It’s not unusual for “Saturday Night Live” to have viewers in stitches, but it’s also not out of the ordinary for the show’s own stars to follow suit.
Yes, the long-running comedy series, which is celebrating its 50th season this year, has been known to feature memorable sketches that cause performers to break character and laugh, which, in turn, causes the studio audience and viewers at home to lose control, too. You can be sure these moments resonate and get people talking — well, at least after they’re done laughing.
Here’s a look at some of the most memorable sketches in which performers couldn’t stay in character.
‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ — Season 49 (2024)
A serious NewsNation town hall conversation about the dangers of AI goes off the rails when a man (guest host Ryan Gosling) who looks eerily similar to Beavis from MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head” sits in the audience. When he’s replaced by another man who resembles Butt-Head (Mikey Day), town hall host Heidi Gardner asks him to move, but not before she laughs and turns away from the camera in an attempt to collect herself.
Her laughter goes on for quite a few seconds, while the audience howls in delight. When the faux Butt-Head starts talking to her and pleads ignorance, she continues laughing. Even after he walks away, Gardner still has trouble keeping a straight face as she tries to plow ahead with the sketch, which went viral.
A few seconds later, we see Beavis and Butt-Head are seated together and that Gosling is busting a gut laughing, while Day also struggles to play it straight. Even Chloe Fineman, who has a bit part at the end, has to work hard to get through her lines, while all the extras in the scene actually do a masterful job of remaining serious.
‘Lisa from Temecula’ — Season 48 (2023)
Ego Nwodim is hilarious as the hostile self-titled character in this bonkers sketch, who causes host Pedro Pascal to laugh while she violently cuts her steak that she requested “extra, extra well done.” Punkie Johnson also has to cover her mouth and Bowen Yang completely loses it when Nwodim asks if people are complaining because “we Black.”
The sketch was nearly cut from the show after it bombed during dress rehearsal, Pascal said.
“We said, ‘Oh, no. Please don’t cut it,’” he said on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” “If you really, really shake the table, and you give her a steak that she can saw through — which ended up in her lap — it just kinda started to happen. We felt the note suddenly occur. And it just — we all fell apart.”
‘Matt Foley: Van Down By the River’ — Season 18 (1993)
What can be said that hasn’t been said about this famous sketch? Chris Farley is deranged motivational speaker Matt Foley, who, as he likes to say, “lives in a van down by the river.” He is tasked with trying to get through to teenagers David Spade and host Christina Applegate.
What follows is one of the most popular sketches in the show’s history, with his outrageous behavior sparking fits of laughter from Spade and Applegate, who struggle not to laugh. As he comes down on them, they do all they can to not break. Extra credit here goes to Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, who play the teens’ parents and manage to keep it together the whole sketch.
‘Stefon’s Halloween Tips’ — Season 38 (2012)
Bill Hader’s Stefan is a beloved “SNL” character who often broke, with Hader covering his mouth to keep from giggling and showing his smile. As a correspondent on “Weekend Update,” the eccentric Stefan’s bits would often unravel, such as in this instance when he tries to make it through a segment giving Halloween tips for tourists in New York City. At one point, he buries his head in his hands while laughing and completely loses it.
Hader often laughed while playing Stefon, but there’s good reason for it. He created the character with John Mulaney, who co-created the character while working at “SNL” and would change lines for him to say without Hader knowing before he went onstage.
“He’ll put stuff up without telling me, or, he’ll tell me as I walk out. Anything to kind of shake me up,” Hader told Howard Stern in 2013.
‘Jeffrey’s’ — Season 26 (2001)
Jimmy Fallon remains one of the most notorious “SNL” cast members when it comes to breaking character, even doing so during the iconic “More Cowbell” sketch.
Here, he teams with host Sean Hayes as condescending clerks in a clothing store who delight in putting down their customers.
Fallon has to turn away from the camera while he and Hayes, who also starts losing it, go at it with a customer, played by Horatio Sanz. But when Will Ferrell, who had a knack for getting cast members to crack up, putters into the store in a motorized scooter and a tiny cell phone, all bets are off: Fallon and Hayes are cackling like there’s no tomorrow.
‘The Love-ahs’ — Season 27 (2007)
Fallon is at it again here, in this piece where he plays a single man in a hotel hot tub who meets an offbeat couple (Rachel Dratch and Will Ferrell) who are way too open about their sex life.
The first few minutes are uneventful, but Fallon starts to break after host Drew Barrymore gives a speech about her ex. Barrymore also starts to smile a bit and Dratch loses it when she and Ferrell share a plate of food. Soon, Ferrell joins Dratch with a case of the giggles that bubbles over more than the hot tub itself, as even Barrymore has trouble keeping her performance in line.
‘Debbie Downer: Disney World’ — Season 29 (2004)
A family trip to Disney World is ruined when Dratch dampens the excitement by only talking about depressing topics. Fallon and Dratch can’t contain their chuckles and Amy Poehler keeps her focus on a plate of food to try and collect herself. Soon, Sanz and host Lindsay Lohan join the party.
“By the way, it’s official: I can’t have children,” Dratch says at one point, causing Fallon to put his face in his hands.
Lohan also has trouble getting through her speech when she tells Dratch, who laughs throughout the sketch, to stop being such a, well, Debbie Downer.
‘Extremely Stupid’ (1976)
Let’s go old school here in this Season 2 sketch, which features a message from the Right to Extreme Stupidity League. Bergen laughs when she points out Gilda Radner’s Fern is kind of dumb after she pours milk into her purse. Radner quickly follows suit. When Radner turns to speak to the camera, Bergen is knee deep in laughter. It’s a fun watch from two of the titans of comedy.
‘The Californians: Stuart Has Cancer’ — Season 37 (2012)
Hader has trouble from the jump in this soap opera parody, in which he, Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen show off exaggerated California accents while everyone gets overly specific about the routes they take to get places. Armisen also laughs early on, which sets off Hader even more. Wiig joins the party while giving directions to Armisen after host Josh Brolin, playing a doctor, informs him he has cancer.