SNL Top 15 Sketches of 2016

As the year comes to an end, its time to look back at some of the best sketches of the past calendar year at SNL. They certainly had their hands full covering a wild and unpredictable election (and some of their debate pieces don't look that great in hindsight, as they portrayed Hillary Clinton on a victory lap pretty much). But they still had some prescient political pieces, among other original works.

15) Brie Larson - "Quiz Whiz"

Taran Killam and Brie Larson struggle to come up with the runner-up to Trump among the GOP primary field. There were a couple nice added twists at the end of this.

Quiz Whiz

14) Ariana Grande - "Tidal"

This was a similar sketch that Bruno Mars did, but Ariana's impersonations are just so spot on. I included this more for her pure talent than the sketch itself. Just amazing what she's able to do here.

13) Emma Stone - "Wells For Boys"

Emma's delivery in her lines in this ad really makes it shine. This was also a good semi-political piece that SNL was able to do without being directly linked to the 2016 race. 

12) Melissa McCarthy - "The Day Beyonce Turned Black"

This short was just so good. The beginning of 2016 Beyonce took over the pop culture world with her release of "Lemonade". An album dealing with infidelity, but also with larger issues of equality and feminism. 

11) Peter Dinklage - "Mafia Meeting"

The title of this may have been "mafia meeting", but it was all about Peter and his "transcendent" performance of "Space Pants". Just so out there, yet really fun.

10) Adam Driver - "Star Wars Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base"

Adam brought Kylo Ren to life in this undercover boss parody. Such good writing.

9) Lin Manuel Miranda - "A Day Off"

This was the beginning of Kate McKinnon's portrayal of Kellyanne Conway. She's pretty much nailed it (though the sympathetic tone of SNL's version hasn't played out).

8) Larry David - "Bern Your Enthusiasm"

Larry's take on Bernie Sanders was just spot on. He pretty much just put himself into the Democratic candidate.

7) Dave Chappelle - "Walking Dead Chappelle's Show"

What an episode this was. I could have put 2 or 3 sketches from that show into this list, but I felt like this was the top one. Chappelle brings in some of his original characters into The Walking Dead.

6) John Cena - "Through Donald's Eyes"

This was a pretty fascinating take on a world view from Trump's POV. There's a good chance there's some accuracy to this actually.

Through Donald's Eyes

5) Casey Affleck - "Jingle Barack"

Kenan and co. celebrate the last Christmas with Obama as POTUS in this appreciative short. 

4) Larry David - "FBI Simulator"

What would we have done without Kevin Roberts. I wonder if he ever got that donut.

FBI Simulator

(The behind the scenes video is also just as good, seeing Larry's transformation)

3) Tom Hanks - "Black Jeopardy" 

This iteration of "Black Jeopardy" may be the best one yet, as it changed the format. Hanks plays a Trump voter who can recognize some of the other contestant's struggles (to a point). 

2) Tom Hanks - "Haunted Elevator"

Kevin Roberts and David S. Pumpkins in the same year. What did we do to deserve this much awesomeness in one year. 

1) Fred Armisen - "Farewell Mr. Bunting"

A take off of "Dead Poets Society", the set-up to the main gag in this short was just put together perfectly. It was totally unexpected.

SNL Season 42: Casey Affleck

SNL wrapped up its last show of the year with "Manchester By The Sea" star Casey Affleck. So how would SNL end a politically wild 1st half? onto the review.

Donald Trump Christmas Cold Open: Alec Baldwin returned portraying Trump (without any mocking tweets from Trump himself this week). He goes on to meet Putin (Beck Bennett) coming down the chimney. SNL really hit on the ongoing Russian hacking story this week. Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson then shows up (John Goodman) to show off his special handshake with Putin. It seems like SNL is going with the view that Trump is the last in line to fully grasp anything (at least when it comes to his team around him). Should be interesting to see how this develops in the 2nd half of the season. (7.4)

Monologue: Affleck got a little advice from Bladwin and Goodman on how to host a show. And Casey made it known that he would not sing for this Christmas show monologue. All in all, this was a surprisingly decent monologue, considering some of Affleck's late night appearances. His sort of dry delivery worked. (7.0)


