Saturday Night Live has fifty years worth of holiday sketches to choose from, with these ten standing out as the best ones. The enduring nature of the NBC sketch series and its constantly rotating roster of writers, performers, and guest hosts means the show has tackled countless subjects over the years. The shifting perspectives and societal norms of American society means that those sketches have taken on different vibes to reflect various eras, but the best Saturday Night Live sketches retain the show’s trademark blending of observational humor and absurd commitment to a joke.
This is especially true of the show’s numerous holiday sketches, which have been filtered through different styles for great effect. There have been plenty of running characters who’ve gotten their own holiday sketches like Debbie Downer, while others lean heavier into mocking movie tropes and holiday traditions. The best are the ones that take the holiday season and use it as a springboard for the show’s committed creatives to go to absurd lengths.
10
Beep Beep
Season 49, Episode 7
Like the best holiday sketches in the show’s history, “Beep Beep” is a perfect synchronization of banal holiday traditions and absurd comic escalation elevated by Saturday Night Live‘s consistent ability to play the slightest comedic observation with hilarious commitment. “Beep Beep” focuses on a neighborhood holiday party, with friends trading slight comments while a dorky suburban husband fills the plate and excuses himself through the crowd with a “beep beep.” However, he finds himself at an intense empasse when another husband tries to do the same thing for the single remaining space on the table.
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What follows is white hot intensity more befitting a life-or-death cop thriller than a holiday party, with Andrew Dismukes gamely matching Adam Driver’s blunt fierceness. The horror of the wives and the boisterous understanding of the other husbands adds to the comedy, with Dismukes’ goofy but dead serious metaphor about Stuart Little being met with a brilliantly underplayed but no less threatening “Oh, so you want to die tonight” from Driver. Kenan Thompson ends up stealing the sketch with a late arrival and perfectly delivered punchline, highlighting the show’s ability to take basic concepts and play them for ridiculous effect.
9
Dance Of The Snowflakes
Season 39, Episode 9
A deceptively simple but perfectly character-driven sketch, “Dance of the Snowflakes” puts audiences through the inner thoughts of actors in a way that’s both painfully self-aware and deeply silly. The sketches focus on four performers on stage at a small town community playhouse, who’ve decided to hold a holiday pageant titled “Dance of the Snowflakes.” Their bulky snowflake-shaped costumes, basic choreography, and repetitive music are all painfully embarrassing — and the performers only realize that fact when they’re on stage in front of their friends and family.
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“Dance of the Snowflake” Cast |
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John Goodman |
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Kenan Thompson |
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Aidy Bryant |
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Vanessa Bayer |
While the four fully complete the dance, their inner monologues (recreated by voice-over recordings) realize how stupid the act is and steadily grow more self-loathing (and over the top) in their self-criticism. This ranges from a doctor lamenting bringing his co-workers to one of them deeply regretting dedicating the performance to Nelson Mandela. What elevates the sketch is the fully committed performances of the cast, whose emotions visualize their inner thoughts while trying to dance and smiling. The silliness keeps the potential awkwardness at bay with sheer escalation and a surprisingly sweet ending.
8
Children’s Clothing Ad
Season 45, Episode 9
Saturday Night Live has increasingly used some of their sketches as backdoor advertisements for major brands. Sometimes the connection is razor-thin (like a grisly Scooby-Doo parody that turns out to be connected to Apple Face ID), and others feel like advertisements in all but name. The best ones are capable of highlighting the product while poking fun at it and the way they’re usually interacted with in regular life, like “Children’s Clothing Ad.” The sketch is structured like a typical commercial for the department store, only with the bright narrator honestly noting the problems with fancy clothes for children.
This includes shoes and pants that hurt the kids wearing them, as well as setting off tantrums for not having the right Frozen princess on them. The best aspects of the sketch though are the adults caught in the chaos. The marital strife between Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner’s married couple cuts particularly deep, with tensions in their relationship spilling out over Day’s inability to put shoes on his daughter. The MVP is once again Kenan though, whose silent fury and instant regret over screaming an obscenity in front of his son steals the biggest laugh of the sketch.
