50 Greatest 'SNL' Sketches of All Time, Ranked

Image via NBC Published May 16, 2026, 6:52 AM EDT J.S. Gornael has a BA in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis in Poetry and an MFA in Fiction. He has taken workshops in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction (though mostly the second). Half-cinephile, half-bookworm, he is both a TV/Movie List Writer for Collider and the lead Book Review Editor for IndieReader. He occasionally writes book reviews himself, and looks forward to finally getting several novels out of his head and onto paper. His favorite movie is Apocalypse Now, but specifically 2019's Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (the 1979 theatrical version would still be is favorite if Coppola never re-cut it, though. Redux is too long). Though he gave up trying to watch every episode of The Simpsons when he reached season 10, he still likes to venture out into this mysterious territory of 21st-Century Simpsons and see what's out there. Other shows he also loves writing about include SpongeBob, Avatar: The Last Airbender (the one from Nickelodeon is the only one that counts!), and Breaking Bad. Sign in to your Collider account It's astounding that Saturday Night Live will soon be finishing its 51st season. At this point, the show has been a hallmark of American comedy for over half a century, and it's still relevant enough for its sketches to have sparks of popularity (and controversy). Sometimes sketches get little to no attention whatsoever. Given the variety show is live, has a very limited amount of prep, and has different hosts and musical guests every week, plenty of things can go wrong. That's the nature of the beast, and one can argue that it's been a series of ups and downs since the beginning. Yet SNL has become so influential that a version of the show in the UK is making its way through its first season. So if one had to compile a list of SNL's greatest sketches, what would they be? Well, we've tried to balance things out so that every decade gets a fair amount of representation. Since we're only about halfway through the 2020s, fewer entries come from this decade than from others. The 1970s was also half a decade long, but it's so acclaimed that it has more entries than the 2020s. This list also attempts to strike a balance between famous and lesser-known sketches. Some of the "classics" feel a bit overrated at this point, so there may be some fan-favorites that have been left out in favor of more hidden gems. Also, a few ground rules: since this is technically about the best "sketches" in the show's history, we're leaving out all Weekend Update segments (including such beloved works as "Point/Counterpoint," Stefon's NYC club recommendations, and "Really?!?") and host monologues. Both of those feel like their own distinct categories. Pre-recorded sketches do count here, though. Of course, even with those restrictions, any two fans of SNL will compose vastly different lists with extremely different rankings. In terms of making sense of this one, maybe try not to. It's fascinatingly futile to compare so many stylistically diverse pieces from so many different times. They vary in complexity, length, cast, execution, and what they set out to achieve. After all, it's not always exclusively about how hard and how consistently they make people laugh, as important as those aspects are; sometimes one also factors in the music (if there is any), the pathos (if it tries to evoke any), how much the actors break (which can be a good thing), and so on. When it comes to something as subjective as comedy, the main goal here is to at least offer readers skits they haven't seen and remind them of ones worth watching again. 50 "Belushi Demands Cold Open" Season 2, Episode 17 John Belushi may have technically been in the very first SNL sketch, but he wasn't presented with the chance to say those famous words ("Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!") until Season 2's "Belushi Demands Cold Open." Remarking on his reputation as a troublemaker, Belushi relishes the chance to finally show the top brass who's boss for once. The show can't truly start until he says that line, you see, and he's going to use this to hold the show hostage. Belushi's calm demeanor belies his malicious intent, so it's great when he makes a fist as he claims he's got them just where he wants them. By the time he presents his list of demands, we feel like we're watching one of the most ingenious exploitations of SNL's formula. It's also great how that hand appears with NBC's letter, and how they ultimately get the better of the SNL icon. It's a testament to Belushi and the Season 2 writers that this cold open can still warm our hearts to this day. 49 "Liza Minnelli Tries to Turn off a Lamp" Season 37, Episode 17 Image via NBC Let's ask an important question: Can you make a musical out of turning off a lamp? Kristen Wiig answers with a resounding yes in "Liza Minnelli Tries to Turn off a Lamp." Broadway performers can turn anything into a song, especially the likes of EGOT-winner Liza Minnelli. New York City, 1982: Minnelli and her friend (Jonah Hill) are late for the opening night of Cats, but she wants to turn off the lights first. The premise is immediately funny, and it only gets better from there. Cue the swing, and an intoxicated Minnelli starts dancing toward that lamp. She tries to figure out what kind of off-switch to look for while making loony poses and speaking nonsense. Meanwhile, Jonah Hill does an excellent job as the typical NYC artist. His cigar, his glasses, and his blonde wig are all perfect. Without breaking, Hill exaggerates his character's accent by extending certain words to hilarious effect. Notice this guy keeps insisting they're in a rush and yet doesn't get up to help her this entire time. These four silly minutes prove a true marvel of the musical genre. 