Funny moments from years 2000-2009 of Saturday Night Live. For the main index, see here.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- When Charlie Sheen hosted, his monologue was styled as a Q&A, and someone asked if he ever thought about playing the President, since his father Martin Sheen played the President on The West Wing."I could never play the President! I've done drugs, I've been arrested, I'm not a very smart guy. It'd be insane to want me in charge just because my dad was President!"
- When Jack Black hosted, he played a monster that a local village would sacrifice a virgin to in hopes of appeasing him. When a knight (played by Jimmy Fallon) comes to save the girl, the monster says he'll give the virgin back if they bring him back a slutty girl this time. Turns out he'd just wanted to get laid this entire time and sending virgin girls just made it awkward for everybody.Knight: Wait, is that why you let last year's sacrifice go? Because she was a virgin?Monster: "No! She was thirteen! I'm a monster, but that's just sick!"
- Celebrity Jeopardy!. All of it.
- Everything Sean Connery says in the Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches. "I'll take Anal Bum Cover for 7,000."Connery: "I spent five years of my life trying to invent an anal bum cover. Failing to do so has been my greatest regret."Trebek: "You have lead a horrifying life."
- There's plenty of times during these skits where you wonder how anyone managed to keep a straight face. The banter between Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek and Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery is the stuff of legends. The skit from Norm MacDonald's hosting gig also brings back Norm's hilarious take on Burt Reynolds (who insists on being called "Turd Ferguson" and dons a big foam cowboy hat, which is "funny 'cause it's bigger than a normal hat") and opens with a Noodle Incident:Trebek: Welcome back to Celebrity Jeopardy!. Before we begin the Double Jeopardy round, I'd like to ask our contestants, once again, please refrain from using ethnic slurs. That said, let's take a look at the scores. Sean Connery has set a new Jeopardy record with -$230,000.
Connery: You think you're pretty smart, don't ya, Trebek? What with your dago mustache and your greasy hair!
Trebek: Look, what did I just say about ethnic slurs?!- "You're not selling penis mightiers? You're sitting on a gold mine, Trebek!"
- Sean's riddle for Trebek:Connery: What's the difference between you and a mallard with a cold? One's a sick duck...I can't remember how it ends but your mother's a whore.
- The 40th Anniversary sketch starts going completely off the rails, starting with Turd Ferguson arriving, apparently having "driven" his customized podium (he claims he was late because he had to pick it up from the garage). From there, celebrities start randomly replacing one another, with Alec Baldwin's Tony Bennett suddenly replaced by Jim Carrey as Matthew McConaughey, who apparently recorded his own voiceover for it, referencing his recent Lincoln car ads.
- At the end, the "Potent Potables" category is picked for the first time ever and the question is a Video Daily Double filmed by Bill Cosby. Trebek immediately orders it off the air, seeing how it was "filmed six months ago" and shit with Cosby had gone considerably south for him since then.Trebek: "Oh dear God, no. No, no, no, no, no, oh dear God no. I'm very sorry, we filmed that in June".Connery: (laughing) "That was BAD, Trebek!"Trebek: "Yes, it was".
- At the end, the "Potent Potables" category is picked for the first time ever and the question is a Video Daily Double filmed by Bill Cosby. Trebek immediately orders it off the air, seeing how it was "filmed six months ago" and shit with Cosby had gone considerably south for him since then.
- The special Rock n' Roll Edition of Celebrity Jeopardy has its fair share of humourous moments:
- Despite not being a musician, Sean Connery is a contestant. He explains that he had released an album of "dirty limericks" just so he'd be eligible:Connery: There once was a man named Trebek. Who had the world's tiniest--Trebek: Enough.
- During one question, Dave Matthews answers by singing "Ants Marching," which gets him a buzzer.Trebek: Incorrect.Boyd Tinsley: *whispers*Dave Matthews: Sorry. What is "He wakes up in the morning..."
- Anything Björk says.Bjork: Sometimes...I think of my thoughts...and they make me laugh!
- The real Alex Trebek's appearance at the end.
- Despite not being a musician, Sean Connery is a contestant. He explains that he had released an album of "dirty limericks" just so he'd be eligible:
- From the May 9th, 1998 episode:Trebek: And the answer is "You normally drink water from this."Connery: A leather glove.Trebek: Incorrect.Minnie Driver: A toilet.Trebek: ...That is awful.
- Connery's Knock Knock joke:Connery: Knock knock.
