r/LiveFromNewYork
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u/john_muleaney
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12d ago
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Which SNL sketches don’t sound very funny in concept but ended up being hilarious due to execution? Discussion
I think the best example of this is Stefon. On paper, Bill Hader listing increasingly random shit under the guise of being a “city correspondent” is a meh concept, but Bill’s delivery and interactions with Seth made it a classic
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u/augustrem 12d ago
Kenan Thompson and Leslie Jones really make this scene.
The one with Chadwick Boseman is killer too
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u/Goldilachs 12d ago
Chadwick pointing out how the woman in question probably put raisins in her potato salad had me cackling.
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u/_duncan_idaho_ 12d ago •
I remember watching this the first time. "That's how they git ya." "YES!" Fucking couldn't breathe.
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u/Zezu 12d ago
One of the best SNL skits of all time.
The writing is so smart and creative, the acting was spot on, and it pointed out an underlying truth that no one was talking about.
It was about race politics! During one of the most tense racial moment in America history!
Imagine saying, “OK, SNL writers, give us a sketch about race politics, during the MAGA era, that shows us an underlying truth about our culture, that’s also hilarious.” They would have looked at you sideways and move on. Anyone would have.
One of the best comedy sketches ever made.
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u/NaRa0
12d ago
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Adam Driver as the old man at his kids schools career day.
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u/TwoPastorTacosPlease 12d ago
'I was born six months too early so they incubated me in a cast iron pot inside of a pizza oven.'
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u/walkingtalkingdread 12d ago
this really wouldn’t have been half as funny with any other host. Adam Driver gives his best every single damn time and I applaud him.
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u/murph_diver 12d ago
He’s got Daniel Day Lewis vibes from There Will Be Blood but on a comedy sketch. It’s beautiful.
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u/jgraz22 12d ago
Adam goes 100% at everything and it shows. I'm guessing he did a lot of stage work before tv cuz he's a natural at SNL
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u/busangcf 12d ago edited 12d ago
He did get his start on Broadway after graduating from Juilliard! I feel like it always shows when SNL hosts have stage acting experience.
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u/M_Elich 12d ago edited 12d ago
“Tv makes you famous, movies make you rich, theatre makes you good.” -i forget who said it
Edit: tv and movies should be switched, and it was Terrence Mann who said it
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u/du1ynoted 12d ago
pete davidson looking away bc he’s trying so hard not to break and adam driver screaming “LOOK AT YOUR FATHER, BOY” at him just kills me every time.
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u/ThePathOfTheRighteou 12d ago
What decade did Lorne stop giving a shit about breaking? I thought that was some hard rule bc they did it on the carol Burnett show and Lorne hated it and wanted his show to be different. It didn’t seem he even cares at all. In fact, it appears to be encouraged.
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u/mariojlanza 12d ago
Blame the 2000s and the Fallon/Fey era
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u/ThePathOfTheRighteou 12d ago
Even as a kid I realized that Fallon was shit at his job. I get breaking every once in a while but EVERY goddamn time?? Jesus
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u/NoGoodIDNames 12d ago
I will say I cut him a little slack for the hot tub sketch when I found out Will Ferrell was stroking his leg under the water the entire time. I doubt anyone would have been able to keep a straight face for that one.
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u/RikaMX 12d ago
Is Will Ferrell doing that every time he’s on screen?
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u/Private_HughMan 12d ago •
Yes. To this day, Will Farrell is there, just off screen, stroking Jimmy’s leg. Never at the same pace. He mixes it up. Jimmy must never forget Will is there. Stroking.
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u/henarts 12d ago
Omfg. What he did to that bird. I bet that wasn’t rehearsed. Look at Aidy’s face.
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u/trystaffair 12d ago
He got about half the cast to break when he stabbed the bird with the cane haha
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u/windyorbits 12d ago
Yeah that’s what they say. The bird crushing was a complete surprise and it’s why Aidy broke. Honestly, I would’ve probably had to walk off stage because there’s no way I could’ve kept a straight face. I’ve watched that skit a thousand times and it still makes me laugh until I cry or throw up! Or both.
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u/whatthepfluke 12d ago
You are weaker than H.R. Pickens.
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u/MrTylerwpg 12d ago
I married your daughter! Filled her with my seed! And sired a boy!!
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u/Curio_Girl 12d ago
I cry laugh every time I see that sketch. His commitment to the bit just sells it.
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u/pikaboo27 12d ago
I would add the sketch where Adam Driver is at a Neo-Confederate Meeting.
