‘Saturday Night Live’: The Top 20 Sketches of Season 44

Episode: Emma Stone/BTS (4/13/19)
Type: Weekend Updated Desk bit
Description: Now in her seventh year, the ’18-’19 season was probably Aidy Bryant’s best. Bryant’s time has been lopsided in the impression category when compared to original characters over the years. In fact, her most frequently seen original is Morgan, the second half of “Girlfriends Talk Show”, which hasn’t been seen since 2015. This made her debut of Carrie Krum, 7th Grade Travel Correspondent, all the more special. Included on this list is Krum’s second appearance which built and improved on the December debut.

Episode: Claire Foy/Anderson.Paak (12/1/18)
Type:Sketch
Description: In the week leading up to her hosting debut, Claire Foy told Jimmy Fallon she felt like “a complete imposter” at SNL. After the episode aired, I have to disagree. She was great in “Good Morning Goomah” paired with Kate McKinnon, but the highlight was “HSN’s Teeny Adorables.” Not everyone can hold their own as a straight voice in the middle of a complete Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong showcase. Bravo Foy.

Episode: Awkwafina/Travis Scott (10/6/18)
Type: Commercial Parody
Description: Now in its third season covering President Trump, most of SNL‘s political comedy remains unbalanced, predictable and boring. At only eight appearances, this year also marked the continued decrease in Alec Baldwin’s Trump impression (Baldwin played Trump 21 times in Season 42, and 11 in Season 43). That said, this early season Cricket Mobile parody was an example of how SNL does occasionally get it right. Airing days after the WEA’s National Wireless Emergency Alert System Test took the public by surprise, this spot did a hilarious job speculating probable ways President Trump could abuse the service moving forward.

Episode: Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne (11/10/18)
Type: Filmed Segment
Description: One couple. A $400,000 moving budget. And the need for a man cave. The common real-world jab at House Hunters tends to be the sky high budgets these couples work with, and I initially thought that was the direction the sketch would take. Instead, beginning around the 25-second mark, things got outrageously random and never looked back. Drawings of windows! Salad dressing neighbors! Vertical floors!

Episode: Awkwafina/Travis Scott (10/6/18)
Type: Filmed Segment
Description: Prior to Nora “Awkwafina” Lun’s episode in October, the only other Asian-American woman host was Lucy Liu in 2000. Awkwafina’s monologue touched on this in a genuinely heartfelt way, then she went on to deliver one of the strongest episodes of the season. If this was a Top 30 list, sketches like “Late Night Battle” and “Cleopatra” could easily be included here, but my favorite from her night was “The Pumpkin Patch.” This American Pie meets the Halloween/Fall season short is a wonderful four minutes in a year where the usually reliable pre-filmed segments struggled a bit. (Looking at you “Trees” and “Holes”.)

Episode: Kit Harrington/ Sara Bareilles (4/6/19)
Type: Weekend Update Desk bit
Description Like Aidy Bryant, newly promoted Alex Moffat tends to be more of an impressions stronghold. In terms of original characters, his Guy Who Just Bought a Boat was well received following the 2017 debut, yet after several more appearances, most of us are over him. Enter Terry Frink – the LSD macro-dosing movie critic. Moffat’s initial outing as Frink was beautiful. Pointed drug humor, an absurd point of view on the state of film in 2019, and the instant classic line, “Oh Colin. You still believe in time?” Let’s pray Moffat exercises restraint with the character and doesn’t run him into the ground.

Episode: Emma Stone/BTS (4/13/19)
Type: Sketch
Description: Ever since her first time hosting in 2010, Emma Stone episodes have always included an inventive song and dance sketch. “Les Jeunes De Paris” in 2010, “Sad Office” in 2011, and “Christmas Candle” in 2016 are just a few examples. For Season 44, we’re given a look into what happens when the fitting room at Limited Express is mistaken for the ladies room at Club Vortex. Hint: “There is so much mess”.

Episode: Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers (11/3/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: You can always count on the newly appointed Five Timer Jonah Hill to deliver an above average SNL. His Adam Grossman character, which Vulture had a nice in-depth piece on last October, never disappoints – but Kate McKinnon was the story of Hill’s 2018 episode. Penned by new writer Alison Gates, who reportedly performed the sketch as part of an iO Showcase prior to the season, McKinnon delivered a classic which now sits alongside Colleen Rafferty, Shelia Sovage and Barbara DeDrew as her best character work.

Episode: Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes (5/4/19)
Type: Weekend Update Desk bit
Description: The 2015 cameo during the 40th Anniversary Special notwithstanding, this was the first proper Opera Man since 1995. Having Adam Sandler return as host was a treat, and of all his recurring characters, bringing back the one who leans on current events felt the most natural. Only Opera Man reports the hard news like the relationship between Wendy’s and Attorney General William Barr.

