Stone]

I loved whenever they did the "randy academics" played by lovahs Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch.

[vb68]

I pretty much love everything Jan Hooks ever did.  

 

Waikiki Hockey and All About Deborah Norville are two that really stand out for me.

 

Oh, also the sketch where she was Bette Davis Davis reading her will-

 

"You wrote a nasty tell all book, and I want you to have a bad life-HAHAHAHA!   I fell out of my chair."

[DowntonStabby]

I pretty much love everything Jan Hooks ever did.  

 

Waikiki Hockey and All About Deborah Norville are two that really stand out for me.

 

Oh, also the sketch where she was Bette Davis Davis reading her will-

 

"You wrote a nasty tell all book, and I want you to have a bad life-HAHAHAHA!   I fell out of my chair."

Second the Jan Hooks love. She does not get enough credit as a comedic actress, in my opinion. Neither does Jane Curtin (who, for that reason, was elated to see in a supporting role in The Heat when I rented it from the library a couple months ago), and I think the pairing of her and Dan Aykroyd on Weekend Update> Chevy Chase on Weekend Update, in my opinion, though I thought she held her own on WU quite well, too (but still liked the way she played off Aykroyd even better--and not just the Point/Counterpoint bit, though that was pretty great in and of itself.) To see both Hooks AND Curtin on "3rd Rock From The Sun" (in my opinion, perhaps the most underrated sitcom of the '90s--well, maybe that and NewsRadio)? Pretty damn great!

[Bees]

Speaking of the Jan Hooks love, I have to add in the Diner Sketch with Alec Baldwin in there. "You shouldn't give away your pie with breakfast. It makes you look cheap!" Man was that sketch fantastic. 

 

Also, can't go wrong with The Sinatra Group. 

 

I did not like late 90's SNL for the most part but I have to say the game shows of Who's More Grizzled? and Old French Whore! were amazing.

 

Also the first debate sketch that began the 2000-2001 season(I think?) which was great not only because the material was great ("Strategery!") but also it was pretty awesome to see just how much Hammond and Ferrell worked on their impressions of Gore and Bush. You could tell that they really worked on them. 

[suomi]

I can't find the Madonna/Angelina Jolie baby love skit anywhere. Angelina won't give someone's baby back to them and Madonna keeps telling her she can't have that one because it belongs to someone else. Anybody know where to find that? (Although it's probably unavailable for legal reasons.) Anyhoo, TIA.

 

ETA: IIRC it's from 2009

Edited May 18, 2014 by suomi

[formerlyfreedom]

Is it this one, @suomi?

 

https://screen.yahoo.com/madonna-angelina-jolie-050000488.html

[suomi]

Ooooh, maybe so, LOL. Thank you!

[Kromm]

Also, can't go wrong with The Sinatra Group. 

 

So funny.

 

https://screen.yahoo.com/sinatra-group-000000236.html

[Kromm]

They started out just as filler to give the show time to reset things for actual skits, or just to chew up extra time when they didn't have enough live stuff for a show, but over the years there have been plenty of great "canned" bits.

 

Talk about your faves!

 

I'll start with Cluckin' Chicken.

[Maverick]

 One of my favorites.  Still LOL at it to this day.

 

[formerlyfreedom]

I have to say The Mirror with Ellen Page & The Lonely Island; Boy Dance Party from this past year are two of my favorites.

 

The Mirror is found here.

 

And here is Boy Dance Party -

 

http://youtu.be/5MQzc6SQk_E

[Kromm]

 One of my favorites.  Still LOL at it to this day.

 

Eek,  I dunno.  For me at least this is one of those (and I include live skits in this too) where it's only a single joke milked a bit overtime.  I think there should be like a 90 second clock, sometimes, on things on SNL (be they canned or live) that build around a single joke.

It occurs to me that the very classic Mr. Bill should be included among these canned bits.

 

Of course they are in a way even more one-note than single bits that go on too long.  I mean EVERY Mr. Bill skit is essentially the same, right? At least with its endpoint. Even so, I admit they made me chuckle, because it's always about an ESCALATION, so it's not totally the same thing.  Each disaster for Bill got worse than the last.

 

Then there's TV Funhouse.  I consider these the greatest canned bits of all SNL.  Probably the best of the best of those?

 

The X-Presidents:  (here's one of many) - https://screen.yahoo.com/tv-funhouse-x-presidents-osama-000000826.html

 

The one they probably did a few too many of was The Ambiguously Gay Duo.  And yet... it still kind of always worked.  

