The BEST episodes of Saturday Night Live
Every episode of Saturday Night Live ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Saturday Night Live!
"Saturday Night Live," NBC's Emmy Award-winning late-night comedy showcase, brings yet another year of laughs, surprises and great performances. Since its inception in 1975, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of their generation. As The New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy-winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999, "in defiance of both time and show business convention, 'SNL' is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years.
#1 - Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman/Eddy Grant
Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/15/1983
Sketches are ""Calvin Klein Cream Pies,"" ""Mister Robinson's Neighborhood,"" ""Crazy Edelman,"" ""Book Beat,"" ""What Would Frank Do?"" ""Amos n' Andy,"" and ""Spanish Class."" Eddy Grant performs ""I Don't Wanna Dance,"" ""Electric Avenue,"" and ""Living on the Front Line.""
#2 - Bill Russell/Chicago
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/3/1979
Sketches include ""Kennedy in '80,"" ""Banshee,"" ""The Black Shadow,"" ""The Landers Files,"" ""Mr. Bill at Home,"" ""Nick in the Arctic,"" ""Eleanor Roosevelt,"" ""Sports Hot Line,"" and ""Big n' Tall That's All."" Chicago performs their 1970 hit ""I'm a Man"" and their then-current single ""Street Player.""
#3 - Cameron Diaz/Jimmy Eat World
Season 27 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/6/2002
Live From New York, It's...Will Ferrell & Ana Gasteyer! Sketches include ""The Culps In Lamaze Class,"" ""17th Annual Auto Show Spokeman Awards,"" ""MTV Spring Break 2002,"" ""SNL 530,"" ""Astronaut Jones,"" ""Celine Dion on CBS,"" ""Gorgeous Living,"" ""The First Female Peepers,"" ""MTV 4"", and ""My Big, Thick Novel."" Jimmy Eat World performed ""The Middle"" and ""Sweetness.""
#4 - Jon Stewart/India.Arie
Season 27 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/9/2002
Live From New York, It's...Darrell Hammond Sketches include: Cheney's Concerns, The Cheese Game, MTV's Total Request Live, The Bloder Brothers, TV Funhouse: MTV Forum (Fun With Real Audio), Talkin' To The Stars, News Media, Jazzvisions, We Were Soldiers Who Knew What Women Want, and My Big Thick Novel India.Arie performs: ""Video"" and ""Ready For Love""
#5 - Sean William Scott/Sum 41
Season 27 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/6/2001
Live From New York, It's...Will Ferrell Sketches include: Bush Warns bin Laden, Law and Order: Parking Violations Movement, Snotty Department Store Guys, Emmy Awards Pre-Show, Jarrett's Room, The Patriotic Co-Worker, The ""How Do You Say? Ah, Yes"" Show, The Approval Center, and The Porn Star Blind Date Sum 41 performs: ""Fat Lip"" and ""In Too Deep""
#6 - Alec Baldwin/Coldplay
Season 26 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/7/2001
Sketches include ""George W. Bush,"" ""Delicious Dish,"" ""Military Soldier,"" ""Inside the Actor's Studio,"" ""Robert Goulet,"" ""Democrats.""
#7 - Mena Suvari/Lenny Kravitz
Season 26 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/20/2001
Sketches include ""Bill Clinton,"" ""Airport Metal Detector,"" ""Janet Reno's Dance Party, ""Rap Street,"" ""Veronica & Co.,"" and ""The DeMarco Brothers.""
#8 - Damon Wayans/Dionne Farris
Season 20 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/8/1995
Sketches include: ""Judge Ito,"" ""Men on Film,"" ""Spit Valves,"" ""Black Names,"" ""Christopher Walken for Skittles"", and ""Court TV: The O.J. Trial.""
#9 - Justine Bateman/Terrance Trent D'Arby
Season 13 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/13/1988
""53rd. Debate of the 1988 Republican Presidential Candidates"", ""Learning to Feel with Denise Venetti, Ph.D."", ""Family Ties: If These Old Walls Could Talk (Flashback-Flashback Episode)"", ""Blocked songwriter Derek Stevens loses his Muse"", ""An older man, the bimbo girlfriend Linda and his Judgemental Friends"".
#10 - Jeff Daniels/Color Me Badd
Season 17 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1991
""Johnny Carson's Tonight Show: The 29th and Final Anniversary"", ""Earthies, the Bountiful Diaper Commercial (From Dell Monty)"", ""The Richmeister Vs. The Name Singing Guy"", ""The Chris Farley Show"", ""Community College Bowl"", ""Apex Novelty Guy gets fired for designing bad quality rubber vomit""
#11 - Bob Uecker/Peter Wolf
Season 10 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/13/1984
Live from New York, "it's a baby boy, Mr. Williams!" it's... Martin Short! Sketches include "Password," "Snap, Crackle & Pop," "An American Portrait," "Little League Trade," "Tom Brokaw," "Mamie Eisenhower Center For The Dull," "7 x 4," "Negro Leaguers" (film), "Lost and Found Department," "Tippi Turtle" (cartoon), "SNL Mailbag," "Baseball Juice," and "Color Commentary." Peter Wolf performed "Lights Out" and "I Need You Tonight.
#12 - Dudley Moore/Al Green
Season 11 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/25/1986
Sketches include ""Monks and Football,"" ""The Pat Stevens Show,"" ""Master Thespian"", ""The Limits of the Imagination"", ""Name That Tune,"" and ""Die Foriegner Die!"" Al Green performs ""Going Away.""
