A show that's produced in front of a live audience is likely to have its share of setbacks, and Saturday Night Live is no exception. After a week of rehearsals, table reads, and just about anything you can think of, the execution of the script and ideas can still yield any given number of possible results. People can either love a good episode or they can downright hate it and even plead for its removal. The show has never been free of controversies.
Saturday Night Live
Comedy
- Release Date
- October 11, 1975
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 49
- Studio
- NBC
- Creator
- Lorne Michaels
But what made people laugh in the past isn't necessarily always considered funny in the present day. Humor evolves, and no amount of trigger warnings can change what was shown on SNL in seasons past. As you will see in the following list, sometimes the show simply went too far. Not even because of controversial hosts, just incredibly strange writing decisions.
These SNL sketches may have seemed like a good idea to someone at the time, but they undeniably have not aged well into the current cultural climate.
10 Japanese Game Show
Season 20, Episode 8
In episode 8 of the 20th season, hosted by Alec Baldwin, there was a skit in which audiences saw a Japanese game show taking place. In the show, we see an American completely out of place participating in the game show, and he has no clue how he ended up there.
Played by Chris Farley, Larry Templeton from Milwaukee simply doesn't speak Japanese. The comedic element is based on the man trying to understand the game, answering with whatever mumbling he can, and being subjected to punishment because he didn't give the right answers.
For a show that broke every rule in the book, violence wasn't exactly taboo. In the game show, those who don't get the right answers have their fingers cut, and Templeton is eventually subjected to physical torture on a medieval device. However, the controversy surrounding this episode has to do with the fact that American actors play Asian people with every single stereotype you can think of. It's very unlikely that this would happen today with the current generation of SNL.
9 Dr. Henderson and the Babysitter
Season 20, Episode 18
Dr. Henderson and the Babysitter took things way too far. Even by the comedic standards of the day, this one presented an incredibly uncomfortable scenario. In the case of Canteen Boy further down, the show has at least spoken out about it since. But when it comes to this sketch where an older man seduced a teenage girl using alcohol, silence.
Featuring Chris Elliot, a comedian may have forgotten was part of the cast, the sketch shows a man driving his kid's babysitter home. He's obviously aroused by her presence, and offers her alcohol, something she's excited about. Needless to say, it didn't spark many laughs in the room. The idea of pedophilia and sexual assault has always been a tough sell for a laugh, and this sketch proves it.
8 Airport Security Check
Season 17, Episode 17
When Sharon Stone was enjoying the success of Basic Instinct, she hosted SNL. The actor, considered a sex symbol after her performance in the steamy thriller, had to deal with just about every bit of scrutiny in the industry. The situation she was forced into in order to create the famous leg-crossing scene, but what she had to do on Saturday Night Live was another step too far.
To start, Dana Carvey plays an Indian man and tastelessly makes fun of stereotypes. Things get more disturbing when Stone, a passenger going through an airport security check, is forced to take off her clothes after the metal detector keeps ringing.
It's the kind of thing that only made a couple of people laugh back in the day, and it remained an obscure and awkward event until Carvey apologized for such an insensitive performance. It was anything but funny, which the audience's reaction reflects.
Related: 10 Funniest SNL Moments Where the Actors Broke Character, Ranked
7 Jimmy Fallon Impersonates Chris Rock
Season 25, Episode 14
Jimmy Fallon is one of SNL's most important performers and comedians. In the 1990s, Fallon was given the chance to be in the cast, and from that moment on, he became an important piece of pop culture, regardless of what haters and detractors say. Known for his capacity to imitate others, Fallon was featured in many skits, but in episode 14 of the 25th season, he did something that would upset the public 20 years later.
We are addressing the blackface episode in which Fallon imitates Chris Rock. This is a good example of how social media can quickly retroactively punish comedians because of a lousy decision. Fallon had to go and issue a public apology, saying he was sorry about the incident. But let's face it: it's kind of hollow without any word from the writers. In any case, this didn't age well.
6 It's Pat
Multiple Episodes
When "It's Pat" started in 1990, it was impossible to figure out who SNL was making fun of, since Pat O'Neill Riley was so androgynous that no one knew how to treat them. This, of course, meant that laughs were extracted from awkward situations in which characters tried to guess what sex Pat was, and just as the audience was about find out, something would interrupt.
It's pretty obvious why "It's Pat" would be considered offensive to non-binary and transgender people, but what's important to note is that, none of the latent hom*ophobia and transphobia in the sketches seem to bother or even register with Pat themself. They were perfectly happy to live their life as they were.