 

One of many... https://screen.yahoo.com/tv-funhouse-snl-skits/tv-funhouse-ambiguously-gay-duo-000000043.html

[Maverick]

I didn't care for the second Shy Ronnie nearly as much as the  (but I still liked it better than the Dick in a Box follow up, Mother Lover).  But to me the first Shy Ronnie was perfect.  Rihanna's autotune throughout, Ronnie's mumbling, "shoulda just paid Kayne" and of course "He pissed himself!"

 

 The Ambiguously Gay Duo was awesome.  They did go to the well a bit too often with it, but I think ti was the only TV Funhouse skit to get a live action version....which was awesome!

 

 Speaking of TV Funhouse, this is one of my favs:

 

[Kromm]

I always liked this Funhouse bit:  The New Adventures of Mr. T

And respected the pure work they had to put into this one.  The Narrator That Ruined Christmas

 

Note that Louis C.K. AND Stephen Colbert (along with a fourth collaborator, Michael Gordon) co-wrote that last one along with Smigel. Think about that talent pool for a single five minutes of what was once considered show filler.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Kromm

[DowntonStabby]

I always liked this Funhouse bit:  The New Adventures of Mr. T

And respected the pure work they had to put into this one.  The Narrator That Ruined Christmas

 

Note that Louis C.K. AND Stephen Colbert (along with a fourth collaborator, Michael Gordon) co-wrote that last one along with Smigel. Think about that talent pool for a single five minutes of what was once considered show filler.

If I recall correctly, the first TV Funhouse bit actually aired on The Dana Carvey Show, on which Louis C.K. was head writer, and Stephen Colbert was a cast member (as was Steve Carell and Robert Smigel), and upon the show's cancellation, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, along with other TV Funhouse bits, made their way to SNL.

[Bees]

From TV Funhouse, I always enjoyed "Christmastime for the Jews" as done by Darlene Love. That was amazing. 

 

I thought the Compulsion ad from the late 80s was fantastic. And Old Glory Robot Insurance from the late 90s was well done. I enjoyed the gross out factor of Crystal Gravy. And the pregnancy test with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler was a great spin on the idea of two college kids who stupidly hooked up waiting to see if there's a baby expected. "I'm so happy I'm not gonna get fat."

 

My favorite is one that's actually not funny. It's that Love is a Dream short from Schiller's Reels back in 1988 or so that had Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks in it. It's not funny, but it's really touching and heartwarming (though admittedly hard to watch now with what happened to Hartman. I can forgive the lack of humor for it because it's just so well done. 

[JTMacc99]

Yep. That was the first one that came to my mind when I saw this thread. "I see you, and I'm thinking fourteen in the side pocket!"

 

The return of a bunch of old cast members with Andy Samburg hosting, and the fact that some of them started cracking up during the show, reminded me of Debbie Downer.  I just watched a couple of them on Yahoo!, and they still really make me laugh.

 

In particular, I loved this one. It had two moments (her comment about what probably happened to Pluto and her "it's official" announcement) that absolutely killed me the first time and had me coming here because they still make me laugh. 

[Traveller519]

Iceman the Later Years

 

Ten or so years ago when Val Kilmer was hosting. Will Ferrell and Chris Parnell playing straight men to Kilmer's Top Gun character, now retired from the Navy and a commercial pilot.

[DowntonStabby]

Bad Idea Jeans (featuring a rare speaking appearance by Bob Odenkirk!)

 

Lily Tomlin as an apathetic telephone operator in the era of Ma Bell

 

Mom Jeans

 

Edited to add: Colon Blow, a bit that works primarily because of Phil Hartman's presence and delivery alone.

Edited May 22, 2014 by DowntonStabby

[DowntonStabby]

Probably not on Yahoo Screen, but a 10-to-1 sketch from the late '90s called Stevie Nicks' Fajita Roundup (going for a deep cut here!), involving that week's host, Lucy Lawless, playing Stevie Nicks, advertising her Tucson, Arizona, area Mexican restaurant in a sing-song style of her Fleetwood Mac hits (hence why it's probably not available online) and talking about her time with Lindsay Buckingham. The way Lucy Lawless did this in this sketch was just great, in my opinion.

 

While I liked Gilda Radner's completely batshit, inaccurate take on Barbara Walters, I also enjoyed Cheri Oteri's more accurate, yet also wacky take on the recently retired journalist/co-host of The View. Speaking of The View? Those View sketches from the late '90s--especially the 1st few--were comedy gold. My younger brother and I watched them together when he was a tween and I was high-school-aged (respectively), and one night, when I went out (to a dance, I think), and one was on SNL, I came home to find he had taped it for me--no prompting at all or anything. (I believe it was the one after Debbie Matanopoulis had gotten canned from the show.)

