Movies - TV
12 SNL Sketches That Were So Funny The Cast Broke Character
By BLAKE TAYLOR
Extremely Stupid
During this Season 2 sketch Fern (Candice Bergen) and Lisa (Gilda Radner), televise "a paid message from the right to extreme stupidity league." However, the skit quickly devolves to giggles when Bergen calls Radner by her own character's name. Radner's fantastic delivery capitalizes on the moment with poised self-awareness while Bergen breaks in the background.
New Orleans Vacation
In this Season 44 sketch Heidi Gardner’s rant of incorrect facts about New Orleans leads James McAvoy to try every trick in the book not to break, to no avail. The rest of the cast impressively keeps it together, but the audience roars with laughter as McAvoy's voice cracks as he hopelessly attempts to utter one of his final lines.
Stefon
Former writer John Mulaney loved taking advantage of the fact that actors read from cue cards as he developed "Weekend Update" appearances for Bill Hader’s Stefon. Mulaney frequently added new jokes to the cards between dress rehearsal and the live show which meant Hader read the lines for the first time live on air and often broke character doing so.
Lisa from Temecula
Ego Nwodim’s skilled performance, paired with the outlandish physical comedy, made this Season 48 sketch one that almost no one made it through with a straight face. Pascal is the first to break in this modern "SNL" tour de force and as Pascal giggles, the rest of the cast joins him with Molly Kearney being the only one able to stay in character.
Close Encounter
Slouched back in her chair, legs spread apart, and cigarette in hand, Kate McKinnon debuted Ms. Rafferty in this 2015 sketch sending her castmates and host Ryan Gosling into near hysteria. It's one of those magical "SNL" moments and one of the only instances of the show successfully being able to recreate the magic of a breaking sketch several times.