4 Hilarious ‘SNL’ Sketches That Were Derailed by People Breaking Character
· Vice
When you’re performing sketch comedy in front of a live audience, laughter is pretty much an inevitability; it’s just usually expected to be coming from the people watching the show and not the actors on the stage. At the same time, it seems downright impossible for a series like Saturday Night Live to have been on the air for as long as it has (over 50 years) without anyone breaking character along the way. Hell, some cast members have even earned themselves reputations for not being able to keep it together over the years. But then you have those rare instances where the laughter coming from the performers is so intrusive that it’s a wonder they managed to finish the sketch at all. Here are some well-known examples:
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4. “BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD”
In this viral 2024 sketch, Heidi Gardner plays Bobbi Moore, the host of NewsNation, who attempts to interview Professor Norman Hemming (Kenan Thompson) about the dangers of AI. Before the professor can answer the first question, he spots a man, played by Ryan Gosling, who’s dressed up like Beavis from the hit animated series Beavis and Butt-Head. Gardner turns toward Gosling to ask him to switch seats, but has a hard time maintaining her composure once she gets a look at him. Things briefly get back on track until Mikey Day shows up looking like Butt-Head and sits in Gosling’s seat. This once again causes Gardner to laugh, and she struggles to get through her dialogue from there. By the end of the sketch, Gosling and Day are sitting next to each other, and neither they nor Chloe Fineman, who is seated just behind the pair, can hold back their laughter at that point.
3. “MATT FOLEY: VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER”
Chris Farley’s first appearance as Matt Foley in 1993 is one of the most memorable performances in SNL history. In the inaugural sketch, Foley is hired by Phil Hartman and Julia Sweeney to give a motivational speech to their son and daughter (played by David Spade and Christina Applegate), whom they suspect have been smoking weed. Hopped up on caffeine, Foley proceeds to scream at the two of them about their futures and the likelihood that they’ll end up “living in a van down by the river.” Within seconds of Farley taking the stage, Spade is already fighting the urge to laugh, and before long, Applegate can be seen covering her face. This continues for the rest of the sketch, and Spade eventually is forced to hide his face with his hand a couple of times as well. Even Farley himself couldn’t help but crack a smile after faceplanting through the family’s coffee table toward the end.
2. “NEW WIFE”
Larry David last hosted SNL on November 4, 2017. That night, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star had a little trouble getting through the final minute of one of his sketches. In a parody of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, David, as an elderly lawyer named Vincent, introduces his “gay famous” wife (played by Cecily Strong) to his friends. Vincent has learned a lot of hip, new lingo from his young bride, which he tries to impress his buddies with. David gets to about three minutes and 50 seconds in with the goofy dialogue before he finally breaks, and the laughter never lets up. For the next minute, David giggles his way through the rest of his lines, and his co-stars are barely able to hold it in themselves.
1. “DEBBIE DOWNER AT A BIRTHDAY PARTY”
Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer character has made people break since she debuted in 2004. In a sketch from that October, from the moment Dratch opens her mouth, guest star Ben Affleck fails miserably at keeping a straight face. Things get progressively worse as she continually chimes in with her depressing comments about hurricanes and film critic Gene Siskel’s death. Affleck can be spotted spitting out the cake he’s eating and damn near choking on it as the sketch goes on. But in fairness, he’s in good company, because not one of the people on the stage during those five minutes can truthfully claim to have not laughed a little bit.
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