I'm well aware that there are approximately three hours of Saturday Night Live programming yet to air in 2010, so a best-of for the year might be a tad premature. Nevertheless! Here are the 10 best Saturday Night Live sketches of 2010. I promise, though, that if anything extraordinary happens in the Paul Rudd or Jeff Bridges hosted episodes -- which is quite likely, actually -- I'll update this list accordingly.
(Meanwhile, if you disagree -- and there's a very good chance you will -- let's hear about it in the comments.)
10. "Hamm and Buble"
Jon Hamm has hosted twice in the calendar year of 2010. This was from his earlier effort: The actor opening a new restaurant with a pretty unwilling Michael Buble that serves ham and Champagne (and poor Buble has to change the pronunciation of his last name).
9. "What is Burn Notice?"
OK, here's the wild-card of the group. Look, I have no idea what Burn Notice actually is despite one zillion posters for this show littering the New York City subway system -- which is probably where the idea for this sketch came from. Anyway, yes, three contestants go on the game show "What is Burn Notice?" in an effort to correctly guess what Burn Notice actually is.
8. "Zack Galifianakis' Monologue"
What is usually the weakest part of the show became the strongest when the unconventional Galifianakis hosted: Hands down, not just the best monologue of the year, perhaps one of the best monologues in the history of the show. This is how its done.
7. "Black Friday"
Kind of reminiscent of Kick Spit Underground Rock Festival, only Bobby Moynihan plays a retail salesperson instead of Ass Dan. "Slide your way into savings!"
6. "Back to the Future Screentests"
Look, I didn't even know an Alan Alda impression was (A) possible or (B) would be in the slightest bit entertaining. Leave it to Bill Hader to make this, save Pharoah's Denzel Washington, the funniest impression of the year.
5. Sex Ed Vincent
Considering the amount of sketches that air in a given year, it's telling that two of the news features players -- Pharoah and Brittain -- end up on this list. Telling in the fact that these two get criminally so little airtime in favor of recurring sketches that have long since run their course. Let's hope 2011 brings another round of Sex Ed Vincent.
4. "Twinkle and Stink -- Summer's Eve Lady Stars of Darts Championship 1988"
My God, I miss Will Forte. MacGruber's crash-and-burn aside, let's not forget what was once one of the best things about SNL -- Twinkle and Stink. We can only hope as a society that Forte decides to make a cameo in the next two weeks so we can see this duo back together.
3. "Unstoppable Trailer"
This week I was informed that I am the president of the Jay Pharoah Internet fan club. So be it! The highly underused featured player shows us what he's capable as Denzel Washington in this parody of the movie Unstoppable. Pharoah has a long career ahead of him... a career that's as long as the Chrysler Building! Boom!
2. Kickspit Underground Rock Festival
This is the type of clip I like to show people when they try to argue that SNL has lost its uniqueness or edge -- a promo for an upcoming rock festival featuring a slew of bands that you have never heard of, but do sound like real band names. Also, Ass Dan.
1. "The Story of Frank Sinatra"
I'm going to take some heat for this one being number one, but bring it on! Look, Fred Armisen, when not trapped in the restricting confines of playing America's 44th President, is the most profusely quirky genius working on Saturday Night Live today. The entire premise of this sketch is that a Danish theater company has decided to tell the life story of Frank Sinatra in a production called "I did it in My Style." Unfortunately, they couldn't afford the rights to any of his music. So, instead, the make up their own song -- which is used in every situation of Sinatra's life. "Hey cool cat, I got my coat and my hat."
Update: Once a Hulu clip is available, "Stumblin'!" from the Dec 11 Paul Rudd hosted show will rank very high on this list.