 

Of course, I also like the Church Chat sketches, as well as, for whatever reason, Phil Hartman in the Sassy's Sassiest Boys sketch. "How did you get to be so...SASSY?"

[Kromm]

Edited to add: Colon Blow, a bit that works primarily because of Phil Hartman's presence and delivery alone.

I definitely consider Colon Blow to be one of the greats.  And yeah, a lot of it is Phil (then again that's true with a lot of Phil's material).

[Traveller519]

I don't recall the Stevie Nicks' Fajita Roundup, but I do remember Derek Jeter's Taco hole on the Jeter hosted episode in 2001. Most of those sketches were Jeter playing Jeter, but Taco Hole made me laugh. I still have the mp3 kicking around on my computer.

[JTMacc99]

It's right off of Route 3 in Nutley, NJ, next to the Kinkos and El Duke's Shoe Repair!

Edited May 22, 2014 by JTMacc99

[ebk57]

I don't know if it's out there on the interwebs (I just tried to find it, but can't), but my favorite TV Funhouse was in the Fun with Real Audio series - "Bryant Gumbel interviews the Survivor Cast".   I was laughing so hard, I was crying...poor Bryant. 

 

I did find out, in my searching, that it was from April 2001, if that helps anyone else find it.

Edited May 24, 2014 by ebk57

[DowntonStabby]

I don't recall the Stevie Nicks' Fajita Roundup, but I do remember Derek Jeter's Taco hole on the Jeter hosted episode in 2001. Most of those sketches were Jeter playing Jeter, but Taco Hole made me laugh. I still have the mp3 kicking around on my computer.

 

Here's the transcript (apparently, it wasn't a 10-to-1 sketch--I remembered that wrong, somehow). Also, I third the Derek Jeter's Taco Hole sketch being funny. Athlete host episodes can be hit-or-miss, but I feel they used Jeter well in that episode.

 

Edited to add: So Stevie Nicks' Fajita Roundup was supposed to be in Sedona, not Tucson. Thank you, SNL Transcripts!

Edited May 26, 2014 by DowntonStabby

[Princess Sparkle]

I know there's a good percentage of people who hated Norm MacDonald, who never got or liked him. Me, I'm on the Norm is a genius train and always have been.

Norm is my all-time favorite WU anchor. "This just in: Murder is legal in the state of California" combined with that smirk was perfection.

This isn't really a sketch per se, but one of my favorite moments is from the first season where the cast all sang "Walkin in a Winter Wonderland" together. There's something about seeing the cast all together that warms my heart.

I also have a soft spot for the Samurai Sketch with Richard Pryor. John Belushi's "yeah, ok, I'll get the bag" was so freaking funny.

And do go on the other side of the spectrum, the original Drunk Uncle bit about Christmas is hysterical. "It's like...hey baby Jesus, wanna go to Pilates?"

Edited May 28, 2014 by Princess Sparkle

[Princess Sparkle]

Peyton Manning's United Way sketch is my very favorite pretaped bit. I still quote that to this day. "Why is the door open? CLOSE THE DOOR!"

[Traveller519]

Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter (as we mentioned in the live skit forum) were probably my two favorite sports hosts.

 

The United way Skit was gold, but some of the other stuff he went through was also funny if not as memorable. The reason he's so marketable isn't just because he's a great player, but also his charisma.

[Galileo908]

I gotta give a shout out to Jack Handey's "Deep Thoughts." Just a little non-sequitor line here and there. So simple, surreal and amazing.

 

My favorite one has to be the one where a dad was going to take his kid to Disneyland but instead takes him to a burned-down shed and said "oh no, Disneyland burned down!"

[kathholl]

One of my favorites is back in 1996 Jim Carrey played a lifeguard at a jacuzzi. Will Ferrell was in the hot tub and got a cramp in his foot and Carrey gave him mouth to mouth. Attention swimmer!

[Spartan Girl]

The "Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight" cold opening is a classic.

 

 

One of my favorites is back in 1996 Jim Carrey played a lifeguard at a jacuzzi. Will Ferrell was in the hot tub and got a cramp in his foot and Carrey gave him mouth to mouth. Attention swimmer!

 

I remember that one.  Jim Carrey blended in so well when he hosted that I can't believe SNL didn't hire him before he got big.

[helenamonster]

The Jim Carrey mentions reminded me of the "What Is Love?" sketch with Kattan and Ferrell, which never fails to crack me up.

