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.
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.
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.
(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.
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