Another season of Saturday Night Live is in the books… and we’re still giggling thinking about some of the sketches it gave us.
NBC’s venerable sketch comedy institution wrapped up its 49th season earlier this month, and it showed no signs of slowing down heading into its landmark Season 50, delivering a number of laugh-out-loud sketches that have racked up millions of views online. (Hey, we get it. We can’t always stay up late on Saturday nights to watch live, either.)
We here at TVLine thought we’d celebrate the end of SNL’s latest season by looking back on the funniest sketches to air this year, from video shorts to Weekend Update characters to sketches so hilarious that even the cast members couldn’t keep themselves from laughing, with key contributions from big-name guest hosts like Ryan Gosling, Sydney Sweeney and Jake Gyllenhaal. We’ll never look at Beavis and Butt-Head the same way again. Or Jumanji, for that matter.
Read on to see which Saturday Night Live Season 49 sketches made our list of favorites — press PLAY on the video that accompanies each entry to watch the sketch in full — and be sure to hit the comments and let us know if we left off any of your favorites.
McKinnon is joined by fellow SNL alums Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph for a highly silly fake ad for a holiday album from Swedish pop superstars ABBA, with the band members singing ridiculous lyrics directly into each other’s faces. If you like sketches where the actors crack up, well, Christmas just came early.
It’s funny enough that Gosling and Mikey Day play audience members at a deadly serious talk show who happen to look exactly like MTV’s brain-dead duo. But even funnier, they seem to have no idea who Beavis and Butt-Head are, and their gentle befuddlement — along with Heidi Gardner absolutely losing it every time she looks at them — takes the humor to sublime new heights.
Playing a grandiose diva with an overly inflated ego is right in Rudolph’s wheelhouse, and she soars here as Dawn Farraway, an old-school Hollywood grande dame gracing the set of a coffee commercial with her presence. She doesn’t know her lines, she hates everyone on set and she has a bit of a gas problem — but dammit, she knows how to deliver!
Sweeney and Chloe Fineman team up to play the ultimate crime-solvers: a pair of bored Gen Z girls on their phones. The cops are stumped by a series of cold cases, but the girls manage to find each culprit in seconds just by digging into their social media footprints, letting out a detached “Found him” each time. As they explain: “We’re 22-year-old girls in situationships. We can find out anything about anyone with literally no information.”
Chloe Fineman applies her chameleon-like impression skills to embody child star-turned-pop singer JoJo Siwa… and she’s a bad girl now, you guys! With a hilarious youthful exuberance (and a pronounced lisp), JoJo unveils her new adult image: “I even do cigarettes!” She’s a trailblazer, too, you know: “I’m the first gay girl in the world!”
Board games can be fun! But they can also be terrifying. Wiig plays a partygoer who is reluctant to play a new game because she doesn’t want to get sucked inside it, or “Jumanji-ed.” That sets off a heated argument about the exact nature of her fear: “In Jumanji, Jumanji comes out! The kids don’t go into Jumanji! Jumanji comes out of Jumanji!”
This one starts out as an old-timey Annie-esque tale about an orphan who just can’t seem to get adopted, but it gets increasingly deranged as Chloe Troast’s orphan reveals she’s actually 26 (and 18 months!), with a bizarre singing voice to boot. We kind of love Chalamet’s man in the moon, who starts out supportive but ends up genuinely disturbed by the orphan’s dark secrets.
Mikey Day plays a guy who comes home for the holidays and decides to reconnect with his old childhood pal Keith, played by Driver. But alas, he should’ve just left well enough alone, because Keith is a full-blown psycho now with some very troubling skeletons in his closet: “The Netflix doc made it seem worse than it was.”
Anyone who has ever attended a group function of any kind will smile in recognition at this fake ad for a culinary staple: the old reliable aluminum tray of penne alla vodka. It’s “loved by none, but tolerated by all,” we’re told, because “it’s not that good… but it’s not that bad either.” (And God, do we hate that slippery plastic serving spoon.)