Trebek: (Aside Glance, then answers Connery) Who's there?
Connery: Me, the guy who slept with your mother last night. - There's also the handful of moments where Connery and Trebek agree:Connery: (in response to Robin Williams' antics) Boy, you might be legally retarded.Trebek: You have a point.Connery: (in response to Anne Heche's equally loopy behavior) She's a nutjob, Trebek.Trebek: Tell me about it.Connery: She's nuttier than a pecan log.(he and Trebek crack up)
- The May 16, 2009 episode has Tom Hanks appearing as a horribly inept version of himself, prompting Trebek to sadly state "I had such high hopes for you". Among other things, he gets his hand stuck in a pickle jar, is trapped in a laundry bag, and ends up slipping and falling during Final Jeopardy, breaking his podium in the process. There's also the return of Turd Ferguson, who appears halfway through the sketch, only to inexplicably disappear again during Final Jeopardy, much to Trebek's confusion.
- Everything Sean Connery says in the Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches. "I'll take Anal Bum Cover for 7,000."
- "Jizz — in — my pants!"
- Will Ferrell as the ultimate Bad Boss "Mr. Tarkanian" who goes from calmly interviewing a nebbish job applicant (Pierce Brosnan) to enraged, screaming and abusing his employees:(to male employee played by Chris Kattan): "You do NOT hand in CRAP like THIS!! This looks like you took a CRAP or a DUMP in the PRINTER!! You are SCUM!! I should FIRE you and BURN down your FRIGGIN' HOUSE!! I am THIS close to RAPING YOU!!"
- A parody of The Scarlet Letter where a 17th century Puritan town led by the reverend (Chris Parnell) prepare to shun Hester Prynne (Ana Gasteyer) and make her wear a scarlet letter "A" for adultery. Then a woman (Lara Flynn Boyle) from exiled from another town arrives. She removes her cloak to reveal a scarlet "BJ" (for Blow Job) and suddenly the men all welcome her openly!BJ: I am so grateful for your kindness. But I must be honest. I am no mere traveler. I have been shunned.Reverend: What? Shunned? I mean, do people do that anymore?Hester Prynne: Ahem! Hellooo?!
- The very first Debbie Downer sketch is so funny, even the entire cast in the sketch starts cracking up.
- D* ck in the Box. 'Nuff said.
- Natalie Portman
- She does a Take That! on her squeaky clean image by dropping a Cluster F-Bomb in a hilarious rap number.
- The art dealers Nuni and Nuni Schoener receive a visit from their daughter, Nuni (Portman), and her new boyfriend, Jeff. Unfortunately, the parents have as much trouble pronouncing his name, as they did the ordinary-sounding names of people who visited them before. The daughter Nuni orders "Motha" and "Dadu" to stop embarrassing her, and "corrects" them by botching Jeff's name herself. She even spells it out for them, albeit in letters apparently known only to the Schoeners. "Motha" and "Dadu" claim to understand now, but they and their daughter continue to mispronounce Jeff's name, in various other ways.
- She does a Take That! on her squeaky clean image by dropping a Cluster F-Bomb in a hilarious rap number.
- An early 2001 sketch based on the Real Life captured US spy plane and it's crew held prisoner by the Chinese. Among the Americans a tough, grizzled old Sergeant Rock type from the Marines played by Alec Baldwin who tries to get the others to join him in a dangerous escape attempt but the other soldiers are just noncombat techies who just want to stay put and wait for the US government to negotiate their release. The Marine's Rousing Speech to them is hilarious:Oh, I get the picture. I know how you all feel. [ patriotic music plays over him ] War was a rough business. Women and college boys need not apply! When we signed on for this gig, we knew it wasn't gonna be a cakewalk! We also knew we were signing up on the winning team - OUR TEAM!! Now, I don't pretend to know who these Chinese people are - I know they're small, maybe 1 or 2 feet high! I know they sound funny when they talk, I know the womenfolk have sideways vaginas! But underneath their scales, they're just like you and me. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I can't take on a billion of them..Another soldier: Yeah you can't.
- The Take That Us (or call to arms to continue to be funny despite troubling times, whichever) which opened the first show back after 9/11:Lorne Michaels: Can we be funny?
Rudy Guliani: Why start now? - Will Ferrell, in another post-9/11 sketch (during the October 6, 2001 show hosted by Seann William Scott), plays a guy going along with his company's policy of wearing patriotic articles. He comes in wearing a belly shirt with the American flag and a star-spangled thong.
