These "Saturday Night Live" finales left their mark on the comedy world! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most memorable moments that aired during an “SNL” season finale.
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00:00 "Stephon!"
00:02 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most memorable moments that aired during an SNL season finale.
00:10 "And he has his hand caught in a pickle jar."
00:12 Number 10, Mean Girls Musical. Tina Fey joined the exclusive Six Timers Club in 2018,
00:22 revisiting her old SNL stomping grounds for the season 43 finale.
00:26 "And I got here on Monday and people in the crew came up to me in the studio and said 'welcome home' and it just made me feel so bad that I didn't remember their names."
00:34 As Fey returned to Studio 8H, the Mean Girls Musical played just a few blocks away at the August Wilson Theatre.
00:40 Fey wrote the Tony-nominated musical's book, but she's no longer content with being a writer.
00:46 "Guys, I am so excited for all of us and my friends Aidy and Cecily are here today to support me because this was basically their idea."
00:53 "Oh no." "I was told it was a baby shower."
00:55 She seeks to fulfill her Broadway dreams, and an appearance as Miss Norbury won't do.
01:00 In addition to SNL cast members, the sketch includes cameos from the musical's alumni,
01:05 including director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw and composer Jeff Richmond, the latter of whom is married to Fey.
01:12 "I don't think anyone really expected Tina to be in the show. She's not really loud enough and she has a really small head."
01:18 That doesn't mean he'll go easy on the negative feedback. Neither will Lorne Michaels.
01:24 Tina can do a lot, but she's not Lin-Manuel Miranda.
01:27 "Maybe it's okay if I can't be like Lin-Manuel and jam myself into my show whether people like it or not."
01:33 "Okay, you know what? She just made the book.
01:36 Let me tell you about this tiny-headed b**** named Tina."
01:42 This season 14 sketch has more than a few unexpected twists, including one off a cliff.
01:52 We're getting ahead of ourselves, however.
01:54 "Honey, you won't believe it! Toontses can drive a car!"
01:57 "Toontses are cats?"
01:59 "Yeah, come on, I'll show you!"
02:01 Host Steve Martin and cast member Victoria Jackson play the owners of a seemingly ordinary cat named Toontses.
02:07 Martin is eager to show Jackson a trick Toontses has picked up, behind the wheel.
02:12 [Screaming]
02:14 [Explosion]
02:22 It's like something out of a corny sitcom that gets cancelled after one season.
02:26 But this premise literally goes off the rails.
02:29 Just because Toontses can drive doesn't mean he's a good driver.
02:33 "Hey look, he's driving away!"
02:35 "I guess he can drive."
02:38 "Yeah, just not very well."
02:41 Surviving the stock footage, the couple is confident that Toontses simply needs a little practice.
02:46 Although some more cars might get destroyed along the way.
02:49 Good thing Toontses has nine lives, even if Kevin Nealon doesn't.
02:54 "Look out!"
02:55 [Screaming]
03:04 Number 8. Kissing Family.
03:06 Brecken brings his boyfriend home.
03:08 The season 39 finale was something of a family reunion.
03:12 Not only did Andy Samberg come back to host,
03:15 but he brought along fellow former cast members Kristen Wiig,
03:18 Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph as well.
03:21 With Paul Rudd also dropping in, a return to the Vogelcheck household was inevitable.
03:26 "My little boy is a man. We were so worried about you because of the weather and stuff,
03:30 about your plane. But it came in and you're here. Mwah!"
03:34 Samberg plays brother Brecken, who introduces boyfriend Matt,
03:38 played by Taron Killam, to the family.
03:40 Like every other unsuspecting guest, Matt finds that the Vogelchecks are incredibly,
03:45 um, up front about displaying affection, including Kate McKinnon's great-grandma.
03:50 "It is so good to see you all."
03:52 That's not to say the Vogelchecks are always open-minded,
04:00 but they'll always have open mouths.
04:03 "St. Louis Rams select Michael Sam. We now take you live to his agent's house
04:07 where he's celebrating with his boyfriend."
04:08 "Wow, is he kissing his boyfriend? Seems like a lot for TV."
04:14 It's been nearly 10 years since we last saw the Vogelchecks,
04:18 making this sketch feel like a long kiss goodbye.
04:21 "That's what I call a touchdown."
