Recent(ish) sketches on SNL that make me laugh

So, I decided it was time to share some laughter-inducing material instead of my usual, semi-melancholic to full-blown melancholic musings.

I’ve been obsessed with SNL since I was a kid, staying up late to watch it with Gaby or Lana, reenacting sketches and falling in love with Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudekis. The obsession still remains — I’ve got hundreds of sketches (old and new(ish)) bookmarked on my computer that I revisit whenever I want a break from listening to whatever sad indie-boy musician I’ve become infatuated with that given month.

Here are just a few of the ones I keep going back to. (None of the older seasons, while they’re all amazing, I figured I’d limit the selection to the more recent years just for the sake of brevity).

Monkey Trial

This comes out of John Mulaney’s latest time hosting. It’s deeply funny and something only John Mulaney could deliver — his cadence is, as usual, excellent, and his dry tone makes it all the funnier. Watch it here

The Iceberg on the Sinking of the Titanic

Bowen Yang is an icon. Not only does he co-host one of my favorite podcasts (Las Culturistas is fucking incredible and will always make me think of Henry), he steals every sketch he’s a part of. This, however, is where he caught most peoples’ eyes. He shines as the Iceberg who refuses to carry any blame for what happened to the Titanic. After all, they were the one that hit him. Bowen’s commitment and passion is unbelievable and it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a star. In the words of Las Culturistas, this is a “Tayla moment.” Watch him shine here

Study Buddy

Kate McKinnon is a legend, as is Aidy Bryant. This sketch has the two of them playing nerdy pre-teen boys, which they pull off beautifully. Kate is trying to woo Carey Mulligan, aka “the Beyoncé of our science class,” and Aidy’s character Jason is the perfect one to go to for advice as he “did have a girlfriend at graphic design camp.” Watching Kate’s fumbling attempts at seduction takes me back to elementary school and I love it. Watch it here and get some tips on how to woo a girl with gifts, turtle facts, and hand-holding.

Goober the Clown on Abortion

Okay, so maybe this one isn’t funny funny, but it is really incredible. Watching Cecily Strong earnestly talk about her own experiences and a woman’s right to choose was amazing and gave me chills. It still does. Watch it here

Annie

Jason Sudekis hosted recently (with Brandi Carlile as the musical guest, a pairing that Henry said was, “an experiment carried out by the government in pursuit of killing Ava”), and, as expected, he destroyed it. This sketch is my favorite. A musical number complete with a semi-sketchy guy, a cannibal, and everybody’s favorite singing orphan. Watch it here

Lingerie Store

This sketch made me laugh so hard I cried and made me feel ridiculously seen. These women don’t sell “bras,” they sell “brawrs.” That’s all there is to say. Watch them sell their wares here

Mattress Store

Rami Malek got to let loose in this sketch, a fun look at the way some couples shop for mattresses. I love when the writers let the more dramatic actors shine in sketches where the humor lies in the actors’ commitment and intensity, and this is definitely one of them. Watch him go absolutely batshit here

Wells for Boys

This commercial came out a few years ago, and is one of my most-quoted sketches to this day. Its humor lies in its specificity, and also… I’m sure if I were to have a kid, they’d need one of these wells. Hell, I would’ve wanted one of these wells. Watch it here

Casey Anthony’s Dog

I watched this sketch the night it aired with Lana and we laughed so hard we thought we were going to die. We still quote it to one another all the fucking time and it never ceases to make us laugh. I can fall into hysterics just looking at the words, “I’m crazy,” because I can’t read them without hearing it in Daniel Radcliffe’s voice. Watch this gem here

Career Day

Okay, everyone, this is the one you’ve all been waiting for. This sketch is perhaps my all-time favorite sketch. I have it memorized (Alice aka Mouse can attest to that; we used to scream it around the house at all hours of the day, just because it made us laugh) and I would happily watch it ten times a day every day. It hasn’t gotten old to me in the three years since it aired and I’m pretty sure that’ll stay true for another three years. Mouse and I have a lot of things we say to each other, but perhaps the most frequent one is “I was born seven months too early. Incubation technology was still in its infancy, so they placed me in a cast-iron pot inside of a pizza oven until I was ripe enough to walk! My bones never hardened, but my spirit did.” (For those wondering, I transcribed that from memory and I’m pretty sure I got it 100% right. Watch it here unless you want to be weak like H.R. Pickens