Dunkin Donits (ad): This ad portraying a "real Bostonian" played by Affleck was so on the money. Yeah, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not over the top like those sketches with Jimmy Fallon/Rachel Dratch back in the day. (8.6)



Robot Presentation: They seem to really want to make these "humanoid robot" sketches become a thing. Isn't happening yet. (5.9)



Jingle Barack (short): There was a lot happening here, and it was all brilliant. Played off like a early 90s rap music video, Kenan and Chance The Rapper celebrate the last Christmas with Obama as president. Even "Jesus" (Affleck) was getting down with it. Leslie Jones had her own special section with appreciation for Biden. There was just some great writing here. (9.0)



Christmas Miracle: Another one of these Kate McKinnon/Cecily Strong sketches where Ms. Rafferty (McKinnon) shares a slightly different experience than the others. This time around, there was just something missing. (6.0)


(Chance The Rapper): (8.4)



Weekend Update: Jost and Che pretty much were laser focused on Trump and the transition this week, with some good lines by Jost on Russia.

The only update guests were "Putin best friends", played by Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen. (7.2)


New York Now: (5.5)


Hillary Actually (short): A parody of Love Actually, Hillary tries to sway an elector with a last minute plea, via cue cards. In the moment this was pretty creative, and hit the nail on the head with some of the worrying concerns with a Trump presidency. (9.2)

However, it seems a bit odd to still be doing Hillary Clinton sketches at this point in the game, a month past the election now. Maybe SNL did have a "Clinton problem", as an article from "The Ringer" pointed out.



(Chance The Rapper): (7.5)



Mrs. Claus & the Elves: A return of this recurring sketch, where a bunch of elves seem to really be into punishment. I'll admit, for some reason I chuckled a bit at this one. (6.9)


Christmas Bar: (7.6)



Casey Affleck didn't seem fully present in this show, but I guess that's to be expected for a Christmas show, where you usually do see some guest appearances. With such a wild and hectic schedule, I imagine the writers could use a good holiday break. Overall this was a really decent show, where the taped material out shined the live sketches. (7.40)


Dave Chappelle: 8.83

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Emma Stone: 7.56

Casey Affleck: 7.40

Margot Robbie: 7.38

John Cena: 7.19

Kristen Wiig: 7.09

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60

SNL Season 42: John Cena

SNL keeped up its December run with pro-wrestler John Cena. Could he match "The Rock's" hosting prowess? onto the review

The Lead With Jake Tapper Cold Open: Jake Tapper (Beck Bennett) interviews Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) about some of Trump's questionable cabinet picks. One memorable line here is Conway's on how they're "alt good". Then his future cabinet pick....Walter White (Bryan Cranston) made an appearance, however brief it may have been. This felt a little off, with how sudden this cold open ended. (6.5) 

Monologue: Overall this was a better monologue than most. While Cena wanted to sing, a bunch of cast members showed up as made up wrestlers. The best was Bobby Moynihan's "the waddler". And then Leslie Jones just showing up as herself. (8.0)


Dating Show: On the surface this seemed like just another game show sketch (though there would be one of those later on). But this actually developed into something. Cecily Strong plays a contestant who just wants the host (Cena). As they flirt, two of the prospective dates (Bennett and Kyle Mooney) start to connect, and kiss. It may have taken a while to build, but the payoff was worth it. (7.5)



The Karate Teen (short): Not much to say here, other than it was just "The Karate Kid", but turned on its head. (6.2)



Science Presentation: There was something here, talking about the NCAA and college's infatuation with football, but it just fell flat, and never really made that connection fully. (6.7)


Dyke & Fats Save Christmas Special (short): It was nice seeing these two characters, played by Kate and Aidy Bryant. We learned that Aidy's character's full name here is "O'Malley", which is a fun little tidbit. I honestly hope these two get the "Macgruber" treatment and gets turned into a movie. (7.6)



(Maren Morris): (8.4)



Weekend Update: Most of the hard hitting Trump commentary came here (and in a later short).

The first guest saw Angela Merkel (McKinnon) talking about Trump, and what could have been with a friendship with Hillary Clinton. There were a lot of good moments here, from Merkel's line on how in Germany the alt-right is known as "the reason grandpa lives in Argentina now".