When Pat was portrayed in the film It's Pat, the results weren't great either. The film was one of the least successful films in the SNL universe, and there are tons of those. Fun fact: the hit song by Ugly Kid Joe, "Everything About You," features Pat in its intro.
5 Chippendales Audition
Season 16, Episode 4
Starring the impressive Chris Farley, who sadly left us too soon, the Chippendales Audition sketch was featured in an episode hosted by Patrick Swayze. In the skit, Swayze and Farley are both auditioning for a gig at the exotic dancing club, Chippendales.
The problem is that, while Swayze was a fit man who blew up theaters with the dancing skills shown in Dirty Dancing, Farley was "the fat dude everyone made fun of." In the sketch, Farley is shown dancing the best he can and looking kind of scared.
It was obvious people would laugh at this, but it was mostly because Farley was extremely funny in everything he did. However, it's understandable how a sketch of this nature would be considered a form of body-shaming for obese people.
Farley went through a lot during his short life, but physical comedy seemed to be one thing he was always comfortable with. The Chippendales Audition sketch will likely never be repeated, not necessarily because of how offensive it may be, but because Farley was the only comedian able to pull it off.
4 Wayne's World
Season 18, Episode 8
Wayne's World, the sketch that would end up spawning a film franchise, featured Mike Myers and Dana Carvey playing Wayne and Garth respectively. The two grown men hosted a public-access television show in Aurora, Illinois, where they just indulged in being horny, playing rock music, and being a couple of doofuses making lists. The problem is that one time they went too far when adding Chelsea Clinton, president Bill's daughter, to the board.
In the skit, Wayne and Garth are listing "Top Ten Things We Love About Bill Clinton." The full skit has been cut in subsequent broadcasts, but in the original airing Wayne and Garth went back and forth making remarks about the then 12-year-old daughter of Hilary and Bill: "adolescence has been thus far unkind," and "under the right clinical conditions, she could turn into a babe-in-waiting." Because of this bold script, Myers and Michaels had to issue an apology.
3 Word Association
Season 1, Episode 7
When Lorne Michaels decided Richard Pryor, one of the most effective yet controversial comedians of the 1970s, was to host SNL, NBC wasn't exactly on board. Even though the show was in a time slot audiences in the '70s rarely tuned into, the network still had to keep certain standards in mind, and Pryor's presence came with the promise that the crew could have a 5-second delay in case Pryor spewed out any of the profanity he often based his live shows on.
Chevy Chase was keen on doing a sketch with Pryor, but Pryor didn't like Chase, so writer Paul Mooney had the idea of drawing out a sketch where an interaction between the two comedians could be on full display.
The result was the job interview sketch in which Chase interviews Pryor for a janitor gig, and he throws out words so that Pryor can do word association. The "problem" with the sketch is that the N-word is spoken out loud, and the violent response by Pryor's character is anything but restrained.
Per Mooney's own words: "The N-word as a weapon, turned back against those who use it, has been born on national TV." It was a funny moment, but not one that's likely to be repeated any time soon.
2 Commie Hunting Season
Season 6, Episode 2
Episode 2 of the 6th season was hosted by Malcolm McDowell. It is famously considered one of the worst episodes of the entire series. And it's not a coincidence that the worst sketch of the episode is controversial, unnecessary, and simply boring. It may be one of the reasons why Lorne Michaels never talks about this season or this lineup.
Featuring Joe Piscopo, a cast member who would never see his career take off, the sketch shows a bunch of rednecks gathering to go hunt "commies," or communists. The problem isn't that. It's the racial slurs spoken out loud several times during the sketch (this includes the N-word). It's awkward, to say the least, and one of the few sketches in which it's almost impossible to hear a single laugh or snicker. The show's writers would never attempt anything of this nature again.
Related: 10 All-Time Best SNL Movie and TV Show Parodies, Ranked
1 Canteen Boy
Multiple Episodes
Canteen Boy was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live, in which Adam Sandler played the titular character. Canteen Boy is too naive and is always suffering at the hands of his partners, the other boy scouts.
But in episode 13 of the 19th season, things changed. Alec Baldwin was hosting with his wife, Kim Basinger. In the Canteen Boy sketch, Baldwin played a scoutmaster who stays alone with Canteen Boy during a campfire. The problem is that the guide starts caressing and trying to get intimate with Canteen Boy.
The "boy" (who was actually revealed to be a grown man in some disclaimers that arose after the controversy) rejects the passes, but things get very awkward very quickly. The morning comes, and it's revealed that nothing happened between the two, but the harm was already been done, as people contacted SNL and accused the network of attempting to make pedophilia funny.
It was so controversial that months after Baldwin was set to host again, he had to use the SNL platform to address the "incident." Today, the sketch is incredibly difficult to find online.
