SNL has had some dark sketches over the years, and these are pitch black. For this list, we’ll be looking at the best “SNL” skits that tackle disturbing subjects while still being funny.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 darkest SNL
00:11sketches ever.
00:17For this list, we're looking at the best SNL sketches that tackle disturbing subjects.
00:22Did we forget any shocking sketches?
00:24Let us know in the comments below.
00:27Number 20 Dead Poets Society receives both a loving and horrific adaptation in this sketch.
00:43Fred Armisen plays a character loosely modeled on Robin Williams, who prepares to leave his
00:48class.
00:49The students then stage a dramatic revolt by standing on their desks.
00:54However, one of them gets too close to a ceiling fan.
01:00The result sends blood everywhere as the sketch turns into a horror movie.
01:04It's a hilariously morbid scene that involves a head being thrown around, finally being
01:09launched out of an open window.
01:11Armisen leaves after the chaos and pretends like he didn't just watch a terrible accident
01:15happen.
01:27Number 19 Father Daughter Ad Dakota Johnson is an unlikely candidate for
01:32Isis in this commercial parody.
01:39She and Taryn Killam take a ride together in a sentimental setup that goes to some surprising
01:44places.
01:45The surprise ending is a darkly funny twist on the ads that try too hard to tug at the
01:49heartstrings.
01:50Johnson's casual delivery as she mentions the extremist group feels especially absurd,
01:55hammering home the irony of it all.
02:02Killam plays a proud father that tricks the audience into thinking there's something
02:06much more wholesome happening.
02:08The final reveal takes a big swing as the daughter rides off into the sunset with the
02:13armed recruiters.
02:18Number 18 Jesus Uncrossed Christoph Waltz salutes his collaborator Quentin Tarantino
02:24in this parody of the latter's filmography.
02:29Instead of doing a send up of World War II or pre-Civil War America, this fake movie
02:33trailer spins Jesus' resurrection into a revenge plot.
02:37Waltz plays him like an action hero with one-liners galore.
02:44The sketch also features plenty of over-the-top violence, turning the normally peaceful prophet
02:50into a stone-cold killer.
02:52He even uses a shotgun against Samuel L. Jackson's Judas in a ridiculous and anachronistic touch.
02:57The actor knows exactly how to sell the writing with his trademark skills, paying homage to
03:02Tarantino's historical revisionism along the way.
03:08Number 17 Uncle Roy The character of Uncle Roy is not your average
03:13babysitter.
03:21Played by Buck Henry, the 45-year-old man helps out two parents that leave their girls
03:25at home.
03:26This includes playing games with them and doing magic tricks that are all intensely
03:30creepy.
03:35Throughout the sketch, it's pretty clear this wouldn't fly in today's world.
03:39Roy even starts to take pictures of the kids as they continue to misunderstand his gross
03:44intentions.
03:45When their mother returns home, she fails to see through the sitter's happy demeanor.
03:49It's unlikely that the program would try to revive the idea anytime soon.
04:01Number 16 Children's Show Michael Keaton stars as a strange children's
04:05show host that falls on hard times.
04:08When he receives an eviction notice, the presenter struggles to maintain his composure.
04:25His talking furniture begins to question the entire show as a result.
04:29Keaton's Toby is found out as a fake, along with some unsettling revelations about his
04:34use of the objects in his home.
04:41A group of repo guys tries to take it all away as the program folds in on itself.
04:46Not only does the sketch offer up some dark realities about money, but it also delves
04:51into more unexpected sexual territory.
04:55Number 15 Wake Up and Smile A morning show loses its teleprompter in this
05:00hilarious sketch.
05:12Will Ferrell leads an anxious group of TV professionals that can't work without a script.
05:22His team quickly loses their cool, devolving into terrified characters in a Lord of the
05:27Flies scenario.
05:29They eventually come back from commercial with torches lit and Ferrell taking control
05:32as the ruthless leader.
05:40This includes a tense confrontation between two presenters, ending in an over-the-top
05:45death scene.
05:46By the time the prompter returns, it's already gone too far.
05:50The sketch is completely unafraid to use graphic violence to show an extreme reaction to a
05:55fixable situation.
05:57Number 14 Totino's Vanessa Bayer leads this humorous parody
06:01of food commercials in a dedicated performance.
06:12For this sketch, set during a game day celebration, her character provides the group with Totino's
06:17pizza rolls.