7
The Chanukah Song
Season 20, Episode 7
Adam Sandler established himself as a breakout star on Saturday Night Live largely through his childish performances and musical routines, which “The Chanukah Song” combines to strong effect. With Sandler simply sitting at the Weekend Update desk with his guitar, the comedian explains to the audience that he wanted to create a new song to celebrate the Jewish tradition to contend with the litany of Christmas songs he’d spent his life listening to. What follows is a sweet ode to not just the holiday but other Jewish celebrities, all sung with Sandler not even trying to hide a goofy grin.
Adam Sandler has released multiple alternate versions of “The Chanukah Song,” including one for his animated film, Eight Crazy Nights.
The song has become an enduring holiday classic, even charting on the US Billboard Hot 100 when it was first released on Adam Sandler’s 1996 comedy album What the Hell Happened to Me? The song has since been updated several times to reflect new cultural references, with the 2015 remix including references to Olaf from Frozen, Stan Lee, and Jesus. The original Saturday Night Live sketch remains a staple of the show’s holiday bits, thanks in large part to Sandler’s palpable giddiness over the silly nature of the song.
6
NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls
Season 24, Episode 9
Sheer commitment to a goofy idea is at the core of many of Saturday Night Live‘s best-ever sketches, and it’s the key to “NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls.” The reoccurring sketch focuses on soft-spoken NPR hosts Margaret Jo McCullin and Terry Rialto (played by Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon) as they discuss a different dish each time, brought on by a guest — with all of them seemingly blissfully unaware of the inherent innuendos attached to the meal. The holiday variant of the sketch introduces Alec Baldwin’s Pete Schweddy, whose baked “Schweddy Balls” quickly set up lots of dirty double-meanings.
As reported by Screen Rant, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon reprised their roles as Margaret Jo McCullin and Terry Rialto in a recent advertisement.
The reason the sketch works is because of the sheer straight-faced sincerity of all three performers, who never give any hint that they’re aware of what it sounds like when Schweddy is invited to “whip out’ his balls and admit that most people are surprised by how big they are. That simple innocent touch, coupled with their occasional attempts at light-hearted humor, highlights what makes the sketch work. Sometimes, a sketch can be satirically thought-provoking or reflective of real-life emotions and situations. Sometimes, it’s just fun to see three adults talk about how good Schweddy Balls taste.
5
Dick In A Box
Season 32, Episode 9
While it wasn’t the first of The Lonely Island Digital Shorts to break out, “Dick In A Box” is the one that elevated the comedic trio of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer to new heights. The song, sung by Samberg and Justin Timberlake, is a bizarre and goofy concept taken as far as possible. Designed as a throwback to early 1990s R&B love songs, “Dick In A Box” sees Samberg and Timberlake’s musicians giving advice on how the perfect gift for their romantic partners is cutting a hole in a present and sticking their genitalia in it.
There’s no deeper meaning to the concept, which the sketch doubles down on with the simple three-part instructions of “cut a hole in a box, put your junk in the box, make her open the box.” Sandler and Timberlake play the parts with complete sincerity, throwing out as much charisma as they can while parading around with presents attached to their crotch. It’s a silly concept that builds to the great visual gag of them getting arrested. Although the pair would reunite for “Motherlover” and “3-Way (The Golden Rule),” “Dick In A Box” remains their most enduring collaboration.
4
North Pole News Report
Season 45, Episode 10
Eddie Murphy remains one of the most important Saturday Night Live stars of all time, with his arrival on the show in 1980 being a necessary jolt of life for the otherwise struggling series. He’s also starred in plenty of great holiday sketches for the show, ranging from his Christmas-themed version of his Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood sketch in 1984 to his Holiday Baking Championship fiasco in 2019. His best holiday sketch was also in that latter episode, focusing on a “North Pole News Report” after a polar bear broke into Santa’s workshop and ate some elves.
Murphy’s elf is a masterclass in turning a basic idea into something deeply memorable.