- "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" skits with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake as brothers Barry and Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees who host a roundtable political discussion show. The highlight of each is Barry flying into a rage at his guests over the littlest thing, shouting "I AM BARRY EFFING GIBB!"
- Along with Justin Timberlake visibly struggling not to crack up (he's usually quite unflappable) at his antics.
- Anything that comes out of Will Forte's mouth as Zell Miller in the Hardball sketches. PISTOLS AT DAAAAWN, MATTHEWS!
- Not to mention the way he's able to turn his face red, even borderline purple, on live television.
- Will Ferrell as George W. Bush explaining the conditions under which China would return a U.S. spy plane. These include a guarantee that America would get all their top-secret documents back; the Chinese would have photocopies. China also agreed not to share those photocopies with other nations; however, photocopies of photocopies are still allowed...provided they are readable. "I fought hard for that one."
- The first George W. Bush/ Al Gore debate, where Will Ferrell cements his Bush character by summing up his presidential plan in one word — "Strategery".
- Any time Bill Hader shows up as Stefon on Weekend Update. Seth Meyers, Hader (despite his best efforts to hide it and not be like Jimmy Fallon note — the most recent time on the second time Jonah Hill hosted, he actually kept it together until he had to describe what a "human Roomba" was), and the entire audience begins cracking up. For good reason.
- The latest Stefon segment from the Jonah Hill episode where he gives Seth Meyers a St. Patrick's Day pin with the words, "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" on it — which Stefon takes as an invitation. Bonus points for Stefon pretending to jack off Seth Meyers and the revelation that Stefon kept that "Kiss Me I'm Irish" button all year just to pull that trick on him.
- Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond on VH1 Storytellers:"Here's a song I wrote after I killed a drifter to get an erection! (sings): Forever in blue jeans..."
- The entire "Brain Busters" sketch on the season 28 episode hosted by Bernie Mac. Especially the ending.
- Justin Timberlake singing "Rainbow Connection" with Kermit the Frog, only to get into a fight with Kermit's puppeteer.note Kermit: Some day we'll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the douchebag, and me.
- Justin Timberlake said that his favourite sketch he ever did was "Immigrant Tale", in which he played Cornelius Timberlake, a fictional version of his own great-great-grandfather, as a 19th century Irish immigrant predicting great things for his great-great-grandson.Bobby Moynihan: [terrible Irish brogue] What do you hope your great-great-grandson will be like?Justin Timberlake: [ditto] Well...I know he'll be very handsome.
[Ooohs from the others]Justin Timberlake: And he'll be a millionaire.Bobby Moynihan: A millionaire? From fur trapping?Bill Hader: From coal?Justin Timberlake: [eyes blazing with conviction] No, from popular songs.Will Forte: What sort of songs could make a man millions?Justin Timberlake: I don't know...maybe something like [croons in falsetto] Cry me a river...Will Forte: So...he'll be a girl?Justin Timberlake: No, that's a perfectly normal way for a man to sing!- Later in the sketch Cornelius reveals:
Justin Timberlake: I actually dream of a day when my great-great-grandson will...bring sexy back. [He nods to himself. The other immigrants look confused.]Bobby Moynihan: "Bring sexy back", what does that mean?Justin Timberlake: [teeth gritted] It'll be gone and he'll bring it back.Will Forte: [very long pause] ...Where did it go? - After Diana Ross got jailed for drunk driving in early 2004, Weekend Update had Tina Fey do some entertaining interviews with the "soul diva" (played by Maya Rudolph):
- In the first, Miss Ross - or "Inmate #54899-B", as she claims to be called in jail - laments from inside her cell that jail is not like several of her career's highlights, or even a spa - although she does note that her burly and mustoiched bunkmate Roberta (played by Finesse Mitchell) bears a surprisingly strong resemblance to her Mahogany co-star Billy Dee Williams.
- In the second, Diana Ross counteracts news of her 48-hour sentence remaining incomplete by insisting to "Tina-na-naa" that she spent all that time in the vicinity of the jail, until she confesses leaving a few times. When Tina asks Diana Ross how much time she actually spent at the jail, Ross admits, "About 45 minutes. But it felt like an hour! Ooh, cut me some slack, Teeny-tootsie-tiny-Tina!"