06:18The seemingly robotic men chant and cheer over her dialogue until a major twist happens.
06:24It turns out that the TV isn't even on, calling into question the premise itself.
06:40It gradually turns into an episode of The X-Files, with the sports fans revealing their
06:44true selves.
06:46Blending elements of horror and sci-fi, this sketch reinvents itself in a dramatic ending
06:51that puts Bayer in jeopardy.
07:02Number 13 Chucky Lee Byrd In a parody of music commercials, this sketch
07:06takes a look at the work of fictional artist Chucky Lee Byrd.
07:18Bill Farrell's rock and roll singer has a number of singles about his obsession with
07:22teenagers.
07:32The creepy lyrics keep coming until the presenters themselves start to question the content.
07:38Farrell's dedicated performance satirizes musicians that had questionable relationships
07:42in the 20th century.
07:43It's a tricky subject to tackle with humor, but Saturday Night Live finds a way with Kate
07:48MacKinnon and Beck Bennett's commentary.
07:51MacKinnon's alarmed face and Bennett's explanations only get better as Byrd's problematic
07:55songs continue.
08:02Number 12 Evil Boss This sketch takes the idea of an angry boss
08:07to its absolute extreme.
08:09Will Farrell plays the office manager in question, verbally and physically mistreating his underlings
08:14at every possible turn.
08:26He does all of this as a potential hire stands by, watching in horror as awful things happen.
08:32Farrell fights one of his employees to the death in an especially brutal battle with
08:36a trident.
08:42The comedian's non-stop fury and despicable nature make for a darkly funny exploration
08:48of office culture.
08:49With plenty of blood, the sketch doesn't shy away from the terrible behavior of its
08:54main antagonist.
08:58Number 11 Japanese Game Show Chris Farley finds himself on a quiz show
09:02in Japan, but the punishment for getting things wrong ends up being worse than anyone could
09:07have imagined.
09:08He also can't speak the language in a hilarious twist.
09:14Farley manages to squeak by on a few guesses, but his opponents don't have the same luck.
09:19They're forced to perform drastic surgeries on themselves.
09:23It's the kind of shocking moment of violence that you rarely see on the show.
09:31The American contestant survives to the end, at which point he gets hooked up to an electrical
09:35torture device.
09:37Farley gives it his all in a convincing and terrified performance.
09:45Number 10 Enhancement Drug SNL is no stranger to parodying prescription
09:50drug commercials, and Dwayne the Rock Johnson can pretty much sell anything, so this sketch
09:54sounds like a home run, right?
09:59This enhancement drug sketch starts off like any normal ad involving erectile dysfunction,
10:04but quickly spirals into a bevy of extreme side effects, including Johnson spouting off
10:13a random Hail Satan near the end.
10:15What's even darker, though, is how the sketch comments on the opioid epidemic.
10:25Zentrex isn't as dark as some of the other sketches on this list, but the implications
10:29are definitely there for sure.
10:31Number 9 The Tizzle Whizzle Show The next entry on our list is short but not
10:36so sweet.
10:39The Tizzle Whizzle Show is a take on your average everyday colorful kids show, only
10:43with a few glaring exceptions.
10:50For starters, there's knife play, unknown pills, and a fight to the death in the dark.
11:02It all starts innocently enough with a jammy dance, but things get dark real quick, with
11:06only guest host James Franco left standing after the Tizzle Whizzle Show goes horribly
11:11awry.
11:15It's the sort of black humor that permeates a lot of SNL digital shorts, with this one
11:19being absolutely no exception.
11:22Number 8 Canteen Boy Okay, so this sketch was always in questionable
11:26taste, but it's even more problematic given the Boy Scouts of America's current state.
11:37Adam Sandler's Canteen Boy character was a lovably dim but good-hearted assistant scoutmaster
11:42whose adventures take an incredibly dark turn alongside guest host Alec Baldwin.
11:53The scene is played for laughs, but there's nothing funny about the implied situation
11:57in which Canteen Boy finds himself, as Baldwin's supervisor pushed the boundaries of propriety
12:02beyond the pale.
12:06To be fair, Baldwin and Sandler are keen to make sure the jokes fly quickly enough to
12:11lessen the sketch's blow, but man, this is still something else.
12:18Number 7 Shark Tank Sometimes an audience's initial reaction
12:22tells you all you need to know about where a sketch is going.