Cecily then came back as Cathy Anne talking about "pizza-gate" and fake news. This character is still pretty iffy....and a pretty big stereotype, there was a good moment where she pointed out how Trump was probably watching at that very moment. (7.5)



Where'd Your Money Go?: (5.5)



Joanne & the Tree: (5.0)



Through Donald's Eyes (short): This may have been one of the best Trump features SNL has done, and it didn't even have to include Alec Baldwin. The viewer just saw a first person POV of how Trump likely sees the world. It was predictably dark, but fascinating all the same. (9.0)

Through Donald's Eyes


(Maren Morris): (7.3)


Romance Bookstore: This was a good timeless sketch. Whenever a customer asks for a book, Aidy and her "worker" Cena go to the back-shelf and act like they're straight out of a romance novel. These two just had such good chemistry with this. (8.5)

Romance Bookstore


Talent Competition: (7.0)



This show was a bit of a mixed bag. John Cena had some delivery issues with a few of his lines, and some sketch concepts just didn't land (however good they were on paper). But the show was saved in the end by the back-half of the show. (7.19)

Dave Chappelle: 8.83

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Emma Stone: 7.56

Margot Robbie: 7.38

John Cena: 7.19

Kristen Wiig: 7.09

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60

SNL Season 42: Emma Stone

SNL came back after a week off for Thanksgiving. How would they start this final 3 week stretch before the holiday break? Onto the review

Classroom Cold Open: It seems anytime "Trump" is in the cold open, the real thing is going to be angrily tweeting about it. In this case it was about how in security meetings Trump couldn't stop......tweeting. Sort of ironic, isn't it? Alec Badlwin as Trump RTs random teenagers and other miscellaneous shady characters in this cold open, while Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway tries to bridge the gap with him. Even better was Steve Bannon emerging as the grim reaper. (7.5)

Monologue: (6.0)


High School Theater Showcase: I wasn't sure whether we'd be seeing this recurring sketch without Taran Killam, but here it was, without missing a beat. It doesn't matter the material, this sketch just seems to always hit. Its how they deliver the lines that makes this great, like Aidy Bryant during her "aids" monologue, making a somewhat salient point before heading out of bounds. (8.5)






The Christmas Candle (short): From the early 90s music video lay-out, to the ever true premise of the "gift you have to give away", this short was incredibly relateable. It seems an easy and out gift for the holiday season....when you're plain out of ideas, is indeed a candle. Now some may find that they have a family member who is mildly obsessed with...oh, say Yankee Candles, but this idea of the perfect "idk" gift is so so accurate. (7.7)



Posters: (7.0)



The Hunt For Hil (short): A popular meme on twitter has been pictures of Hillary Clinton in the woods near her Chappaqua house, so this premise was really creative. It was sort of depressing in a sense though, as the host says their goal is to "find her, trap her...and thank her". (8.5)



(Shawn Mendes): (8.6)



Weekend Update: The first update guest saw Leslie Jones talking about Women's satisfaction. This was one of the first times that she actually broke during her annual appearances.

Vanessa Bayer then showed up as Rachel from Friends. Man is this ever a good impression, cutaways and all (which always baffles Jost). Then in a surprise, Jennifer Aniston showed up to confront Vanessa's impression. (7.5)



Cleaning Crew: (6.5)


Film Screening: It looks like Kate's "Debette Gouldry" character is going to be recurring. (8.0)



Wells For Boys (ad): Much like Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Diego calls home" sketch, this was a nice subtle take on politics. Emma is especially great as the mother here, with the way she whispers how her son is whispering "a secret" into the well. That, and her rant to the brother who doesn't get it. (8.8)

(Shawn Mendes): (6.7)

Nativity Scene: (7.0)

A 3-time host now, Emma Stone is one of those people who was meant for SNL. She just fits right into any role, committing to everyone no matter what. A perfect host is one you could easily envision being among the cast (think Justin Timberlake or Alec Baldwin), and Emma Stone is becoming close to that group. (7.56)

Dave Chappelle: 8.83

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Emma Stone: 7.56

Margot Robbie: 7.38

Kristen Wiig: 7.09

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60