#13 - Danny DeVito/Bryan Ferry
Season 13 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/5/1987
ive from New York, it's... Danny Devito! Sketches include: "Gorbachev-Reagan," "Siskel & Ebert," "Church Chat," "Eddie Spimozo's Jungle Room," "White Trash Appraiser," "Ann Landers' Playhouse," and "Reminiscing with Doorman." Bryan Ferry performs "The Right Stuff" and "Kiss and Tell."
#14 - Sean Penn/L.L. Cool J., Michael Penn & the Pull
Season 13 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/24/1987
Live from New York, it's... Sean Penn! Sketches include "Fatal Attraction 2," "Wall Street Week," "Church Chat," "Pitman & Bullock," "The Teeny Cafe," "Keister Family Talk," "Discover," "The Spimozo Brothers," and "Cat Dentist" (film). LL Cool J performs "Go Cut Creator Go." Michael Penn and The Pull performs "This & That."
#15 - Carl Weathers/Robbie Robertson
Season 13 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/30/1988
Sketches include ""Bush-Whacked,"" ""The NFL Today,"" ""Handi-Off,"" ""Democratic Debate '88,"" ""Helen and Cheri,"" ""TV Actress,"" ""Master Thespian,"" and ""The Garden"" (film). Robbie Robertson performed ""Testimony"" and ""Somewhere Down the Crazy River.""
#16 - Conan O'Brien/Don Henley
Season 26 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/10/2001
Live from New York, it's...Will Ferrell Sketches include: Bush's Good Health, Subshack, The Boston Teens At The Liquor Store, Moleculo: The Molecular Man, Napster Testimony, Taint-less Ted, Find The Black People At The Knicks Game, VH-1 Diva-Thon, Democratic National Committee, and Sports Century: The White Boxer Don Henley performs: ""Everything is Different Now"" and ""Heart of the Matter"" (the second performance was cut on the NBC rerun and replaced with a DeMarco Bros. sketch where Chris Parnell, Chris Kattan, and Conan O'Brien audition for Don Henley)
#17 - Richard Benjamin/Rickie Lee Jones
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/7/1979
Sketches include "The Pepsi Syndrome," "The Nerds In Love," and "Scottish Restaurant." Jones performs his hit "Chuck E's In Love."
#18 - Sigourney Weaver/Buster Poindexter
Season 12 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/11/1986
Live From New York, it's...Madonna Sketches Include: A Message From Madonna, ""General Dynamics,"" ""Tommy Flanagan,"" ""Quiz Masters,"" ""The Amazing Alexander,"" ""Church Chat,"" ""Bows and Smith Advertising,"" ""Alienses,"" ""Ten Weeks In Jail,"" ""Baby It's Cold Outside"" (musical number), ""Derek Stevens Auditions,"" and ""The Brecht Opera."" Buster Poindexter performed ""Smack Dab in the Middle"" and ""Fool For You.""
#19 - Rosie O'Donnell/Whitney Houston
Season 22 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/14/1996
Sketches include ""Bill Clinton and Bob Dole,"" ""Spartan Cheerleaders,"" ""Mary Katherine Gallagher,"" ""Delicious Dish,"" ""Goat Boy,"" ""Rita Delvecchio,"" and ""The Local News with Joe Blow.""
#20 - Michael Palin/Eugene Record
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/8/1978
Live From New York, It's...Dan Aykroyd Sketches include--"Oscar Awards", "Little Chocolate Donuts", "Tax Deductions", "H&L Brock", "Great Escape", "Nerds Piano Lesson", "The Case of the Scarlet Membrane", "Good Time At Party", "Mr. Bill Pays His Taxes", "Danger Probe"
#21 - Alec Baldwin/Paul McCartney
Season 18 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/13/1993
Sketches include ""Dateline NBC,"" ""The Mimic,"" ""The Chris Farley Show,"" ""Soap Opera Digest,"" ""Gap Girls,"" ""Naked Woman Theater,"" ""Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley,"" ""The Bodyguard,"" and ""French Class"".
#22 - Eddie Murphy/The Honeydrippers
Season 10 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/15/1984
Sketches include ""Buckwheat Lives!"" ""White Like Me"" (film), ""Milestones,"" and ""Newsmakers."" Robert Plant and the Honeydrippers perform ""Santa Claus is Back in Town.""
#23 - Helen Hunt/Snoop Doggy Dogg
Season 19 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/19/1994
Sketches include ""Rockers Explain Whitewater,"" ""Total Bastard Airlines,"" ""Sexist Director,"" ""Office Space,"" and ""Rob Schneider's Girlfriend Theater."" Snoop Dogg performed ""Gin & Juice.""
#24 - Joe Pesci/Spin Doctors
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/1992
Sketches include ""Debate '92,"" ""Pinky Ringery,"" ""Single White Person,"" ""Bullies on the Steps,"" and ""Zoriada annoys Joe Pesci."" Spin Doctors perform ""Jimmy Olson's Blues.""
#25 - Teri Hatcher/Dave Matthews Band
Season 21 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/20/1996
Sketches include ""Kazinsky and his Lawyers,"" ""Spade in America,"" ""Spartan Cheerleaders,"" ""The Princess and the Homeboy,"" ""Romantic Music,"" and ""St. Gabriel's Women's Charity for the Needy.""
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