While I don’t think you can shrink almost 40 years into a top ten list here are some of my favorites that I’ve seen on TV or come across by virtue of having comically inclined parents. 

Winona Ryder as Bjork – Celebrity Jeopardy

This sketch debuted on prom weekend for me. My friends and I had taken a trip into NYC and we watched this before we went out for a night on the town. It’s an instant classic. She just gets the weirdness of it all. It’s a shame I couldn’t find a clip of the whole sketch because I remember Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery being a winner as well.

Alec Baldwin – Schweddy Balls – Delicious Dish

I remember busting a gut watching this sketch. Full of double entendres and innuendos but this continuing sketch was based on them. (Remember Betty White’s muffins?) This sketch has two great actors, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon, and almost-cast member Alec Baldwin. How many ball jokes can you pack into an 8-minute scene? Watch and find out. Good times!

Garth and Kat Christmas Songs

Never mind that’s it’s hilarious to watch Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig break character on TV but that they’re so in tune with each other to come up with these songs right on the spot. I loved these characters whenever they appeared but this one takes top honors.

Cobras and Panthers

Who doesn’t love a West Side Story parody? Even though I love musicals, sometimes it’s weird when a gang of hardened bad-asses break out into ballet moves. This sketch proves that point to comic effect. I do believe my favorite part is when Chris Kattan says, “Snakes…Sssssss.” Look at that man’s hips!

Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw

I had forgotten how funny you are. Please come back and do more funny things. Here he’s playing Tom Brokaw pre-recording some possible Gerald Ford news bulletins. It’s so simple but so funny. This guy is a genius.

Jeopardy

Yes, I know this is another Jeopardy sketch but there’s one line in this sketch that my sister and I quote to each other to this very day “I’ll take the rapists for 200” “That’s therapists…” This will stay with me until the end of time.

Debbie Downer

I hold this sketch near and dear to my heart. I loved the Debbie Downer sketches as a whole but this one takes the cake. Poor Rachel Dratch can’t keep it together, actually none of the actors can. However, Jimmy Fallon was surprisingly able to keep it together mostly. I think it’s that they’re laughing that makes the whole funnier.

Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin

Two comic geniuses in probably they’re best work on the show. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton. Amazing impersonations with a one liner to slay them all… “I can see Russia from my house!” Pretty sure that was quotes for years after. I still hear it time and again.

Chippendales Audition

Chris Farley, one of many comic geniuses who left us too early. I think this might have been his first episode of the show. It just goes to show how far Farley was willing to go. He was a master at physical comedy. Going up against Patrick Swayze in tight pants and no shirt is no easy task but he rose to the challenge.

Stefan

There probably isn’t more good that I can say about Bill Hader as Stefan. A kinda weird throwaway character that ended up catching on and taking on a life of its own. It was great and you never knew what to expect. You got the impression that Bill Hader didn’t know what to expect either because he was cracking up most the time. That’s part of the charm though, isn’t it?