 

 

It ended up being alluded to in the epic Evolution of Dance (around 4:30):

 

[Princess Sparkle]

I almost forgot - this season, I think my favorite short was the Wes Anderson parody. It was so spot on, which made it even funnier. And surprisingly, Edward Norton can do a great Owen Wilson impression.

[Sun-Bun]

Maybe it's just my age showing, but '88-95 were SNL's golden years to me castwise.

I remember the late Patrick Sawyze hosted one of my fave SNL's ever in '90, the same episode that featured the legendary Chippendale's audition with the late Chris Farley.

There was a hilarious parody of "Ghost" on there too, but my inner-schoolgirl still giggles herself silly remembering this random, stupidly funny sketch from that same show, "The White Trash Bed & Breakfast." Just the image of a young Mike Meyers busting through the door, dressed in overalls and weeping over a dead dog he then tosses onto the kitchen table as everyone else is eating breakfast on it still cracks me up.

The "Gap Girls" always tickled me.

I remember "Massive Headwound Harry" all too well. I loved Rachel Dratch as "The Girl with No Gaydar" because I remember going to college with tragic chicks just like her.

Motivational speaker Matt Foley and his "I live in a VAN, down by the RIVER!!!!" pep-talks gave me life!

The fact that The Anal-Retentive Chef and Deiter never made it onto movie screens still saddens me.

Although is it true that there's supposedly a Celebrity Jeopardy movie in the making???!!!

((fingers, toes, legs crossed!!))

Randomest sketch ever that still haunts me: "Schmeeee Is My Beeeee..." was the theme song sung in falsetto by Chris Rock, featuring a tiny bee suit clad Chris Farley as Chris Rock's evil bee friend. It was only on once for good reason, but it stood out to me because it was so stupidly random and weird.

Oh, and the "Schwetty Balls" sketch still remains a common quotation machine in my household.

Good times. Yeah, yeah, good times.

[spaceytraci1208]

One of my favorite random sketches is the "Simma Down!" one when Toby Maguire hosted. Cheri Oteri was always one of my favorites and that sketch forever made the word "figurine" funny to me

[cpcathy]

This past season had some stand out filmed moments, including Boy Dance Party, Twin Bed, the West Anderson parody, Tourists, Monster Pals. My list could go on and on, they have been really great this year.

[spaceytraci1208]

Sam Waterston selling "Old Glory Life Insurance" is probably my favorite SNL parody commercial

[Princess Sparkle]

I wish Tobey Maguire would come back and host, because he was hilarious when he hosted. His Inside the Actors studio as Dustin Diamond, and Celebrity Jeopardy as Keanu Reeves were fantastic.

[stcroix]

Just reading these comments makes me realize how much I miss the older shows!  I'm 60 and have been faithfully watching SNL since the beginning, always looking forward to Saturday night and one of my favorite shows.  The past few seasons have been pretty lame.  With a few exceptions I just don't see the caliber of talent that carried the show in years past.  I hope it's not because I'm outgrowing SNL  :(    Watching the videos on google was the most I've laughed at SNL in years.  I wish Lorne could find some new talent and get the show back on track.  I know, I know, I sound like Dana Garvey's grumpy old man!  "In OUR day...."  ;)   But in my opinion, this show could sure use some more COWBELL! 

[Spooneroonie]

But in my opinion, this show could sure use some more COWBELL!

 

 

I think I've loved everything Christopher Walken has ever done. Colonel Angus, Cowbell, and those sketches where it's just him and the camera (I know they have a name, but I can't recall what it is)....those are all genius.

[Maverick]

The Continental.     Don't forget the guy with the googly-eyed plants.

[helenamonster]

Colonel Angus was freaking genius. That sketch is a testament to the value of picking a lane and sticking to it. They took one joke and made it spectacular.

[ajsnaves]

I think one of my favorite TV Fun houses is the Charlie Brown Christmas one where the kids learn they have the power to makeover things by waving their hands.

 

Sally saying "We posses an awesome power" just makes me laugh.

 

But my all time favorite film is "Men Synchronized Swimming." That one will never not be funny, even 30 years later.

[Bruinsfan]

From TV Funhouse, I always enjoyed "Christmastime for the Jews" as done by Darlene Love. That was amazing.

That is my all-time favorite bit from SNL. Just hilarious start to finish, as well as sounding wonderful thanks to Darlene Love.

 

I've always had a fondness for the Happy Fun Ball commercial with its extra-long disclaimer. "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."