The entire sketch is a solid parody of news reporting in crisis, from the reporter dismissing accusations of poor management on Santa’s part to proudly sharing messages of “prayers and thoughts” from the Tooth Fairy. However, Murphy’s street-witness elf is the centerpiece, a silly concept that Murphy wrings for its full comedic potential. From his blunt assessment that “I don’t know those elves, I don’t work with those elves, but those elves are gone” to his reluctance to share his (admittedly bad-sounding) name on camera, Murphy’s elf is a masterclass in turning a basic idea into something deeply memorable.
3
‘Christmastime for the Jews’
Season 31, Episode 9
Arguably the most enduring of the “Saturday Fun House” animated sketches created by Robert Smigel, “Christmastime for the Jews” is a silly animated piece that works incredibly well. Sung by Darlene Love, the song is animated in the style of Rankin/Bass animated shorts like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The short imagines all the things that Jewish people can do while the larger Christian community is distracted with their own holiday, ranging from playing for the Lakers to seeing Fiddler on the Roof with an authentically Jewish cast.
Robert Smiegel is perhaps best known as the creator and voice behind Triumph the Comic Insult Dog.
What makes the sketch stand out is the artistry behind it, with the faithful recreation of the classic holiday specials giving it a timeless feel despite the specific references to pop-culture touchstones like Seinfeld and 2005’s King Kong. Darlene Love’s vocals are also perfectly attuned to the typical holiday musical tenor and tone, playing up the bit to great effect. It’s a silly song, often some of the best Saturday Night Live sketches period, and a great ode to the comedic style of Robert Smigel.
2
It’s A Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending
Season 12, Episode 8
One of the best movie parodies in Saturday Night Live history, “It’s A Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending” proposes an alternative conclusion to Frank Capra’s classic 1946 Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life. While it shares many elements of the actual ending of the Jimmy Stewart movie, it brings a new satisfyingly brutal conclusion to the story by having the Baileys and their friends realize that Old Man Potter is responsible for taking the money needed to keep their bank open and George out of jail. As a result, George leads a mob after Potter to enact justice.
[“It’s A Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending”] is a very funny sketch that also pays genuine tribute to a pop culture touchstone.
The ending plays off the righteous indignation of audiences who have spent decades frustrated with the lack of consequences for Potter, with a comically over-the-top comeuppance that includes George and Mary beating the old man while the crowd sings behind them. The best part of the sketch is Dana Carvey’s shockingly good impression of Jimmy Stewart, infusing the actor’s “aw shucks” sensibilities into action-movie lines like “You made one mistake Potter, you crossed me and left me alive!” It’s a very funny sketch that also pays genuine tribute to a pop culture touchstone.
1
Steve Martin’s Christmas Wish
Season 12, Episode 6
The perfect example of how Saturday Night Live‘s absurd takes on traditional tropes can be elevated by strong writing and unique performances, “Steve Martin’s Christmas Wish” is the best holiday sketch in the show’s history. The set-up is simple: Steve Martin sits in a chair beside a Christmas Tree, sharing his wish for peace on Earth with the audience at home. However, Martin can’t help himself from making addendums to that idealized wish, steadily letting his selfish desires overtake his hopes for the world at large. It’s a basic premise highlighting many of sketch comedy’s best aspects.
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There’s the singular performance element of the sequence, with Steve Martin’s kindly delivery becoming increasingly energized by the prospect of revenge on his enemies over the joy of the world’s children. There’s the undercurrent of genuine satire, cutting away at the platitudes people share each holiday season to reveal greedy motivations. There’s also the hilarious absurd dichotomy of seeing the soft visuals and sweet music while Steve Martin decides he’d prefer all the money in the world and to just forget the kids entirely. It’s an ideal Saturday Night Live sketch and the best one rooted in mocking holiday traditions.
The longest-running sketch-comedy/satire show on television, premiering in 1975, Saturday Night Live is a weekly series that features new hosts for each episode, with a core cast of actors and comedians that rotate over time. Episodes feature several skits that are sometimes ad-libbed on the fly, with the hosts engaging in most of them, and also provide musical guest performances that cap off each night.
- Release Date
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October 11, 1975
- Seasons
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50
- Showrunner
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Lorne Michaels