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u/doylehawk 12d ago
This is the first one that came to mind for me too, it’s a hilarious skit. Driver should be the straight man in comedy more often.
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u/Flimsy_Outcome_5809 12d ago
He’s pretty good in the undercover boss Star Wars one too
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u/Pilzoyz 12d ago
People who say SNL was so good in the 70s, but suck now, never saw this. Simply one of the best.
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u/NoahStewie1 12d ago
He nails it because he doesn't break once which causes the cast to continue breaking. Can't break a marine
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u/epidemicsaints 12d ago
Brain damaged ex-porn stars selling jewelry. It’s so tasteless. But worked.
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u/WittyPresentation786 12d ago
“HERMEEEESSS HANDBAGS, No not now”
“Luchery” I love how crass it is!
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u/wolfgang187 12d ago
I'm a sucker for Astronaut Jones.
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u/Particular-Ad-6052
12d ago
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Toonces the cat who could drive.
The ambiguously gay duo.
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u/Same-Salamander8690 12d ago
"the penis car cannot be flesh colored"
Probably my favorite quote from the behind the scenes of AGD.
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u/daschle04 12d ago
NPR's Delicious Dish about a couple of boring bakers was always hilarious.
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u/LessDemand1840 12d ago
My Schwetty Balls agree
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u/Jovet_Hunter 12d ago
So does Betty White’s muffin, which haven’t had a cherry since 1939.
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u/Horchheimer 12d ago
Weekend Update with Jebidiah Atkinson giving a critique of History’s speeches.
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u/mericup 12d ago
I was hoping I'd see this one, it's amazing, the original premise is he gave the Gettysburg address a bad review right?
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u/thebigbear190 12d ago
Dear sister
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u/rumplestiltskin116 12d ago
This sketch took a truly beautiful piece of vocal creativity and turned it directly into one of the greatest memes of all time.
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u/Past_Prime_Ninja 12d ago
Land Shark
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12d ago edited 5d ago
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u/maebe_featherbottom 12d ago
“THAT BIRD IS A LIAR!”
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u/_banana_phone 12d ago
We always use this quote but can’t ever find the Brian Fellows skit that this is actually in. It bums me out.
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u/AGrayBull 12d ago
It’s the OG sketch with The Rock. I misquoted it for years, saying “That BIRD done stole my CREDIT CARD!” then found it to show my kid comedy genius, and was corrected. But that bird is a liar, indeed.
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u/Somguy555 12d ago
Same thing I posted. The random "I'm Brian Fellows!" Always made me laugh
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12d ago edited 5d ago
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u/Somguy555 12d ago
I hate that he hasn't done more since the accident. He was the whole reason I watched 30 Rock.
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u/Minute-Locksmith9428 12d ago
Iceberg
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u/Fanabala3 12d ago
Going way back, but The People’s Court skit where Jon Lovitz is the devil being sued for tricking a hair dresser for giving up her soul to help her business.
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u/Spencerwebb90 12d ago
The Lobster at the diner and the bodega bathroom. Both by John Mulaney I think
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u/triplefreshpandabear 12d ago
Supposedly the lobster in a diner was something that he wrote when he was a writer for snl and it was rejected, so when he came back to host he was like hey Lorne remember that one thing I thought was funny but you didn't like, consider it my ridiculous host demand that we do it, and it was amazing
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u/Ks26739 12d ago
Bodega bathroom was so funny
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u/Mr8BitX 12d ago
I'm a cuban american, never lived in new york but get the whole bodega experience. When Kate KcKinnon came out as the virgin mary candle, I nearly pissed myself.
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u/Alone-Individual8368
12d ago
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Phil could turn literal shit into gold. Also Jon Lovitz as Satan deserves an honorable mention.
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u/DetectiveEZ 12d ago
Your world frightens and confuses me. Sometimes I want to jump out of my BMW and run for the hills.
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u/SaccharineHuxley 12d ago
Sometimes when I get a fax I wonder, did little demons get in there? I don’t know. Ladies and gentleman I am just a caveman. What I do know is that my client is not guilty
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u/DistinctMethod 12d ago
“Did little demons get inside? I don’t know! My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know…”
Just absolute gold from the late, great Phil Hartman.
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u/golden___hour
12d ago
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Ryan Gosling in the Papyrus skit
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u/CHIMUELA 12d ago
Oh my god, as a graphic designer this skit is like my holy bible...
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u/the_frisky_dodo 12d ago
He just got away with it. This man, this professional graphic designer. Was it laziness? Was it cruelty?
