‘Saturday Night Live’: 4 Times Hosts Broke Character and Made Sketches Funnier
Saturday Night Live‘s unpredictability is one of its trademarks. It’s a live show, so anything can happen in the three to five minutes a sketch is aired. But sometimes, even the most well-written and rehearsed elements of the sketch comedy series can go haywire. Here are four times actors totally broke character and made their sketch even funnier than originally intended.
Every ‘Saturday Night Live’ Ryan Gosling ‘Close Encounter’ sketch with Kate McKinnon
This now-classic Saturday Night Live sketch, “Close Encounter,” is a recurring bit about three friends abducted by aliens and questioned by the NSA and SETI. Kate McKinnon, Ryan Gosling, Cecily Strong (the longest-tenured female cast member in the series history), and later Sarah Sherman played the friends. Aidy Bryant, Mikey Day, and Bowen Yang all played NSA officers.
Two friends had peaceful experiences with the aliens, sharing the glow and warmth they felt from the otherworldly creatures. However, the third’s experience was very different.
McKinnon’s straight-faced explanation of what the aliens did to her repeatedly broke Gosling. Strong and Sherman appeared to be able to hold it together when McKinnon’s explanations and examples went awry.
However, McKinnon made Gosling break character every time, particularly when she would demonstrate what the aliens did to her on Gosling’s body, causing him to shake with laughter every time.
‘Jeffrey’s’ with Sean Hayes and Will Ferrell
Typically, Will & Grace star Sean Hayes made viewers laugh with his characterization of Jack McFarland on the hit NBC series. However, he could barely hold it together when starring in the Saturday Night Live sketch “Jeffrey’s” with Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon.
The sketch was based on a very real and famous New York City store catering to those who loved experimental fashion. Former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon and guest star Sean Hayes portrayed black-clad cyber-goth retail associates who insulted their customers’ middlebrow tastes.
However, Hayes couldn’t hold it together when Will Ferrell entered the scene in a motorized scooter and confirmed seats at the Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan on the tiniest flip phone ever. Hayes lost it, causing Fallon to laugh while Ferrell smirked as the bit finished.
Janet Jackson giggled her way through ‘Corksoakers’ on ‘Saturday Night Live’
In this unforgettable sketch, celebrity host Janet Jackson attended an Olive Garden Italian camp to train in the art of cork soaking. The bit was about a family who bottled wine and how they soaked the corks before finishing the bottling process.
The sketch’s laugh-out-loud element was Jackson almost slipping and saying an NSF broadcast television word several times. As each cast member used the term “cork soaking,” they said it slowly so they wouldn’t slip up on live television.
The sketch was written with so many innuendoes it would have been easy to slip into the verboten word, which Jackson almost did several times. She could barely keep it together as the cast kept in character throughout the sketch.
Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig’s hysterics during ‘Super Showcase Supermodels’
Maya Rudolph returned to host Saturday Night Live in 2013, and with Kristen Wiig, she had to hide her giggles during the “Super Showcase Spokesmodels” sketch. This simple parody of a gameshow was so chaotic and off the rails that almost everyone in the bit broke character.
Rudolph and Wiig break immediately as they struggle to speak the tongue-twister lines with accents. Their hysteria rises as they show off each prize, and the gag’s escalation leads them to break fully.
However, in an unexpected and likely unintended twist, Wiig drove a golf cart through the back of the set. This led Bill Hader, the show’s host, to say, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Season 50 of Saturday Night Live airs on Saturday evenings at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