- The skit with The Rock as Superman. The idea that the entire staff of The Daily Planet already knows Clark is Superman and just plays along to screw with him is hilariousJimmy Olsen: Uh, y— Hey, yeah and it's also weird that that guy, uh, Superman is a full-on, out-of-the-closet homosexual.
Clark Kent: Well, that's what they say— Oh, wha—? What? Huh? Wa - wait a minute. [chuckles] Superman isn't gay!
Lois: Oh, sure he is.
Jimmy: Real gay.
Clark: No, no. Now, wait. I always heard he was pretty manly.
Perry White: Oh, ho ho! No way! You get Superman in a truck stop men's room, you won't need kryptonite to bring him to his knees!
Clark: Hey, hey, hey! Come on! Really! Superman isn't gay! Sure, he experimented a little back in Smallville ...
[Lois, Jimmy and Perry try to suppress their laughter.]
Jimmy Olsen: [to Lois and Perry] I was just makin' that up, I swear!- Also from an episode hosted by The Rock (from season 34), the sketch where two hula-dancing brothers from Hawaii (played by The Rock and Fred Armisen) keep insulting the tourists by bashing Hawaii and the cliched idea of taking a Hawaiian vacation. It was pretty funny, despite that the state of Hawaii actually protested against it a week after the sketch aired.
- The 2005 sketch set in Santa's workshop where Alec Baldwin appears as "Winter's Breath", an "elf from the home office" and recreates his famous "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Glengarry Glen Ross almost word for word to a group of elves to motivate them to work faster building toys for Christmas.Winter's Breath: You got tools. Santa paid good money for those tools. You can't build with the tools you have? You can't build garbage? You ARE garbage, hit the bricks, pal, and beat it, 'cause you are going out!
- Not to mention the point where Alec Baldwin slips up and say "Always be closing", rather than "cobbling". The audience cracks up, and for a split second, so does the usually unflappable Baldwin.
- Kanye West walking out of his dressing room to do his musical performance... and running smack dab into none other than Mike Myers, a few weeks after West's and Myers' appearance on a telethon during which the former harshly criticized then-President Bush for the administration's poor handling of Hurricane Katrina. To say Myers looked like a deer caught in headlights—much as he did the night of the telethon—is an understatement. Hilarious in Hindsight, coincidentally in 1994 Myers was in a sketch featuring Heather Locklear as host of an infomercial about a kitchen appliance. During the pitch Locklear would say racist remarks and the phones in the back would suddenly light up with angry phone calls. Myers' horrified reaction every time Locklear would make a slur looked exactly like his reaction to Kanye making his remarks about President Bush!
- The Digital Short "Dear Sister" featuring Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and host Shia Le Beouf in an Overly Long Gag featuring various tropes like Surprisingly Sudden Death, Death Is Dramatic, Dies Wide Open, Killed Mid-Sentence, Slow-Motion Fall and Foreseeing My Death. Based on a scene from The O.C. where Marissa shoots Trey and it even uses the same song "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap.
- Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Just... always whenever Tina Fey shows up to parody Sarah Palin. Fey's impression of Palin is so note-perfect people can't tell the difference.
- The 2008 Most Haunted spoof with Hugh Laurie as Derek Acorah... which can be seen here. There are fart gags... and there are fart gags.
- Al Gore hosting the 2002 Christmas episode, playing embattled Senator Trent Lott note during a Hardball skit, continuing a long-running tradition of politicians not only proving that they're skilled comedians, but that they have the ability to poke fun at themselves and their colleagues:Senator Lott: "I meant no disrespect to any white people. I myself am a white man. Most, if not all of my friends are white. And as long as I'm in office, no white person will be left behind!"Chris Matthews: I'm glad you're shedding some light on the situation, Senator. Unfortunately, it's coming from a cross you just set on fire!"
- During Rainn Wilson's monologue in 2007, he discusses how different the SNL set is compared to the mundane set of The Office (US) and decides to go backstage to demonstrate. Cue Kristin Wigg, Jason Sudekis, Kenan Thompson, Amy Poehler, and Lorne Michaels wearing office attire and acting like characters on the show, much to Rainn's confusion. The cherry on top is Rashida Jones cameoing in-character as Karen Filippelli and greeting Rainn as Dwight, to which Rainn instinctively calls her by her character name.
- Zac Efron's episode includes a hilarious High School Musical skit that features Zac Efron as Troy coming back to his Alma Mater High School to give a speech to the graduating class wherein he reveals that, much to his surprise, the rest of the world doesn't operate on the logic of a musical. He also explains that his experience at the school left him completely unprepared for life in the real world, and how his entire life has completely fallen apart since graduating.
