Every Saturday Night Live fan has a favorite sketch, even the SNL cast members themselves. Ahead of the last episode of the year, which aired on Dec. 17 and was hosted by Elvis star Austin Butler — and which also served as Cecily Strong’s final episode after her 10-season run on the NBC sketch comedy series — The Hollywood Reporter asked members of the cast which sketch inspired each of them to one day dream of making audiences laugh in Studio 8H on Saturday nights.
Bowen Yang
“It was a ‘Gemini’s Twin’ sketch with Charlize Theron. I couldn’t believe that they made the set actually look like TRL, and the music video looked like a real Destiny’s Child production. It was comedy, pop culture, characters and music all rolled into one.”
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Kenan Thompson
“‘James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party,’ with Eddie Murphy.”
Heidi Gardner
“Eddie Murphy’s James Brown ‘gonna get in the hot tub’ sketch. My mom and dad saw it and had to show me and my brother. I love thinking about us in my childhood living room, laughing as a family. One time my brother did get in one when it ‘was too hot in the hot tub’ and jumped out just like Eddie did!”
Cecily Strong
“I’m not sure if there was one sketch I saw that pushed me into thinking, ‘Now I want to be on the show,’ because I wanted to be on the show the minute I knew there was a show — which must have been pretty young, because I know I was 5 or 6 when I was tricking my babysitter into thinking my parents absolutely let me stay up late on Saturday nights to catch it. I definitely re-created ‘Bill Swerski’s Superfans’ sketches for talent shows. I was probably imitating Mike Myers characters and sketches pretty often. I’m sure I had a bad impression of every single SNL character at some point in my life.”
Chloe Fineman
“I distinctly remember being obsessed with ‘Dog Show’ with Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell. It’s just a perfectly bizarre and hilarious sketch. And I always howl when I watch it — like a human, not a dog.”
Mikey Day
“ ’Massive Headwound Harry’ with Dana Carvey in the titular role. So dumb and so, so wonderful.”
Ego Nwodim
“ ’Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood.’ It was the perfectly edgy yet silly nod to such an endearing show. I was mesmerized with Eddie Murphy’s ability to say such shocking things while keeping a charming smile on his face! Like, ‘Should I be laughing at this?!’ But I always was.”
Andrew Dismukes
“The sketch that made me want to be on SNL was Will Forte’s ‘Spelling Bee’ sketch. Forte is an all-time favorite of mine, and this sketch was so odd and perfect and exactly the type of thing I was into.”
Punkie Johnson
” ‘More Cowbell,’ because I love being dumb and doing dumb things, and it was the funniest, dumbest thing I’d ever seen. I love when they break character … and that means people are having a GREAT TIME!”
This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
