Though Saturday Night Live (SNL) still gets criticism for controversial guests and the occasional groan-inducing social media-mined joke, each contemporary season has retained its shining moments. Here’s a look back at the best sketches of SNL Season 49.
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Honorable Mentions
Before delving into the top five sketches of the season, it’s worth reflecting on SNL’s 49th entry which saw hosting turns from the contentious Shane Gillis, the beloved Ryan Gosling, and returning alums Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph. Though Rudolph’s Mother’s Day monologue quickly became a fan favorite moment of the season, host monologues, Weekend Updates, and cut-for-time sketches (which, bafflingly, includes Gosling’s “Papyrus 2”) won’t be factored into the following list of SNL Season 49 sketches.
Moments like the Dune popcorn bucket song and Molly Kearney’s Kevin James meme recreation were largely ridiculed for their belated attempt to jump onto a social media bandwagon, but other middling sketches were elevated by hilarious performances. Honorable mentions along these lines include Ayo Edebiri’s bisexual schoolboy Solomon, Ramy Youssef growing self-conscious during a night out with Travis Scott and Please Don’t Destroy, and Rudolph reprising her role as Beyonce on Hot Ones.
Other hits from SNL’s latest run included a PSA about pranking senior citizens for TikTok clout, Timothée Chalamet’s stirring tiny horse ballad, and Emma Stone’s creative vision for the song “Make Your Own Kind of Music”. Dual host and musical guest Bad Bunny and returning alum Fred Armisen broke ground in “Age of Discovery,” a sketch performed entirely in Spanish. Andrew Dismukes found himself at the center of many of the season’s highlights, from craning his neck to watch Ad Astra over Josh Brolin’s shoulder to keeping proposal-related secrets for Gosling and Gyllenhaal. Season 49 likewise delivered fresh impressions such as Bowen Yang’s George Santos, Devon Walker’s Tim Scott and Draymond Green, and even Chalamet’s Martin Scorsese.
Though Saturday Night Live‘s foundation is found in the world of current events, its best sketch moments are often found in its deviations from contemporary politics and pop culture. Here are the five Season 49 sketches that kept audiences laughing long after Saturday night.
The Best Sketches of Saturday Night Live Season 49
“Close Encounter”
Saturday Night Live fans nostalgic for the Kate McKinnon got a double dose of the former cast member in Season 49. Not only did McKinnon host Episode 8, but she reprised her foul-mouthed Miss Rafferty in another extraterrestrial installment of “Close Encounters” during the cold open of Gosling’s Episode 17. “Close Encounters” offered a refreshing change of pace from the run of the mill election season introductions and set an expectation for an episode rife with Gosling’s delightful fits of laughter. The host even broke the fourth wall to establish that he was outfitted in the same exact gear he was last abducted and subsequently manhandled by McKinnon in back in 2017.
“Lisa from Temecula: Sports Bar”
Ego Nwodim’s Earth-shaking, cast-breaking Lisa from Temecula returned to the table in the Brolin-hosted Episode 14 to give her two cents on gratuity (though, naturally, she pronounced it like Ratatouille). Much like Lisa herself, Nwodim’s nothing short of a force of nature on Saturday Night Live and left the entire cast in stitches. Despite two attempts to launch Heidi Gardner’s chaotic secretary character Trudy in SNL Season 49, Lisa remained the reigning queen of SNL set destruction.
“Beavis and Butt-Head”
Cast breaking has been a salient thread throughout the top sketches of Saturday Night Live‘s 49th season, and no one broke quite as completely as Gardner in “Beavis and Butt-Head”. Another entry in Gosling’s Episode 17, the sketch saw himself and Mikey Day delightfully distract as Beavis and Butt-Head lookalikes attending a NewsNation interview about artificial intelligence. The virality of this sketch extended its tendrils outside of Studio 8H, with Gosling and Day reprising the look for a Fall Guy red carpet event.
“Jumanji”
Episode 16 host Wiig put her foot down during a proposed game night in “Jumanji”, a sketch which repeated the name of the Robin Williams’ film so often that it began to lose any meaning. Though Wiig’s Jumanji-inspired board game caution was undoubtedly hilarious, Dismukes’ heated rebuttal about the film’s logic sent the sketch over the edge. Conductor Will Forte helped close out the hilarious affair, saving his former SNL colleague from Alan Parrish’s fate.
“Washington’s Dream”
First-time host Nate Bargatze found himself as General George Washington in Saturday Night Live‘s best sketch of Season 49. Rather than bloviate about lofty ideals like freedom and liberty, Washington honed in on a more specific dream for America’s future, one of nonsensical contradictions in measurement, spelling, and even sports. Bargatze was a fitting host to tackle “Washington’s Dream” as it meshed well with the tone and cadence found in his stand-up comedy.
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