48 "The Laundromat" Season 1, Episode 8 Who needs dialogue to tell a story? Not Season 1's "The Laundromat," in which the great John Belushi and Gilda Radner play two people who turn laundry day into flirting of the highest order. With just hand gestures and facial expressions, the comedians show that these strangers are going to share a washing machine. They have good chemistry, too, as they take turns placing articles of clothing into the washer. We can see how this is going to play out once Radner hesitates to throw her bra inside. But once she's presented with a flower, which he apparently carried with him, she decides they can take this next step. It's great how Belushi slingshots the underwear inside, and his eyebrows do a lot of heavy lifting throughout. Along with some more romantic items you've got no business bringing to a laundromat, we get a sketch that's short, disarmingly sweet, cleverly conceived, and immaculately executed. 47 "Victoria Jackson: The Boyfriend Song (ft. Willie Nelson)" Season 12, Episode 12 This one may be a bit more obscure, but "Victoria Jackson: The Boyfriend Song (ft. Willie Nelson)" is the perfect example of imperfections that only improve the material. Victoria's got a ukulele, and Willie's got a guitar. The way they say hello to each other, the way she asks if he's country or western, the way she announces "The Boyfriend Song by Victoria Jackson"—it feels like we've gone from Studio 8H to Sesame Street. Such friendly vibes. Willie's been singing all night, apparently, but he's still got another one in him. And so the song begins. The lyrics comprise a long list of Victoria's boyfriends, and the melody is surprisingly catchy. Everything about the lyrics is charming, from the repetition of "one boyfriend" to the brief pauses to there is little attention paid to keeping time. Willie's turn to sing is just as fun, singing about his many girlfriends, and the song culminates into them singing slowly together about getting married. Along with Victoria reminding Willie to play that final outro, this piece is so comforting, romantic, and wholesome that you love it more every time you hear it. Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would BeYour Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back. 🎖️Rambo 🍸James Bond 🏺Indiana Jones 🔧John McClane 🎭Ethan Hunt FIND YOUR PARTNER → 01 You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you. ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged. NEXT QUESTION → 02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission. AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of. ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead. NEXT QUESTION → 04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are. AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability. APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership. AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters. ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had. ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up. NEXT QUESTION → 09 Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together. AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked. NEXT QUESTION → 10 It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one. AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been. REVEAL MY PARTNER → Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse. RamboYour partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know. James BondYour partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing. Indiana JonesYour partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them. John McClaneYour partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay. Ethan HuntYour partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 46 "The Blues Brothers: Soul Man" Season 4, Episode 6 The Blues Brothers is an over two-hour epic that's gone down as one of the most famous movie musicals of the past half-century, but it all started off as a four-minute opener on SNL in Season 4. Dressed in matching suits, black hats, and black sunglasses, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi give the viewers at home a show they didn't expect. It's not fully parody, not quite a straight performance. "Blues Brothers: Soul Man" feels more like a cool musical number with a good sense of humor. Garrett Morris provides a lively introduction, and Belushi's cartwheel makes for a great entrance. Later, we get Belushi's singing chops, the band's execution, and Aykroyd's harmonica—all of which come together to create a party vibe that's not easy to repeat. Out of everything, though, it's probably the