Bailey's SNL Sketch Guide (non-exhaustive)

Thought everyone could use some laughs?

Alright, alright, I’m giving the people what they want: my running master list of SNL sketches! Thought everyone could use an hours-long list of guaranteed laughs in light of everything going on. Park It will be back with your regularly scheduled programming next week- see ya then for “Summer Catalog” (spoiler: it’s a good one).

There have been countless, countless times I’ve ended up on the couch with my friends late at night watching funny videos on YouTube. I usually end up with the remote at some point or other and often cycle through some sort of mental carousel of sketches I’ve damn near memorized.

The most important thing you need to think about when selecting a sketch for viewing is: who’s your audience? Are we dealing with pretentious friends with a highbrow sense of humor? Or are we dealing with the type of crowd that would prefer fart jokes every 5 minutes? There’s no wrong type of humor — there’s just preferences you gotta navigate to keep the homies happy.

This is a list of my absolute go-tos. I’ve tried to divide them up into very very loose categories, but rearrange them on your own time. Some of them definitely belong in multiple categories, but a girl’s gotta choose! It’s also worth saying that these are all after the year 2000. I’m going to make so many people mad by not including classics like More Cowbell, but hey — I’m Gen-Z! I’ll show some loyalty to the post-2000s era here.

I skipped all iconic political sketches I could think of because I think everyone might want to take their mind off politics for a wee bit. But maybe I’ll send out an abridged version of this in a few months with things like Amy Poehler’s Sarah Palin rap.

I definitely missed some on this list, so tell me in the comments what I forgot. Bookmark this, save it, and refer back to it - I’ll update it as I find new ones!

Crowd Pleasers, every damn time

• Close Encounter - the one with Ryan Gosling. Kate McKinnon’s escaped an alien abduction. You know the one.

• Super Showcase Spokesmodels - Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are agents of chaos hosting a gameshow. Shonda! Vonda!

• New Girlfriend - Jason Sudeikis brings home his new girlfriend, Fred Armisen. They’re into PDA. Sometimes feet end up guacamole.

• Taste Test - “there’s a Hidden Valley Ranch Party in MY mouth!”

• A Girl’s Halloween - the og “let’s just have a chill night!”

• The Kissing Family - so much action.

Need some working pop culture knowledge to get it

• Beyoncé Hot Ones - to be fair, my mom thought this was hilarious and she’s never seen hot ones before (so then we had to go down the whole rabbit hole last Thanksgiving).

• Jumanji - a social commentary/horror story for our time, based on the 1995 cult classic Jumanji, starting Robin Williams (rip).

• The Californians - specifically, I think you’ll only enjoy this if you associate with many Southern Californians, and/or are deeply familiar with The OC. My favorite trait of SoCal kids? They would wear parkas when it dropped below 65 degrees at Berkeley.

• Disney Housewives - my second favorite social commentary about Disney Princesses, only after their performance in Wreck It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet.

• Bridesmaid Speech - Domingo!!!!

• Totino’s with Kristen Stewart - gay icon Kristen Stewart provides a strong 3rd option to watching the game or eating pizza rolls.

Honestly so stupid but they’re iconic so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• The Shooting AKA Dear Sister - again, need some working knowledge of The OC to appreciate this to its fullest, but you’ll enjoy regardless. My friend Shireen showed me this in high school and there was about a week where we watched it non-stop during every study hall.

• Gilly - the absolute CHOKEHOLD Gilly had on my middle school!!! God you couldn’t go anywhere without people doing the bucktooth smile.

• Penelope: Man and Wife - feat Baby Taylor!

• Rap Roundtable - yeet skrt

Character breaks (aka, my favorite type of humor)

• Debbie Downer - the best ever SNL character break, hands down. I have nothing more to say other than “it’s official….I can’t have children” lives rent free in my head.

• Beavis and Butthead - when Heidi loses it, I lose it

• Lisa from Temecula - underrated, but we looove Ego Nwodim. If you want to go down the Ego rabbit hole, this podcast is what showed me to love this sketch.

Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I don’t. But it’s a good bit.

• 1920s Party - don’t make me sing!!

• Whiskers R We - I’m thinking about adopting a cat, wonder if these two ladies can help with that?

• Mom Jeans - Tina Fey classic, hits different now that mom jeans are fully back in style. Guess they were onto something.

• Target Lady - had a friend at camp who did SUCH a good Target Lady in our camp variety show. Kristen Wiig’s recent revival of Target Lady in commercials is social brands reaching their peak.

• Birthday Party - less well known sketch with Ryan Gosling and Aidy Bryant. Ryan Gosling has never once missed.

Musicals!!!

• ABBA Christmas - tears down my face

• Back Home Ballers - the first ever YRGIRLS sketch I saw. If you’re not familiar with YRGIRLS, they’re the no-longer-existent SNL girl group who sing many of the following iconic songs in this list. I first saw this my freshman year of college and remember it feeling so unbelievably accurate

• Do It On My Twin Bed - “just shirt no pants like Winnie the Pooh”

• 3 Sad Virgins - first ever Please Don’t Destroy video I saw ft. a Taylor appearance! This was in the same episode as her iconic ATWTMV performance during the 2021 Red Era re-release.

• First Got Horny 2 U - thought of this again the other day because the new Menendez documentary lol

• D*ck in a Box - what’s up The Lonely Island!

• The Christmas Candle - I think we owe the prevalence of Christmas candles to both Bath & Body Works and TJ Maxx. Maxxinistas get it.