Episode: John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3/2/19)
Type: Weekend Update Desk bit
Description: When Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant team up, you are going to laugh. Just look at the 2014 and 2016 “Dyke & Fats” shorts, or last season’s “The Dolphin Who Learned to Speak”. This episode introduced us to cousins Vaneta and Wylene Starkie, a pair of “meat farmers” who only serve “nothing personality farm junk” animals. I really hope this is just a one-off so at some point in the future, people can point back to how odd things could be on 2019’s SNL.

Episode: John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3/2/19)
Type: Sketch
Description: John Mulaney’s second time hosting was certainly fun, just not as out-of-this-world great as his stint last season. “Bodega Bathroom” didn’t work as well as “Diner Lobster”, and even the return of “What’s That Name?” after an eight year break wasn’t as funny as Mulaney’s “Horns” or “Drag Brunch.” “Cha-Cha Slide,” on the other hand, was a gem of dry humor. Head over to Forces of Geek for a breakdown on the 10 reasons why.

Episode: James McAvoy/Meek Mills (1/26/19)
Type: Sketch
Description: 14 years after 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, James McAvoy reprises his Mr. Tumnus role in an interesting way: a sex symbol for a very “specific type of woman”. McKinnon and Bryant are teamed up again in this, alongside Cecily Strong who gets the sketch started by going through the magical wardrobe which now resides in an Airbnb. Perfect.

Episode: Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons (12/8/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: Every season has a few horrible one-joke sketches which should not work but improbably do. For ’18-’19, that title goes to “Day of the Dorks.” “Dorks” is nothing more than a fairly straight parody of 1984’s Revenge of the Nerds, but host Jason Momoa’s complete commitment to his character “Beef” really elevates it. “I. HATE. DORKS.”

Episode: Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet (1/19/19)
Type: Weekend Update Desk bit
Description: My favorite John Mulaney moment this year wasn’t from the episode he hosted. It instead came courtesy of his January Weekend Update cameo with Pete Davidson – the same month the pair launched their brief “Sundays with Pete & John” tour. The Update bit is simple: they review Clint Eastwood’s The Mule in a way where you can tell one probably bet the other they could get five minutes of material out of a simple trip to the movies. It is still crazy to me this duo even works. As Mulaney puts it “when we walk around, it looks like an NBA coach and a troubled rookie.”

Episode: Seth Meyers/Paul Simon (10/13/18)
Type: Weekend Update Desk bit
Description: Heidi Gardner, who remains the standout of last season’s new hires, added two new Weekend Update characters this year. One was half of the Instagram couple behind the “Once Upon a Snuggle” account, the other is Baskin Johns – a nervous, entry level Goop staffer. Neither is a strong as last year’s Angel or Bailey Gismert characters, but Baskin is still very much worth a look.

Episode: Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus (12/15/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: Prior to this episode, Matt Damon had not hosted since 2002. He pointed this out during his monologue, and to give it further context, that episode also served as the first for both Will Forte and Fred Armisen. So yeah. It had been awhile. Everyone was pitch perfect in this dog show parody – especially Aidy, Moffat and Kenan. “Tweedy Daddy here. Tweedy Daddy up on here.”

Episode: Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus (12/15/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: “Weezer Dinner” is just last season’s wonderful “Shrek Dinner” with a new coat of paint – and what a coat of paint it is. The sketch of course caught the attention of the band, who used a line from it as the pull quote on their latest album. Scott Shriner forever.

Episode: Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes (5/4/19)
Type: Commercial Parody
Description: From the moment spaghetti was mentioned as a highlight of Italy, this felt like peak 1990s SNL Adam Sandler. Similar to this season’s “House Hunters” sketch, the strength of “Romano Tours” came from focusing on a direction you didn’t expect – if you are unhappy at home, you will be unhappy where ever you travel to. It also confirmed swimsuits won’t look any better on you just because you’re on vacation.

Episode: Steve Carell/Ella Mai (11/17/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: Just like Matt Damon, Steve Carell also went a surprisingly long time between hosting gigs. The wait was worth it. Returning as host for the first time since 2008, Carell and Heidi Gardner were brilliant as a mismatched older couple looking to start life over on the road. And what a time for Lady Gray to get pregnant!

Episode: Adam Driver/Kanye West (9/29/18)
Type: Sketch
Description: In a very rare occurrence, the season’s best sketch arrived in the season premiere. On the surface, Adam Driver’s 2nd time hosting was strange since he only appeared in four sketches. Luckily, Driver, with the help of first year writer Eli Coyote Mandel, found a way to break through with the marvelous Abraham H. Parnassus character. The AV Club said it best: “Driver’s got presence, and an intensity that threatens to turn a comic premise into a showcase.” Who is H.R. Pickens? Exactly!

Jason Nummer is old enough to remember when America freaked out for two weeks when Kanye West wore a MAGA hat on SNL in September. You can follow him on Twitter at @jrnummer.