- On his first day of college, he began to sing about how he was nervous but excited, and everyone else just stared at him. In fact, he's completely incapable of expressing his emotions in any way other than song and dance. He also has no idea how to communicate with other people and had to learn that you're supposed to look at others when you talk to them.
- The education provided at the school is apparently virtually nonexistent. To prove his point, he asks a student what the capital of Texas is, and none of the graduating seniors have even the slightest clue.
- When asked about the possibility of falling back on his basketball chops, he explains why that's not an option. Apparently, the school played in some kind of "musical theater league" with an extremely low standard of competition, and he's incapable of playing at the same level as the college athletes in his new school.
- The 2006 TV Funhouse segment "Journey to the Disney Vault". The crux being Mickey Mouse acting as the guide for the two young siblings exploring the fabled Disney Vault. It marks a rare occasion where Mickey is actually played fairly straight in a parody for once, coming of as a good natured guy trying to apologize for the behavior of a particularly embarrassing and racist grandparent (Walt Disney).
- The brother finds a copy of Song of the South, and Mickey desperately begs him and his sister not to watch it, telling them that it was the "very original version, that [Walt] only played at parties."Uncle Remus: ♪Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay/ Negroes are inferior in ev'ry way/ Whites are much cleaner, that's what I say...♪
- Mickey attempts to apologize for Walt's decision to make Song of the South:Mickey: Look, he was who he was. Take the good with the bad. (brightly) He created me! Think of all the laughs I've given you!
(Beat)
Girl: (genuinely confused) ...You're supposed to be funny?
Mickey: (deflated) ...Yeah. - During the montage of the two siblings finder other disturbing things in the Vault, the brother pulls off a sheet of a mysterious figure, to reveal a Bound and Gagged Jim Henson tied to a chair (along with a similarly tied-up Kermit the Frog):Mickey: (tearfully) HE WOULDN'T SELL! HE WOULDN'T SEEELLLL!
- The brother finds a copy of Song of the South, and Mickey desperately begs him and his sister not to watch it, telling them that it was the "very original version, that [Walt] only played at parties."
- From the Seann William Scott episode comes an ad for The Approval Center. Less for the premise (they help people who have financial troubles get approved... not for a loan or anything, just approved) but for some of their walking trainwreck clients.Client 3: I was trying to buy a fishing pole with a bad check. They said "No way, Jose!" I tried to tell them that I needed it to fish with. They had me forcibly removed from the flea market. I was embarrassed for myself and my date.
Client 5: (eating a slice of pizza out of each hand) I called the Approval Center, and they hooked me up! They just asked me a few questions, like "Do you want to be approved?" And I said, "Yes!" And then they asked me, "Did you hear me ask you this question?" I said, "Yeah!" Then they said I was approved! Now my brother's people will have to respect me! Because I was approved! - The Christopher Walken/Foo Fighters episode's cold open is a Hardball sketch. The U.S. is about to invade Iraq, and Chris Matthews comes out swinging with his first guest, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith.Matthews: I haven't seen a group of people this crazy for blood since the Cobra Kai chased Daniel-san out of the Halloween dance in The Karate Kid!
Feith: (bewildered) What?
Matthews: Answer the question!
Feith: You didn't ask me a question!
Matthews: Answer it! - The Ben Affleck/N.E.R.D. episode features three short videos of characters getting into increasingly insane situations while vacationing in Thailand. The first one is some standard Black Comedy with a businessman who wakes up with a dead prostitute and calls a friend for the name of "that Dutch guy who helps clean up messes," but the second one Crosses the Line Twice with Ben Affleck, high on komodo dragon venom, selling a woman to cover his gambling debts.note Woman: (being dragged away) Ow! Let go of me!
Affleck: You're being selfish! You don't need both your kidneys!
Woman: This is not my idea of a honeymoon! Ben Affleck! Dammit!- In the final spot, the man from the first one needs the phone number again because the number's in his wallet and his wallet's in a dead guy who was killed by a baby komodo dragon brought into the room by Ben Affleck, who then killed the lizard because "That thing was making fun of me!" And for some reason he also brought Kelly Ripa with him.
Ripa: (screaming) We gotta cut this dead guy up and put him in a bag! This is bad, man! Baaad!- Oh, and these are all tourism ads for Thailand.