dancing (especially Aykroyd in the background) that really makes this historic moment fun enough to watch over and over. 45 "Steve Martin's Holiday Wish" Season 12, Episode 6 Aside from a host of classic comedy movies, Steve Martin appeared on SNL so many times since the beginning that we've got to make room for him here. And in this case, it's just him: Season 12's "A Holiday Wish" has Martin sitting on a comfy red chair beside a Christmas tree. With some pleasant piano in the background, he tells us what he would do if he had one wish this holiday season. Then two wishes. Then three. It starts so wholesome, piggybacking on the old clichés of peace and children singing together in harmony, which is what makes his subsequent wishes all the more priceless. Even halfway through, any remnants of Christmas spirit have been derailed for a megalomaniacal dystopia of orgies and power. Martin sells this splendidly as he changes his tone, becomes increasingly less interested in "the crap about the kids," and wonders aloud which selfish desire would be most strategic to utilize first. If the audience had one wish, it would simply be to watch this sketch every Christmas. 44 "Police Wire" Season 12, Episode 12 The guy who's wearing a wire is a classic gangster trope, but Season 12's "Police Wire" puts a twist on the idea that leaves the audience in hysterics. Angelo (in a surprise appearance by Danny DeVito) is facing tax fraud charges and has agreed to help the cops get some of his peers to incriminate themselves. Only they never do; incidentally, all they want to talk about is Angelo's long list of heinous crimes. Every single thing they claim that Angelo did is so much worse than tax fraud, and Angelo's attempts to cough while his buddies reminisce about his resume make them even better. Likewise, every one of Angelo's attempts to get them to say something useful blows back in his face. The reveal of what this meeting is actually about cements this as a severely underrated sketch. Danny DeVito, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey in the same room? Fuhgettabout it. 43 "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" Season 29, Episode 2 Time for another musical sketch, and this one is the most ridiculous concept so far: "The Barry Gibb Talk Show." Barry (Jimmy Fallon) and Robin (Justin Timberlake) Gibb from The Bee Gees have a talk show in which they (of all people) talk about politics and current events. Even though the brothers dance to a groovy beat in the beginning, Barry insists that this is "a no-nonsense show" and is so quick to anger that his guests never get to speak for long. The juxtaposition between Barry's temper and constantly vibrating voice is fantastic, especially when he goes falsetto. Meanwhile, Robin never has anything to add. "No, I don't" is more or less the most he ever says when he's not singing. This would go on to be a beloved recurring sketch, but the first from Season 29 is as good as any. 42 "Olympia Restaurant: Cheeseburger, Chips and Pepsi" Season 3, Episode 10 Let's go back to when a cheeseburger could apparently cost only 79 cents. Presenting a restaurant whose comedic spark lies in its fast pace and lack of options: "Olympia Restaurant." If customers want anything other than cheeseburgers, Pepsi, or chips—even in the morning—they should go elsewhere. The claim that they can't make grilled cheese but can somehow make cheeseburgers makes no sense, and it's great. Then there's Bill Murray, who's perfect as a guy who pretends to understand English when a customer tries to order. The employees keep saying the same few things so often that it's a wonder they can even keep track of what they're doing. John Belushi loudly repeating "cheeseborger!" is mistaken for a very large order. The guy who finally decides on a cheeseburger is told they're out (even though he can technically have one of the extras), and is suddenly able to order eggs, which are all chef 's-kiss examples of rampant miscommunication. Not all the famous '70s classics still hold up as masterpieces, but "Olympia Restaurant" (based on Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern) still sits on the Mount Olympus of SNL comedy. 41 "Dateline: The Mystery of the Chopped Up Guy" Season 37, Episode 8 Bill Hader is always fun to watch, and his parody of Keith Morrison from Dateline is so delightfully deranged that you only need to be vaguely familiar with the show to crack up. In "Dateline: The Mystery of the Chopped Up Guy" (already a hilariously casual title), Hader, as Morrison, makes obviously wrong guesses about what his interviewees are talking about, smiles devilishly when he hears gruesome details, and pretends he's not thoroughly enjoying himself. There was at least one other "Dateline" sketch, but this specific one is the masterpiece. The one photograph, the way Hader revs his hands as if he's riding a motorcycle, the way he has to ignore the killer's confession for the sake of runtime, everything about Martha (a terrific Kristen Wiig). Every second of this is priceless, including and especially that bit of backstory on Morrison at the end. It's inspiring how Hader could turn such violent and horrifying details into comedy that's as easy to scoop up as a large buttery popcorn.