Saturday Night Live (SNL) is one of the longest-running live shows in America. It features comedy performances or sketches from its award-winning cast and guests that have made the audience laugh for many decades. Among many iconic bits, like their commercial parodies and guest hosts’ monologues, SNL features many hilarious recurring sketches and characters throughout the years.
Each of the sketches is hilarious on its own, but the anticipation of a familiar context blended with new lines and self-references just makes the recurring ones absolutely funny. Add that to the fact that you get to see some cast members break character every once in a while, and you’re sure to have a fun time watching. So if you’re looking for some laughs, check out this list of hilarious recurring SNL sketches.
The Californians
First introduced in 2012, this sketch is a soap opera parody of wealthy individuals with exaggerated “Valley girl” accents. It primarily featured Armisen, Hader, Wiig, Bayer, and other special guests. Much like a usual soap opera, each “episode” features surprising plot points involving the main characters, like the revelation of affairs or a lost family member, among others.
The absurdity of everything that goes on already makes it a funny sketch. Besides this, the highly exaggerated accents and facial expressions will make you laugh (as it did for the cast members in some episodes). You might even find yourself giggling at the detailed descriptions of roads and places the characters manage to say in the middle of a serious conversation or fight. The Californians is one of the funniest sketches they did in the show.
Weekend Update feat. Stefon
When Seth Meyers was still with SNL, he had the iconic but of SNL called Weekend Update with Seth Meyers. Besides his regular reports. Meyers features guests or other speakers on his show, one of which is New York City correspondent Stefon. Stefon is a character made by John Mulaney and Bill Hader, who also plays the character. He is an exuberant yet shy gay person who knows the city’s wildest and most unique venues.
For each sketch, Meyers introduces Stefon and asks him for recommendations that families or tourists can visit in New York, specifically for specific holidays or events. Stefon then recommends unusual parties and venues with unique names featuring things or people you would not expect to see for a usual family night out.
If the lines and delivery of Hader are not enough to make you laugh out loud, the way he breaks character and tries his hardest not to will surely do. Hader explained that some lines for the sketch were changed after rehearsals and before they went live, throwing him off and making him laugh on the spot.
Close Encounter
You know that you will have a good laugh when a sketch involves Kate McKinnon. One of the most memorable characters she played in the show is Colleen Rafferty. The first time she’s introduced is through a sketch where she and two friends recall their experiences of being abducted by aliens. Compared to the other two who had wonderful life-changing experiences, Ms. Rafferty goes through something entirely different. For example, while the characters played by Cecily Strong and Ryan Gosling saw a beautiful being with a calming light, Ms. Rafferty saw gray aliens that watched her pee.
Other sketches following the same format were also created. Some included Ms. Rafferty and two others’ experiences with another alien abduction, time travel, paranormal encounters, etc. The unfortunate and unorthodox experiences of Ms. Rafferty, the various terms she uses to refer to her lady parts, and the cast trying not to laugh are sure to make you laugh too.
High School Theatre Show
For this recurring sketch, student members of the High School Theatre Troupe present their avant-garde but obvious theater piece to the audience, two of which include the parents of two students. The students are dressed in all black and have only black boxes as their props. For each piece, they attempt to criticize a part of society by discussing various issues in the country and the world – only their exaggerated actions and sometimes misled ideas make it a terrible show for the adults watching.
The scenes presented in the showcase are funny enough, especially when their attempts at making metaphors for societal issues completely miss. But the cast members do such a good job playing the parts of the high school students that you might recall seeing similar high school theater shows before or being part of a theater group yourself. That aspect just adds to the entire sketch’s comedic excellence.
Totino’s Advertisements
This sketch is shorter and has fewer episodes than the others, but each is undoubtedly funny. This recurring sketch is a mock advertisement for a product called Totino’s Pizza Rolls. A woman played by Vanessa Bayer makes the pizza rolls for her husband and his friends, which she refers to as her “hungry guys,” while they watch a football game.
The comedic aspect of the sketch comes from the story created for Bayer’s character, something people won’t see in a regular ad. For example, in the first sketch, Bayer is shown to play with an activity kit since she has nothing to do while the guys watch football, and in the third sketch, she has a love story with Sabine (played by Kristen Stewart), shown through an artistic foreign film. The fact that it’s a recurring bit also makes it funnier, as you’ll find the references to the previous sketches like an inside joke between you and the SNL cast.
The Kissing Family
The last recurring sketch is probably one of the oddest ones on the show, but the ridiculousness of it all just adds to how funny it is. It features the Vogelchecks, a very affectionate family, and how a family member brings home their partner or friend over. The plot revolves around how uncomfortable the guest becomes upon finding out that the Vogelchecks excessively kiss each other in weird ways just to show their affection. It ends with Mr. Vogelcheck explaining something about the family, which the guest then begins to understand and accept.
It’s a strange sketch to watch, but seeing how weird it all is and how the SNL cast members nail it makes this extremely funny. They also featured some show guests for some episodes, so it’s interesting to see how these stars could pull off such a sketch. Of course, the fact that The Kissing Family is recurring also makes it all funnier.
An alternative source of laughter
These are six hilarious recurring sketches from SNL. You can watch these clips on their official YouTube channel to have a good laugh. But if you’re looking for a different source of entertainment, you can also do some jokes or pranks. You can go with more elaborate ones like doing a chili pepper prank or a simple one like a Dominos prank call. Either way, remember to keep it fun and harmless!
