'Saturday Night Live' stars name their favorite sketches and reflect on show's legacy

NEW YORK — Legions of comedic talent have paraded through NBC's Studio 8H, whether as cast members, writers or hosts of ''Saturday Night Live.''

As the sketch show marks its 50th anniversary with a bevy of celebrations, its cast members and alumni look back on their favorite sketches and the enduring legacy of ''Saturday Night Live.''

Fred Armisen, cast member 2002-2013, one-time host

FAVORITE SKETCH: ''The Wizard of Oz''

''There's a ‘Wizard of Oz' one that we did that actually John Mulaney wrote, where there's like this new footage of ‘Wizard of Oz,' of a character that got cut out of a movie, and it's a weather vane,'' said Armisen, who played Weathervane alongside Anne Hathaway's Dorothy. ''Something about it, I just I really love that sketch.''

Chloe Fineman, cast member 2019-present

FAVORITE SKETCH: ''Everything is amazing,'' the current cast member said, but she seemed to hope the anniversary special would see a reprise of ''The Californians.''

''All of it are sort of ‘pinch me' moments and I feel like it'll be even bigger than the 40th,'' she said of the upcoming special.

Will Forte, cast member 2002-2010, one-time host

FAVORITE SKETCHES: ''More Cowbell,'' with Christopher Walken fixated on adding that signature sound to Blue Öyster Cult's ''Don't Fear the Reaper.'' Forte named a few, but ''Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer'' was another favorite. Then, of course, there's Adam Sandler's classic ''The Chanukah Song.''

''I hadn't seen ‘The Chanukah Song' in a long time. ... It just happened to be on the other day,'' said Forte, who was freshly reminded: ''It's so good.''

Seth Meyers, cast member 2001-2014, former head writer, one-time host

FAVORITE SKETCH: ''More Cowbell,'' perhaps a universal favorite.

''I think ‘Cowbell' would work if English was your like 10th language. ... I think that's a safe pick,'' he said. ''It's Will Ferrell at the height of his powers. ... It's an all-time host Christopher Walken doing a thing that only Christopher Walken could do.'' (Of the last 12 months, Meyers is also partial to Nate Bargatze's ''Washington's Dream'' sketches.)

WHY ''SNL'' ENDURES: To Meyers, who now hosts ''Late Night'' in Studio 8G, ''Saturday Night Live'' is like sports. It's live. No one knows what's going to happen.

''It's so beautifully uneven. I've always said the worst show has something great and the best show has something terrible,'' Meyers said. ''And there's no there's no host that can guarantee consistency. ... If you laid all the Alec Baldwin-hosted episodes out there, there's a huge gap between the best one and the worst one. And there's no real reason to explain that, other than just everybody sort of had a bad week.''

Bobby Moynihan, cast member 2008-2017

FAVORITE SKETCHES: ''Haunted Elevator,'' with Tom Hanks as the spooky-yet-goofy David S. Pumpkins; ''Calculator Christmas Gift,'' where Fred Armisen and John Malkovich have their odd holiday wish list fulfilled; ''Tennis Talk with Time-Traveling Scott Joplin,'' which is somehow exactly what it sounds like.

''David Pumpkins always comes to mind as just, like, the weirdest thing we ever got on. And I love the idea of future generations trying to figure it out, as well,'' said Moynihan, who added that he was drawn to ''amazing, weird sketches.''

John Mulaney, writer 2008-2013, six-time host

FAVORITE SKETCHES: ''Toilet Death Ejector,'' an infomercial flogging an ''elegant'' solution to avert the indignity of dying on the commode, and ''Monkey Trial,'' featuring, yes, a monkey but not one on trial — one presiding over it.

''Those are two quality Simon Rich premises executed,'' said Mulaney, who wrote the former with frequent collaborators Rich and Marika Sawyer and the latter with Rich. Both sketches date to Mulaney's hosting stints.

Laraine Newman, cast member 1975-1980

FAVORITE SKETCH: ''Plato's Cave'' from the Not Ready for Prime Time Players era, where Steve Martin plays a beatnik, and ''The Swan,'' a parody of a 2000s reality show.

''I remember seeing there was a horrible reality show called ‘The Swan' where they did this massive plastic surgery on people. And I think they did a parody of that with Amy Poehler and a bunch of other people. And it was the first time I'd seen her and I was like, ‘My God, this girl is so good,''' Newman said. ''But as far as our show, I think that this one sketch called ‘Plato's Cave' or the beatnik sketch, is, I think, a really good representation of our show. And it's the whole cast.''

WHY ''SNL'' ENDURES: There's a long list of people responsible, she says, but atop that list? Show creator Lorne Michaels.

''The fact that the show has remained relevant is because of the approach that Lorne has, which is that he always has new people, whether they be writers or performers with new perspectives and original ideas and characters,'' Newman said. ''And that's, I think, what moves the show along in terms of tone and relevance.''

Jason Sudeikis, writer 2003-2005, cast member 2005-2013, one-time host

FAVORITE SKETCH: ''What's Up With That?'' a recurring series with Kenan Thompson as a game show host.

''Part of the reason I put it in there is because I feel very proud of the group, the generation I came up on and through the show ... both on camera and behind the scenes,'' Sudeikis said, noting the ''real wild'' cameos like Robert De Niro and Robin Williams.

Kenan Thompson, cast member 2003-present

WHY ''SNL'' ENDURES: It has good people, and they know where the line is.

''We work with brilliant people. I think we all have a pretty solid sensibility, where we kind of know where the offense is and we work really hard trying not to tread in places that are uncomfortable or whatever without warrant,'' the longtime cast member said. ''But at the same time, I can't please everybody and we're still trying to like, like lighten the mood, if you will. So, you know, we're doing that as long as we're not like overly stepping — like if you step on a toe, you say, ‘I'm sorry. Excuse me.' Then that should be OK. ... We should be able to just move on and continue to explore or continue conversations that may or may not be uncomfortable. That's kind of our job.''

Bowen Yang, writer 2018-2019, cast member 2019-present

WHY ''SNL'' ENDURES: At its heart, it's a variety show.

''I think with a show like ‘SNL,' we have the latitude to be a little variety show and give you different sensibilities and different parts of that, different perspectives. I love it,'' the current cast member said. ''It's a very pluralistic place for comedy because it's one of the last places where you can sort of have a grab bag of different kinds of stuff.''

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Pearson contributed reporting from Los Angeles. For more coverage of the 50th anniversary of ''Saturday Night Live,'' visit https://apnews.com/hub/saturday-night-live.