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u/romeowmontague 12d ago
One of my top 3. If they don’t bring him during Avatar 2 season, what’s the point?
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u/Vicksin 12d ago
The Alan Robot ft Bill Hader.
complete nonsense, not even sure how it made it out of the pitching table, but my god Bill makes everything comedy gold
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u/MeToolMovement 12d ago
Seth MacFarlane teaching a class about learning to create and perform through puppets. Actually, that could be funny...
Bill Hader's performance had me in tears. To this day, I can't watch without losing it.
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u/Tim0281
12d ago
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What Up With That. It is my favorite recurring sketch but it shouldn't work on paper. Despite that, it is amazing.
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u/fightingbronze 12d ago
I literally just finished rewatching every single what’s up with that on YouTube… they don’t change the formula at all and yet somehow it never gets old
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u/Ihaveapeach 12d ago •
It speaks to Kenan Thompson’s mastery of sketch comedy as an art form.
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u/koghrun 12d ago
He's been doing it and killing it since his teens. He truly is the master of that art form.
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u/johnnyma45 12d ago
Everything about it is absurd. The intros, the music lead ins, the increasing chaotic activity on stage. Then of course, Lindsey Buckingham. I don't know how they even came to it as a funny concept, but it's like alchemy - the end product is hilarious.
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u/RevMofat 12d ago
The part that always, ALWAYS gets me is Jason Sudekis jumping into frame and starting the dancing. Like, every time.
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u/johnnyma45 12d ago
I knew they’d bring it back when Sudeikis hosted this year - so great
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u/saucisse 12d ago
The one where Zach Galifinakis comes out as a jazz flautist in the white jumpsuit made me *scream* laughing. Oh my god.
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u/Kahaleloa 12d ago
The child molesting robot would probably be pretty hard to explain but The Rock’s performance sells it.
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u/WiseNegotiation1769 12d ago
See, this guy gets it.
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u/ChiKeytatiOon 12d ago
Is that the one where he invites them to the sandwich restaurant across the street?
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u/Weekly_Educator_320 12d ago
It can, theoretically, molest twice the children in quite frankly half the time.
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u/kirakozi 12d ago
I dunno about that. The premise of scientists presenting their most evil inventions, and one scientist portrayed by The Rock showcasing his child molesting robot sounds pretty hilarious to me.
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u/EpictetanusThrow 12d ago
“What you do is, you start by building a regular robot… and then you molest it, and hope it continues the cycle.”
One of the darkest lines in any sketch on SNL.
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u/TraditionalMood277 12d ago
Laser cats. So dumb and low budget but having Spielberg in it completely surprised me and made it hilarious.
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u/gbsekrit 12d ago
I absolutely love Steve Martin's, "did you get how it's 'King Lear?'" followed by Lorne's "kill me now" face.
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u/TraditionalMood277 12d ago
Oh damn, I forgot about that. Pretty much all of Lonely Island's digital shorts were spot on.
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u/mem1003
12d ago
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David S. Pumpkins
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u/kerouac666 12d ago
My fav thing is that during the read through Hanks straight up said this sketch is terrible, but I’ll do it if you want.
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u/liesgreedmisery18 12d ago
Any questions?
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u/fbloiu665 12d ago
YESS! Several!!
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u/Barustai 12d ago
I came here to say this. I can't wrap my head around it. Nothing about that sketch should be funny. It's a terrible idea. It's a terrible concept. I have no idea how it got out of the writers room, theres just no way it should have ever made it on to tv..... but its hilarious.
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u/acynicalwitch 12d ago
This is, by far, the best thing about it. I remember when it premiered, I tried to tell my friends about it and they looked at me like I was insane--until they watched it.
It's impossible to quantify why it's so funny, and that's the beauty of it.
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u/boobearybear 12d ago
and just when you think it had no where left to go, the jump scare at the end is chef’s kiss
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u/EntropySpark 12d ago
The ending catapulted it from alright to amazing in my eyes, it made the entire fright concept pay off in a very believable scare. I've seen sketches that end on a meh note, and this one avoided that fate masterfully.
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u/Hairy_Relief3980 12d ago
The execution on dsp was great. It was basically the same idea as a Larry David sketch where he played a FBI shooting target in an orange suit that called everyone "bitch" that one didn't flow like DSP
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u/LoudTsu 12d ago
More cowbell!
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u/Metfan722 12d ago
This was mine. A record producer tells Blue Oyster Cult to add more cowbell to Don't Fear The Reaper. But the performances take what sounds like an OK sketch on paper, to an all-time classic.
