Earlier this week, SNL released the newest “Cut For Time” sketch “Morning News,” a risky but welcome take on the recent events in Ferguson that calls out Saturday’s lukewarm cold open starring Kenan Thompson as a bumbling Al Sharpton for what it is: a missed opportunity to tackle even the most tragic political news in the sketch comedy format. Since last season, NBC has been regularly uploading SNL sketches that didn’t make it to air, and for fans who love fresh, innovative, and often bizarre premises, these lost sketches are a welcome reminder that SNL is still capable of delivering original ideas that are weird as they are hilarious – just don’t expect them to make it to live air every week. Here are ten of them:
Don’t Smash My Pumpkin
From last Halloween’s episode hosted by Edward Norton, this music video starring Taran Killam as a man mourning his smashed lack-o-lantern turns into a PSA to all the jerks out there who like to destroy these majestic signs of holiday spirit.
Female Sea Captains
From our SNL review: “The title says it all with this sketch that sadly didn’t make it into the live show. The concept is pretty obvious here, but the jokes are so over-the-top ridiculous, it seems like a sketch better suited for TGS than SNL.”
Space Encounter
This sketch starring Louis C.K. as an asexual alien named Zartag who collects posters of hunky Earth guys is even better considering C.K.’s bizarre space rant from earlier this year.
Nickelodeon Show
For the ‘90s kids who grew up watching Kenan Thompson way before his SNL years, it’s a tragedy that this dark mashup of Zoom and old Nickelodeon shows didn’t make it to air. “A popular question: Where were the kids’ parents? Well, they were simply terrible people. But looking back, it’s obvious those kids were pretty cracked out.”
Wing
Continuing the ‘90s TV show trend, the “Wing” sketch featuring Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett from last season’s Andrew Garfield episode is probably one of the best unaired SNL sketches in recent years. Thankfully Mooney and Bennett’s followup sketch “Bad Boys” made it to live airwaves for the season 40 premiere.
Cocktail Hour
From Erik’s review of the Charlize Theron episode: “This beautifully shot Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? parody featured an excellent build of sight gags that make it a massive shame television audiences missed out. Like last week’s ‘Wing,’ this short film deserves as many views and shares as we can give it.”
Testicules
“Testicules” was cut from May’s season 39 finale hosted by Andy Samberg most likely because there were already two pretaped shorts, but that doesn’t make it any less weird and entertaining.
Coal Miners
From our review: “This sketch featuring Bill Hader as a gossipy coal miner was thankfully cut after dress rehearsal, even if it does contain one of the more vivid metaphors for erectile dysfunction I’ve ever heard.”
Tweet
It’s a little mind-boggling that SNL would spend so much time and money on a sketch as elaborate as “Tweet” starring Aidy Bryant and featuring a cameo by Edward Norton, only to cut it from Woody Harrelson’s episode last month.
Def TED Talks
Written by Michael Che and Bryan Tucker, “Def TED Talks” was cut from Cameron Diaz’s episode and features a ton of cast members in a Def Jam/TED Talks mashup show hosted by Jay Pharoah as Russell Simmons. Come for Pharoah’s Simmons impersonation, stay for the comprehensive “need to wash dey ass” pie chart.
