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by Julian Spivey 10. Uncle Ben (Nov. 7, 2020) Our social climate has led to some products needing to be altered like Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and Uncle Ben's rice and 'SNL' playfully pokes fun of this during the episode hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle with Kenan Thompson playing Uncle Ben and Maya Rudolph playing Aunt Jemima. Things truly go off the rails when Chappelle portrays Dennis Haysbert, the All State Insurance pitchman, and Pete Davidson portrays Count Chocula. Chappelle, Rudolph and Thompson seem to be having a blast. 9. AMC Movie Theaters (May 22, 2021) It's rare that the final sketch of an episode (the 12:55 p.m. eastern slot) is the best of a show, but that's what happened during the season 46 finale hosted by actress Anya Taylor-Joy. In fact, it was the very last sketch of the season. The sketch is actor Vin Diesel, impersonated brilliantly as a dumb oaf by Beck Bennett, doing a commercial for AMC Theaters returning after closures due to COVID-19 and all the great things we've missed about "the movies" (which be enunciates hilariously), including butter that doesn't look like butter, sticky floors and that one boy that uses the urinal with his pants all the way down. It's hilariously spot on. 8. Cathy Anne on Capitol Insurrection (Jan. 30, 2021) Cecily Strong's recurring Weekend Update guest Cathy Anne has been one of best recurring characters of the last few seasons and her take on the Capitol insurrection in January is easily one of her best. On the surface the character, with her white trash habits, would maybe be the kind of person you'd have expected to attend the insurrection, but her take on the events of that day are refreshing. 7. Tiny Horse (Dec. 12, 2020) Sometimes I just see something so absurd it hits my funny bone perfectly and I'll go into a fit of laughter so hard and uncontrollable that it takes minutes to break out of - this is what happened the first time I saw Tiny Horse from the episode hosted by actor Timothee Chalamet in December. Just the image of Tiny Horse set me into hysterics. The sketch is set like an old timey movie like "Old Yeller" or "Where the Red Fern Grows" and the farm animals must be sold to save the family farm from foreclosure and the son of the family sings a song about losing his best friend, Tiny Horse. Of all the sketches on this list it probably holds up the least upon second viewing, but I'll never forget the first time seeing Tiny Horse. 6. Drivers License (Feb. 20, 2021) Singer Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” absolutely took the world by storm in early 2021 and the idea ‘SNL’ had for a bunch of men’s men shooting pool at a bar to bond over the song about cast members of the Disney+ series “High School Musical” having and ending a relationship is genius. They really get into the odds and ends of the song and identify with it and by the end of the sketch all break into the bridge together. It’s one of those moments of ‘SNL’ really getting into the pop culture of the moment. 5. The Last Dance Extended Sequence (May 15, 2021) While the ESPN Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls documentary “The Last Dance” was a year old at the time of the airing it was a terrific idea for ‘SNL’ to pit host Keegan-Michael Key as the incredibly competitive and egotistical Jordan taking his security guard John, played by the incredibly underrated Heidi Gardner, to task for beating him at a game of quarters against a wall. Jordan goes to non-stop lengths to embarrass the security guard and Gardner’s portrayal as the middle-aged white man is one of the best ‘SNL’ performances of the season. 4. Hot Ones with Beyonce (March 27, 2021) Maya Rudolph is an American treasure and the idea of her playing Beyonce going on the Hot Ones YouTube show where host Sean Evans (played in the sketch by the underrated Mikey Day) interviews celebrities as they try out incredibly spicy hot wing sauces is genius. Rudolph has this great ability to take a one joke sketch and wring every ounce of laughter out of it – often just by extending syllables and verbalizing non-words and this is her at her absolute best. 3. Murder Show (Feb. 27, 2021) A few times a year ‘SNL’ comes up with an original song that truly knocks it out of the park and the ladies of the cast singing about loving “murder shows” was that moment. Many of my female co-workers love watching documentaries or listening to podcasts about serial killers, which made me realize how accurate this sketch truly was. Host Nick Jonas even gets in on the act to sing about loving “cult shows,” which also has this wildly big following on streaming. 2. The Muppet Show (May 15, 2021) The idea of bouncers taking issue with Statler and Waldorf, the heckling critics on The Muppet Show, was ripe for the picking and Keegan-Michael Key (who was past due to host ‘SNL’) and Kenan Thompson are the perfect sketch comedians for the task. Just the image of Key laying a smackdown on Statler, when he refuses to stop heckling, was enough to send me into hysterics and the image of the Muppet with black eyes was enough to nearly break Thompson, which is rare to see from the veteran sketch comedian. Thompson’s “we didn’t know that y’all was veterans” is also one of the best lines of the season of any sketch. I also love that Key’s character refers to Kermit the Frog as “Kramer.” 1. Dave Chappelle's Monologue (Nov. 7, 2020) The monologue is a tradition that dates all the way back to the first episode of 'SNL' in 1975, but more often than not it's kind of a waste of time. However, when a stand-up comedian hosts the show it's often one of the night's highlights. Comedians Chris Rock, Bill Burr and John Mulaney all had funny monologues this season, but the best was without a doubt Dave Chappelle's, which came the evening after the Presidential election results were finally official and hit on some hard-biting and timely topics like the election and COVID-19. The monologue, which at over 16 minutes might be the longest in the show's history, showed why Chappelle is an all-time comedy great, even though some aspects of it were deemed controversial by some viewers. How about we just let comedians be comedians and not P.C. police comedy?
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