12:29Towards the beginning of this Shark Tank parody, an audible gasp can be heard from the studio
12:34as the sharks bear witness to a group of religious militants.
12:37Oh, and there's also plenty of awkward silences, as the audience can't decide if they should
12:42laugh at this wildly dark and controversial material.
12:50Ten years later, we're not entirely sure if this is funny or if it was a bad idea right
12:53from the start.
12:55Number 6 Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone sketch implies so much
13:01reprehensible behavior within its scant two-minute runtime that we can barely believe it's even
13:06real.
13:15The sketch is actually a dead-on spoof of the commercials for Rosetta Stone's language
13:19learning software, only with one supremely dark twist.
13:28There's a group of sketchy-looking men all seeking to learn Thai to indulge in one of
13:32the country's most infamous stereotypes.
13:38From the sweaty, darkroom web-surfing to the oversized and creepy glasses, it's a gross
13:43and button-pushing sketch that might leave some viewers picking their jaws up off the
13:47floor.
13:56Number 5 Sitcom Reboot Many of us are familiar with the trope of
14:00adult and child body-swapping.
14:01We're talking about movies like Freaky Friday, Vice Versa, and Like Father Like Son.
14:17The switcheroo sketch takes things to an extreme that none of those movies touch, and probably
14:25for good reason.
14:28John Mulaney is honestly brilliant as a sitcom creator whose idea for a reboot is so troubling
14:33and offensive he's basically run out of town.
14:44His interview on Hollywood Update reveals that he was forced to shoot switcheroo in
14:48places like Haiti and Guyana, while at the same time exposing some deep-seated childhood
14:52trauma of his own.
15:00Number 4 Family Feud SNL has had a lot of success with their game
15:04show parodies over the years.
15:06Celebrity Jeopardy anyone?
15:10This includes the multiple times they've tried their hand at Celebrity Family Feud.
15:14But there was something profoundly dark about this installment pitting the Osmonds against
15:19the family of John Phillips, former singer of the Mamas and the Papas.
15:32It all has to do with trauma and dysfunction as the sketch digs up skeletons from the closets
15:37of both families within the Family Feud framework.
15:50Jason Sudeikis does his best Richard Dawson impression, but not even his performance can
15:55stop the implications of this sketch from making our skin crawl.
16:05Number 3 Mr. Belvedere Fan Club Call the next sketch on our list a product
16:11of its time.
16:16The Mr. Belvedere Fan Club presents a group of people whose grip on reality is tenuous
16:20at best, as they describe increasingly troubled and obsessive behavior towards their favorite
16:25fictional television character.
16:32Tom Hanks holds the sketch together as the straight man, while Chris Farley, Adam Sandler,
16:36and particularly Phil Hartman display mental health issues that would raise huge red flags
16:41today.
16:53The reactions at the time are comparatively tame however, with the audience laughing along
16:57to the admittedly ridiculous premise in a way that undercuts how shockingly dark the
17:02sketch truly is.
17:11Number 2 Meet Your Second Wife This entry is a great example of a sketch
17:15that's impeccably written but dark as hell.
17:26Meet Your Second Wife surprises its three male contestants by revealing to them situations
17:30whereby their otherwise happy marriages are succeeded by an increasingly young series
17:35of second spouses.
17:45The reactions of Bobby Moynihan, Taron Killam, and Kenan Thompson are brilliant, while hosts
17:50Tina Fey and Amy Poehler describe situations that honestly do happen in real life.
17:55With a gleefully black sense of humor.
18:05The reaction shots of Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer, and Leslie Jones also hammer home the
18:10sketch's perverse punchline, making this a group effort in the best-slash-worst possible
18:14way.
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18:36Number 1 World's Most Evil Invention Here is the SNL sketch with a punchline so
18:42dark we dare not speak its name.
18:48Dwayne The Rock Johnson did have to, however, as he portrays a mad scientist with one boundary-pushing,
18:54taboo-breaking, absolutely most evil invention.
19:00The International Mad Scientist Society may be full of baddies, but Johnson's Dr. um,
19:05Roy does them all in with a robot that's destined to be profiled onto Catch-A-Predator.
19:16What's perhaps the most twisted aspect of the sketch, however, is the final reveal,
19:20when the entire thing just turns out to be an advertisement for White Castle.
19:34Well you truly outdid yourselves with this one, SNL.
19:37Do you agree with our picks?
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