04:22 Number 7. Final Encounter Cold Open
04:26 That title is kinda dated since it wouldn't be the final close encounter.
04:31 Yet it was Kate McKinnon's last episode as a repertory player.
04:35 "Yeah, I wasn't so much gently lifted as I was
04:38 yanked skyward by some kind of claw machine device."
04:44 The season 47 finale kicked off with a goodbye to McKinnon and one of her most beloved characters,
04:49 Colleen Rafferty. She's joined by Cecily Strong and host Natasha Lyonne,
04:53 who have also experienced a close encounter.
04:56 Once again, their recollections of the encounter are not quite as graphic as Miss Rafferty's.
05:01 "I got more hair poking out the sides than a hipster's beard stuffed into an N95."
05:07 It isn't long until Rafferty gets a little handsy with her descriptions,
05:12 although Lyonne commendably keeps a straight face, unlike some other hosts.
05:17 While Ryan Gosling's giggling is sorely missed, we can't think of a better way to
05:21 bid McKinnon farewell than with Rafferty tearfully stepping aboard the alien spaceship.
05:26 "Will, Earth, I love you. Thanks for letting me stay a while.
05:35 Live from New York, it's Saturday night."
05:42 Number 6. Lord and Lady Douchebag
05:45 At the end of season 5, several cast members exited SNL.
05:50 So did Lorne Michaels, albeit only temporarily in his case.
05:54 "What a marvelous entertainment, Salisbury. And these chopped steaks are delicious,
05:58 especially with this exquisite mushroom sauce."
06:01 "Well, thank you. Coming from you, Westershire, that certainly is a compliment."
06:04 It was nonetheless the end of a golden age, tapping things off with a classic
06:09 sketch that essentially told the censors, "We've got nothing left to lose."
06:13 It's a classy affair, complete with period outfits,
06:16 powdered wigs, and a guest list of people with peculiar names.
06:21 No name ignites a bigger laugh than one belonging to a certain lord and lady.
06:25 "Lord and Lady Douchebag."
06:29 Host Buck Henry and Gilda Radner play the aristocratic couple,
06:32 who have a new invention in the pipeline.
06:35 "Tell me, what in heaven's name are you working on?"
06:37 "Well, I'd be happy to tell you, but perhaps after you've finished eating."
06:40 Wanna guess what it's called?
06:42 In 1980, saying this word once on television would have been edgy.
06:46 Saying it 12 times was nothing short of groundbreaking.
06:50 "Tell me, did Lady Douchebag help you in the project?"
06:53 "Hell, why, she was the inspiration."
06:56 Will Ferrell departed from SNL after season 27,
07:05 breaking out the real Alex Trebek for what then seemed like the final Jeopardy!
07:10 Thankfully, it wasn't the last we saw of Ferrell or this fan-favorite sketch.
07:14 "I'd like to once again remind our contestants that there are proper
07:17 bathroom facilities located in the studio."
07:20 When Ferrell hosted the season 34 finale,
07:24 Celebrity Jeopardy! made another comeback, with Kristen Wiig as Kathy Lee Gifford
07:28 and Tom Hanks as a version of himself that makes Forrest Gump look like Robert Langdon.
07:33 "Well, you've, uh, you've managed to cast away quite a number of points."
07:37 "I'm sorry, what's that?"
07:41 Naturally, the scene-stealers are Daryl Hammond as the perpetually obscene Sean Connery
07:46 and Norm MacDonald in a surprise cameo.
07:49 So surprising that even Ferrell's Trebek doesn't know where Burt Reynolds came from.
07:53 "Burt Reynolds, where did you come from?"
07:55 "I've been here the whole time."
07:56 "No, you haven't."
08:00 "Sure I have, from before."
08:01 While Celebrity Jeopardy! rarely disappoints,
08:03 this incarnation contains some of the funniest performances and jokes,
08:07 with Connery again getting the last laugh.
08:10 "If I'm looking at that correctly, that is you, I take it, defecating on my grave."
08:15 "It was right after I had sex with your mother, Trebek."
08:18 Bill Hader introduced Stefan in a season 34 episode hosted by Ben Affleck.
08:27 "Stefan, coffee, can I get you coffee?"
08:28 "No, I've been awake for like three days."