A fitness trend turns into a full-blown horror movie in this faux trailer, with Wiig playing a fanatical Pilates instructor who puts her students through absolute hell — and smiles while she’s doing it. One woman marvels at the excruciating workout: “It’s so hard, but also so boring.” (Guest star Kaia Gerber makes it look easy, though.)
The Please Don’t Destroy trio gets cut swiftly down to size in this video short, with host Johnson stopping by their office to tell them how much she does not enjoy their work. That leads to a fierce exchange of insults, but Johnson easily gets the upper hand. We honestly can’t pick a favorite between “I’ve always wanted to meet the Lonelier Island” and “What’s it like looking like the last three guys a lesbian sleeps with before coming out?”
At first, this video short is a spot-on recreation of the classic Scooby-Doo cartoons, with Gyllenhaal as Fred and musical guest Sabrina Carpenter as Daphne. But things get weird (of course) when Fred goes to rip off the villain’s mask — and ends up tearing off his whole face, setting off a violent bloodbath that isn’t anything like what we used to watch on Saturday mornings.
SNL’s political parodies have been spotty at best lately, but they hit a home run here, with Scarlett Johansson dropping by to mock Alabama senator Katie Britt for her infamously unhinged response to President Biden’s State of the Union speech. Johansson’s cheery demeanor while talking about horrible atrocities definitely chilled our blood. But don’t accuse her of being performative, or she’ll dramatically gasp: “I’m not!”
Stand-up comic Nate Bargatze was one of SNL’s least heralded guest hosts in years, but he made a legion of new fans with this sketch, where he plays Founding Father George Washington as he lays out his vision for the new nation. It starts out stirring, but quickly gets derailed by talk of a highly confusing new system of weights and measures. (“How many liters are in a gallon, sir?” “Nobody knows.”)
!['SNL': Please Don't Destroy Gets Too High With Travis Scott [VIDEO]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/tvline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/please-dont-destroy.jpg?w=300)
The Please Don’t Destroy guys live out their hip-hop fantasies in this music video by heading to the club with Youssef and musical guest Travis Scott for a “twisted rocking ball.” (Whatever that means.) Unfortunately, the weed they smoke proves way too powerful for them, leaving them a paranoid mess. A good reminder, as always: Never wear shorts to the club.
I’ve shared that Washington’s Dream sketch with dozens of people! The most memorable sketch of the season for me for sure, and with a host I hadn’t heard of no less. Kenan got me every time too haha.
“And what will 1,000 pounds be called, sir?
“Nothing.”
Favorite joke of the season.
Oh, and Scarlett’s sketch was fabulous! Need her to host again.
Ryan Godling was definitely a highlight of the season. The entire show was pretty funny which is rare. And the Jumanji sketch was great! And I’m not a big Kristen Wiiig fan. Really want John Mulaney to host again. His shows are usually very funny!
Oh, c’mon, the return of Colleen Rafferty definitely was a highlight. And Heidi’s daffy secretary who keeps losing her blouse is also a keeper.
Maya Rudolph, “Y’ll Won” was the best skerch of the year. You illiterate nasty kids y’all won. Almost choked on my drink.
So true, I couldn’t stop laughing. T-S-I-D-D-A-H-N!!!😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
I discovered Nate Bargatze a few weeks ago while watching Jim Gaffigan on Netflix. Nate has a couple of comedy specials which popped up as recommendations. He had me smiling and laughing. I think I’ve found my next ‘go to’ comedian. He’s such a natural storyteller and paints those pictures in your mind. Of course, he’s been around for years but I hope this exposure does only good things.
The weights and measures was absolutely my favorite of the year, so clever, true, funny
Oh wow, this is the first time I saw the Washington skit with Nate Bargatze, so very funny! His and the Katie Britt skit with Johansson are so funny!
Nothing from the best episode of the season, Shane Gillis. That’s funnier than majority of this list.
Overall I think this was one of the best seasons in a while. Laughed a lot more and a lot harder this year than average