old and current Saturday Night Live cast of the live sketch comedy show, as well as celebrities and musical guests who have hosted and made special appearances over the years. Some of the funniest moments on SNL include cast who break character during skits when they can't keep a straight face during their co-star's impersonations or comical line delivery.
For instance, Eddie Murphy stood out during SNL50 because he made co-stars Kenan Thompson, Leslie Jones, and Tracy Morgan crack up when the legendary actor impersonated Tracy during the "Black Jeopardy" skit. It happened again when he and Will Ferrell appeared as two inmates during the SNL50 spoof of "Scared Straight," when the other cast had a hard time keeping their faces straight. While it's usually the celebrity guest stars to break character, the most notable being Ryan Gosling, it still happens to the regular cast .
8 David Spade (Matt Foley: Van Down By The River, Season 18)
Spade Was In Awe Of Foley's Memorable Character
In one of the most memorable sketches of the 90s, "Van Down By The River" stars Chris Farley as Matt Foley, a motivational speaker brought into the home of a father (Phil Hartman) and mother (Julia Sweeney). The parents want Foley to speak to their children after a bag of marijuana is encountered in the house. This leads to a hilarious sequence of events in which Foley outrageously talks to the kids in a loud and energetic manner, leading to uncontrollable laughter from David Spade and host Christina Applegate as the children.
Farley's outgoing personality and comedic timing make him perfect for his role as Foley. His good friend and castmate Spade cracks up easily when Farley speaks loudly in front of his face, repeatedly straightens his pants, and picks him up. Farley's physical humor was always one of his greatest strengths, and his improvisational smashing of the living room table caused Spade and Applegate to further laugh genuinely at his slapstick comedy. Spade's reaction to Farley's act signifies his appreciation for his late friend's over-the-top demeanor.
7 Jimmy Fallon & Will Ferrell (Jeffrey's, Season 26)
Fallon Can Never Hold His Laughter On The Show
Whether it's Saturday Night Live or The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has a knack for breaking character and cracking up at the antics of his co-stars. In the sketch, "Jeffrey's," Fallon and Will & Grace star Sean Hayes play two snobbish workers at a clothing store. When customers ask them for assistance, Fallon and Hayes are rude to them, refusing to offer help. However, when Horatio Sanz appears as a customer, Fallon begins to break character when Sanz's character talks back and delivers a series of incredibly sad comebacks. It only got worse when Will Ferrell showed up to do Will Ferrell things.

What was the best sketch in Saturday Night Live's 50th Anniversary Special?
This weekend saw Saturday Night Live celebrate their 50th Anniversary with a special 3.5-hour-long episode full of new and returning sketches, as well as musical performances and clip montages. While the episode was filled with mostly winning sketches, I think the "Close Encounters" bit with Kate McKinnon and Meryl Streep was the absolute best, as the commitment from the two, along with Aidy Bryant, Jon Hamm, Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson, had me in absolute tears of laughter.
Reminiscent of Farley's bond with Adam Sandler and David Spade, Fallon and Sanz are also good friends who always laughed at each other's comedic delivery during their tenure on the show. "Jeffrey's" is an example of a sketch where Fallon appears to be playing a more serious and unlikable character, but in the end, it's another part that cracks once Sanz and Will Ferrell enter the skit. Ferrell demonstrated at the 50th-anniversary show that his physical appearance and line delivery could break anyone, including Fallon and Hayes in "Jeffrey's" with his fancy wardrobe, mini cell phone, and motorized scooter.
6 Everyone (Debbie Downer, Season 29)
Debbie Downer's Debut Was A Laughfest