08:30 Ironically, SNL gave Stefan a proper send-off in another episode hosted by Affleck.
08:36 This also happened to be the season 38 finale,
08:39 and Hader's swan song as a repertory player.
08:41 "This place has everything, hopscotch, double dutch,
08:44 oogie loves, sling and mesh bladder implants."
08:48 After years of will-they-or-won't-they tension,
08:51 Stefan and Seth Meyers finally profess their true feelings.
08:55 But first, Meyers must race to the church where Stefan is already prepared
08:59 to marry Anderson Cooper.
09:01 One side of the church is more eccentric than the other,
09:04 and matters only get stranger when Meyers punches out Cooper,
09:08 running off with Stefan.
09:10 "Follow your heart, bro! Follow your heart!"
09:13 It may borrow from The Graduate, but unlike the ending of that film,
09:17 Seth and Stefan Meyers have no regrets.
09:19 "I love you, Stefan! I love you, Stefan!
09:22 But we're good enough that he accepts that Stefan Meyers can't do it!"
09:26 You say "potato," Christopher Walken says "po-tay-to,"
09:33 or whatever's on the cue cards.
09:35 "So, I thought, what can I do to make my mark?
09:40 And then I thought, I'll sing a song."
09:43 Whether he says a line correctly or not,
09:45 Walken has a gift for making everything sound positively unnatural.
09:49 This is apparent whenever he hosts SNL, a highlight being the Season 26 finale.
09:54 "You say potato, and I say potato!"
09:58 Commemorating his fifth stint as host,
10:00 Walken dedicates his monologue to a certain Fred and Ginger duet.
10:03 Of course, Walken initially doesn't have a Ginger to work off of.
10:07 Making matters more awkward, he can't get the lyrics right,
10:10 even with Jimmy Fallon eventually stepping in to assist.
10:13 "Are you singing the two words the same?
10:15 I think you have to say, like, tomato and potato."
10:17 "Tomato? What's that?"
10:21 The number culminates in Walken saying a lyric too early
10:25 before nonchalantly strangling Fallon for a second
10:27 and trying to catch bubbles in the air.
10:29 How else could this sketch possibly end?
10:31 Number 2. Roxbury Guys with Jim Carrey
10:37 Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell are the definitive Roxbury Guys,
10:40 but there's usually room for a third player.
10:43 Most would agree that the funniest addition was Jim Carrey
10:53 when he hosted the Season 21 finale.
10:56 While this wasn't the first time we saw the Roxbury Guys,
10:58 this particular sketch introduced a crucial element,
11:01 the song "What is Love?"
11:03 [Roxbury Guys' "What is Love?"]
11:11 It's hard to believe that Hataway's debut single
11:13 wasn't always part of the Roxbury package.
11:15 Watching the guys bob their heads to any other tune
11:18 just doesn't feel right.
11:20 Likewise, Carrey fits in so well that we often forget
11:23 that he wasn't a mainstay of this recurring sketch.
11:25 Even if he isn't a Boutabbi brother,
11:31 Kattan credited Carrey for launching the sketch
11:33 to another level of popularity.
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11:52 Number 1. So Long, Farewell
11:56 Every finale means farewell,
11:59 but some goodbyes are harder than others.
12:01 Steve Martin closed season 14 with a tribute to Gilda Radner,
12:05 who died that same day.
12:07 The season 19 finale was equally tear-jerking,
12:10 only growing more emotional with time.
12:11 Taking a cue from the sound of music,
12:18 the cast sings "So Long, Farewell" with most of them in character.
12:21 "So long, farewell, but simply must be stealin'
12:26 What's 90210? I'm sorry, Kevin Nealon."
12:30 Pretty soon, only two remain,
12:32 Chris Farley as Matt Foley and Phil Hartman as himself.
12:36 Speaking and singing from the heart,
12:38 Hartman announces that this will be his last episode as a cast member.
12:41 Watching the cameras zoom out on Hartman and Farley,
12:44 we're reminded of how these funny men were taken far too early,
12:47 but also the countless laughs they brought in a tragically short time.
12:51 "Goodbye."
12:52 Which SNL season finale sticks out the most to you?
12:59 Let us know in the comments.
13:00 "It's funny, 'cause it's racist."
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13:12 [outro music]