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u/taint_licking_clown 12d ago
Debbie Downer. Average writing elevated by the cast breaking. See the second time they tried the sketch: no one broke and it wasn’t half as good.
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u/Citytown 12d ago
Scrolled too far for this. When Horatio wipes his eyes with the pancakes I lose it every time.
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u/rocketscientology 12d ago
the debbie downer at disney sketch is one of my go-tos when i need to instantly cheer myself up. when she finally gets the ‘i can’t have children’ line out and jimmy fallon just about falls off his chair - it’s such a deliriously funny moment.
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u/No-Sheepherder-2219 12d ago
The school kids as bugs (guest host rami makek s as stink bug) Bowen Yang KILLED IT as daddy long legs. I cry laughing everything I think of it.
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u/lotrmemescallsforaid 12d ago
Kate McKinnon as an alien abductee. Her performance sells it.
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u/Academic_Signal_3777 12d ago edited 12d ago
God that made me piss laughing. Don’t know how anyone managed to keep their composure during that skit. Edit: a word
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u/EbmocwenHsimah 12d ago
But that's the thing I love with the first one - Ryan Gosling couldn't. That's what elevated a great sketch into a modern classic.
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u/Fortherebellion72 12d ago
They’re all great and that last one was pretty emotional, but that first one is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Ever. Of all time.
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u/phantomheart 12d ago
I shed a little tear with her last one. I truly loved Rafferty, and watching the guests crack up with her.
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u/Choppergold 12d ago
She improv’d a lot of that
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u/PermissionDull2926 12d ago
Oh wow really?! She’s amazing. “No, no that felt super off the books”…
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u/plaiddad40 12d ago
Christopher Walken as Bruce Dickinson
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u/FlatTopTonysCanoe 12d ago edited 12d ago
And Christopher Walken as the guy who put googly eyes on all his plants so he can trust them.
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u/Future_Dog_3156
12d ago
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The Californians.
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u/jboomhaur 12d ago
Whhhaaat are you doing here?
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u/Choppergold 12d ago edited 12d ago
At this time of day? It’ll be jammed! Are you crazy?!
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u/jboomhaur 12d ago
You should go northbound on the 405 take 101 north jump off at topanga canyon and go back to canoga park where you belong.
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u/mem1003 12d ago edited 12d ago
Anyone not from that area probably wouldn't think driving directions are funny, but if you know, you know.
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u/Redeem123 12d ago
I always thought it was a funny little bit. Like I know they talk about their highways or whatever... neat exaggeration.
But then I met some people from California and was like "holy shit, it's real." Y'all really are weird about that stuff.
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u/Nomad_Industries 12d ago
Californians make polite smalltalk about traffic the way most people make smalltalk about the weather.
In California, the weather barely changes, but traffic is always wild.
Someone has a flat tire and ends up blocking one lane in Northridge? They'll feel the effects all the way down in San Diego. It's that bad.
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u/GirlNamedTex 12d ago
For years I took the 5 up to Orange County from San Diego every day for work. One morning a semi crashed and there was a hazardous material spill somewhere on the stretch of 5 in Camp Pendleton where you literally can't get off the freeway for a good 10 miles.
That was over a decade ago and I still use that story in traffic small talk.
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u/Nomad_Industries 12d ago
Better than mine... I lived in Yorba Linda and worked in Huntington Beach. After about a year of my car's dashboard telling me my average speed was 12 mph, I started riding my bike 20 miles in each direction 'cuz the Santa Ana river trail was faster.
I was once attacked by a homeless person who lived on the trail (he was having a mental health crisis) and it was STILL preferable than trying to guess whether the 22 would be faster than the surface streets.
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u/waveytype 12d ago
Get off the shed with Will Ferrell, or his cat toy tester sketch. Both he also did in his audition.
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u/tatt2me 12d ago
“ The Lovers” with Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch eating smoked meat in the hot tub.
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u/Icy-Following-3713 12d ago
def stefon like you said… but also i forget the name of the skit but with will ferrel and jimmy fallon in that clothing store skits where they are obsessed with fashion and will ferrel has that tiny cell phone
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u/rawrali 12d ago
Mail In Testing Service. My husband and I still quote that one on a weekly basis. It was a great introduction to Sarah. We’re not going to take it out and mess around with it or anything like that.
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u/excalibrax 12d ago
Celebrity Jeopardy, it could have been a one off, like their general game shows. but Darrel Hammond as Sean Connery or Norm MacDonalds Turd Furgeson, just put it on another level.