Debbie Downer is one of Rachel Dratch's signature SNL roles. Before reminding the world why Debbie is one of the most annoyingly hilarious characters of all time in the 50th-anniversary show, the 2004 skit, "Debbie Downer: Disney World," involves her depressing everyone during their family vacation. This marked the debut of Dratch's memorable role, who generally controls herself whenever she plays Debbie, like in "Thanksgiving Dinner" and "Christmas Eve With Santa Claus."
However, in Debbie's debut, Dratch loses control and laughs after cracking a few jokes, along with everyone else in the skit, including host Lindsay Lohan, Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, and Amy Poehler. Fallon, in particular, breaks throughout Debbie's string of increasingly dire announcements, including Mad cow disease, a train explosion in North Korea, and her inability to have children (which she referenced to Fallon again during SNL50). Lohan attempts to get angry at Debbie but can't contain her laughter throughout the skit.
5 Kristin Wiig And Maya Rudolph (Super Showcase Spokesmodels, Season 37)
Wiig And Rudolph Are Always A Funny Pair
Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph always make a great pair on SNL, from "Santa's My Boyfriend" to their Real Housewives feud skit. One of their funniest sketches came in 2012 when the pair portrayed a couple of game show supermodels dressed in 1960s-style pink wardrobes and speaking in heavy accents in "Super $$$ Showcase." Wiig and Rudolph tell Vanessa Bayer's game show contestant what she didn't win, including random suitcases, golfing at Pebble Beach, and whole chicken.
Wiig laughs throughout the skit as she presents each item in her over-the-top hilarious accent and drives around in a golf cart, including driving through the Pebble Beach sign. Bill Hader's game show host also laughs for a few moments, while Bayer mostly plays her character straight while jokingly saying how down she is for not winning the unattractive prizes. Wiig's and Rudolph's outgoing personalities are always evident in their SNL roles, and their extravagant models are some of their funniest work.
4 Bill Hader (Stefon's St. Patrick's Day Tips, Season 43/Multiple Seasons)
Stefon Is One Of Bill Hader's Funniest Roles
From impersonating Dateline's Keith Morrison to his role as Devin in "The Californians" sketches, SNL alum Bill Hader always cracks up an audience and his fellow co-stars. One of Hader's best roles is Stefon, who occasionally appears during the "Weekend Update" segment as a club guy who gives tips about where to go and what to do in the city. During Hader's time on SNL, he would appear as Stefon alongside "Weekend Update" anchor Seth Meyers. However, Stefon returned in season 43 with Colin Jost and Michael Che at the anchor's desk.
During his return, Stefon discussed his favorite St. Patrick's Day venues, which poke fun at the Irish and parody award-nominated movies at the time, like Moonlight, La La Land, and Roman J. Israel, Esq. Hader constantly covers his face and laughs after telling jokes, signifying Stefon's absurd hilarity and the actor's talented ability to change accents. Some of the funniest moments of the sketch occur when Stefon refers to Meyers and his "A Closer Look" segment from his Late Night gig and tells Colin to Call Me By Your Name.
3 Bowen Yang (Lisa from Temecula, Season 48)
Yang Cannot Contain Himself During Ego's Funniest Role
One of Ego Nwodim's funniest laugh-out-loud sketches is "Lisa from Temecula," where she portrays a lawyer having dinner in a restaurant with her sister, played by Punkie Johnson. Pedro Pascal and Bowen Yang are also a part of the dinner in the skit. After Lisa's steak is served extra, extra well done, which makes everybody crack up, Lisa goes on to cut her steak aggressively, causing her to shake the table for everyone else while creating a mess. This interrupts Pascal's attempt to tell his story at dinner because he can't contain his laughter over Lisa's behavior.
Yang also cannot contain himself, breaking character as he tries to deliver his lines around the shaking table and Lisa's increasingly hostile comments. These include when Lisa argues with the waiter about complaints over the noise at their dinner table and refers to Pascal's Paul as Antonio Banderas, who will not have a chance to be with her. Yang's sketches usually have him being vocal and the center of attention, but in this case, he is the one caught off guard, only uncontrollably cracking up at one of Nwodim's funniest roles.
2 Heidi Gardner (Beavis And Butt-Head, Season 49)
Gardner's Finest Moment Finds Her Oddly Breaking Character
One of the funniest and most unexpected moments came in season 49 when Heidi Gardner couldn't control her laughter when looking at castmate Mikey Day's Butt-Head while pretending to be a news anchor interviewing Kenan Thompson's professor about AI and its impact on society. Gardner isn't particularly known for losing control during a sketch. However, Mikey Day's spot-on physical impression of Butt-Head, along with Ryan Gosling's Beavis, is too funny to be overlooked.

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Thompson's bewildered professor starring at Day's and Gosling's funny facial expressions also adds to the hilarity in the skit, as well as his surprise reaction when he learns that Gardner has never heard of Beavis and Butt-Head. The discussion surrounding these cartoon characters and the concept of AI seems like an odd combination, but it succeeds at poking fun at an iconic show and the question of AI's legitimacy. Still, it's Gardner's unexpected reaction to Day and Gosling makes this one of the most memorable sketches in recent memory.
1 Michael & Colin's Joke Exchange (Weekend Update, Multiple Seasons)
The Weekend Update Anchors Lose It Reading Each Other's Jokes
Colin Jost and Michael Che are the current "Weekend Update" anchors. The way they report controversial news segments and interview hilarious co-stars have made them a staple on the show. However, what sets them apart from previous "Weekend Update" anchors is that they have a tradition at the end of each season where they exchange jokes they've never read before and make each other read the other person's jokes on live television. The genuine shock and their breaking - usually Jost - add to their memorably hilarious rapport.
Colin Jost and Michael Che are the longest-running "Weekend Update" anchors in SNL history.
One of the funniest "Weekend Update" joke swap episodes came during Christmas 2024 when Colin read laugh-out-loud jokes about himself and his wife Scarlett Johansson as she was watching the segment, which included jokes about having a child and their marriage. Meanwhile, Che couldn't control himself as he read jokes referring to the Jay-Z and Sean Combs allegations. Another memorable joke swap episode came during the Saturday Night Live season 49 finale episode where Colin read a joke about Scarlett's voice being used for AI, while Che uncomfortably read a joke regarding the dispute between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
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Saturday Night Live will return with new episodes on March 1st and air on Saturdays at 11:30 pm on NBC.

Saturday Night Live
- Release Date
- October 11, 1975
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Lorne Michaels
- Directors
- Dave Wilson, Don Roy King, Liz Patrick, Andy Warhol, Linda Lee Cadwell, Matthew Meshekoff, Paul Miller, Robert Altman, Robert Smigel
- Writers
- Will Forte, Chris Parnell, Asa Taccone, John Lutz, Tom Schiller, Simon Rich, Michael Patrick O'Brien, Nicki Minaj, Herbert Sargent, Matt Piedmont, John Solomon, Chris Kelly, Alan Zweibel, Kent Sublette, Ari Katcher, Marika Sawyer, Sarah Schnedier, Scott Jung, Justin Franks, Jerrod Bettis, Rhiannon Bryan
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Producers
- Lorne Michaels, Lindsay Shookus, Erik Kenward, James Downey, Jean Doumanian, Ken Aymong, Marci Klein, Michael Shoemaker, Erin Doyle, Steve Higgins, Al Franken, Dick Ebersol, Gary Weis
- Franchise
- snl
- Seasons
- 50
- Story By
- Colin Jost
- Streaming Service(s)
- Peacock
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