After almost 50 years on the air, Saturday Night Live has delivered countless great comedy sketches. The show has featured some hilarious and talented funny people, who usually know how to pull off a sketch brilliantly. But some of the funniest moments happen when the cast is not at their most professional.
Seeing that the show is live, there is bound to be the occasional mess-up. But sometimes there is a sketch where virtually no one onstage cannot keep a straight face. It might not have been the way the sketch was supposed to go, but it sure makes it memorable.
Halftime Speech
In what remains one of the most underrated sketches in recent memory, Will Forte gets a chance to show off his hypnotic dance moves. He plays a coach of a basketball team who's attempting to give his losing players a motivational speech during halftime.
The coach plays a song he insists will inspire the group, but it is an oddly childish tune to which Forte dances like a madman. While Forte is really the only one front and center in the sketch, you can clearly see the rest of the cast cracking up and burying their heads to hide their laughter at Forte's moves.
The Californians
"The Californians" became a recurring sketch and it seems like the entire point of it is to give the cast members a chance to make each other lose it on live television. The first installment of the sketch featured Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader, along with host Josh Brolin in this cheesy California-set soap opera.
The sketch is simply everyone doing over-the-top California accents while giving out convoluted traffic instructions. But Armisen's accent is so wild that that cast cannot keep a straight face when he's talking. The more they laugh, the more he leans into the accent.
Short Shorts for the USA
This sketch is an interesting one as it aired shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Will Ferrell plays a man who comes into the office wearing an outfit that is meant to show his patriotism during these trying times for the nation. However, that outfit is a tank top and an American flag speedo.
As soon as he walks into the boardroom setting, the cast begins reacting to the outrageous sight. Ferrell seems to push the boundaries of his costume and one-by-one, the cast and host Seann William Scott break down.
Expedition
This is a more recent sketch in the episode Fred Armisen returned to host. He plays an educational actor, alongside current cast members Kyle Mooney and Cecily Strong, who come to perform a skit about Lewis and Clark for a young class.
Their educational performance takes a strange turn as it becomes about how Lewis and Clark want to have a threesome with Sacagawea. It almost seems like the three actors are reading the sketch for the first time on cue cards and they can't control themselves as things get weirder and weirder.
Dr. Beaman's Office
Will Ferrell has plenty of classic recurring characters, but Dr. Beaman is an overlooked one. Beaman is a horribly unqualified doctor who just berates his patients and goes off on strange tangents.
In this particular sketch, Chris Parnell and Molly Shannon play parents awaiting the test results of their baby. The sketch is going along fine until Tim Meadows comes in as Dr. Poop who does "the robot" and things fall apart from there.
Scared Straight
In another great recurring sketch, Kenan Thompson plays a convict who is brought in to teach a few misbehaving teens where their reckless behavior will take them. However, he continually crosses the line and has to be reigned in by Jason Sudeikis' cop.
Thompson has a lot of fun in his role and seems to really enjoy tormenting Bill Hader, who cannot keep a straight face. However, it is at the end of the sketch when Sudeikis makes an odd leap onto a desk that everyone joins in on the laughter.
The Love-ahs
Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch teamed up for this classic pair of recurring characters. The Klavins are an overly amorous middle-aged couple who like to share their passion for romance with anyone unfortunate enough to come across them.
In this version of the sketch, they play matchmaker with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore in a hot tub. Before long, everyone is breaking character and Fallon recently revealed Ferrell was rubbing his leg underneath the water to make him laugh.
Close Encounter
Kate McKinnon is one of the most talented cast members currently on the show and this sketch has already become one of her most iconic. The premise finds a trio of people being interviewed about their encounters with aliens. While the first two describe a beautiful and life-changing event, McKinnon's character describes a much less flattering experience.
As McKinnon's stories get more and more bizarre, the cast starts to crack and soon McKinnon herself is trying to suppress her laughter as she continues. Finally, host Ryan Gosling breaks into a fit of laughter, barely able to deliver his lines.
More Cowbell
One of the greatest hosts in the show's history is Christopher Walken and he had the chance to deliver one of the show's most iconic lines. In this legendary sketch, we see behind-the-scenes of the recording of Blue Oyster Cult's hit song "Don't Fear the Reaper". Walken plays a producer who insists the song needs more cowbell.
Ferrell plays the band member playing the cowbell and his ridiculous dancing is what gets the cast to lose their composure rather quickly. By the time Walken says "I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell," everyone is laughing.
Debbie Downer
Debbie Downer is a recurring character who may never have been so popular if her first sketch hadn't gone so off the rails. Rachel Dratch plays Debbie, who visits Disney World with her family and can't help but ruin everyone's fun with her depressing input.
There is a real domino effect to this sketch that is so fun to see. Dratch starts to lose it, gradually taking everyone down with her. It finally devolves into the cast crying with laughter and hardly able to finish the sketch.