NBC's Saturday Night Live has given many actors a chance to stretch their creative muscles. From Tom Hanks to Jude Law, the long-running comedy sketch show has allowed actors to play against type and show an unexpected gift for comedy.
On some occasions, actors who’ve played iconic characters in movies and television shows get to poke fun at the same characters they helped make famous. When those sketches work, they hit comedy gold as pop culture’s greatest characters behave in some hilarious out-of-character ways. For the actors, it’s a chance to take acting risks they never thought they could. For audiences, it’s a metafictional experience they’ll never forget.
10 Daniel Craig – James Bond
Daniel Craig has been making the move from action star to a comic actor with his brilliant turn as the southern sleuth Detective Blanc in Knives Out – but no one expected him to parody 007 during his opening monologue in Season 45, Episode 15. The sketch – advertised as a “sneak peek” at Craig’s final Bond film No Time To Die, looks surprisingly authentic with Bond entering an exclusive casino to interrogate a femme fatale (SNL’s Chloe Fineman).
However, things take a hilarious step sideways when Bond accidentally starts winning at craps and gets so excited that he forgets about his mission and starts hanging out with the blue-collar Vegas-style gamblers hanging around the craps table. With every good roll, Bond gets giddier and giddier, shedding his suave super-spy image. At one point, he even forgoes his usual vodka martini, shaken not stirred, and orders a “Red Bull and vodka, pint glass.” The world might be in jeopardy by the end of the sketch, but audiences will be laughing too hard to care.
9 Chadwick Boseman – Black Panther
“Black Jeopardy” is a recurring sketch on SNL that lampoons the racial divide in the U.S. by pitting African American characters against white actors and making them answer clues about black culture from an African American perspective. In almost all cases, the white characters are completely inept (although Tom Hanks once played a rural white conservative who proved surprisingly good at providing the right responses).
When Chadwick Boseman hosted, however, SNL took the sketch in an unexpected direction by having Boseman reprise his character King T’Challa from the MCU movie Black Panther. Because T’Challa comes from the wealthy, progressive African nation of Wakanda, he offers respectful but incorrect responses – suggesting at one point that a child “who thinks she grown” should attend one of Wakanda’s free universities and possibly become a great scientist.
8 Jeremy Renner - Hawkeye
Jeremy Renner has frequently poked fun at his MCU character Hawkeye, a professional archer whose skills seem outclassed by Captain America and the Hulk. Renner even sang an entire song parody about Hawkeye’s “powers” in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – with lyrics that suggested Hawkeye’s ability to open pickle jars and get free guacamole should count as superpowers too.
When he hosted SNL, however, Renner donned Hawkeye’s quiver again to recreate the climactic battle from The Avengers. Once he runs out of arrows, Hawkeye quits, until the Avengers tell him he can stop the entire alien invasion by shooting one of his arrows through a coincidental arrow-sized opening. When he injures his hand, however, Hawkeye has to save the day by letting the Hulk use him as a human club to clobber the alien invaders.
7 Chris Hemsworth – Thor
Chris Hemsworth has been showcasing his comedic talents in recent MCU movies by giving his character Thor a more casual attitude (even playing a depressed, overweight Thor in Avengers: Endgame with more than a few similarities to Jeff Bridges’ “Dude” character from The Big Lebowski.)
When he hosted SNL in 2015, however, Hemsworth was still playing a more serious Thor for Avengers: Age of Ultron. So, it must have been fun for him to play a more lighthearted version of the Thunder God in the “Avengers News Report” sketch, which saw Thor singing “We Are The Champions” and giving Nick Fury a Gatorade shower shortly after he defeats Ultron.
6 Scarlett Johansson – Black Widow
Fans eagerly await Scarlett Johansson’s MCU prequel film Black Widow. Way before the movie was announced, however, SNL gave Johansson a chance to star in their version of Black Widow. The sketch a parody trailer that assured audiences that Marvel “gets women,” ended up lampooning every cliché in stereotypical “chick” movies.
The fake film had Black Widow interning at Fashion Weekly magazine. Her friends included an effeminate Thor – and she dated the Avengers’ android villain Ultron before he broke her heart and drove her into the arms of the Hulk. While the movie may have not been what Marvel fans wanted, its release date (2016) would have welcome.
5 Chris Pine – Captain Kirk
Chris Pine played an updated version of Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek film franchise. Although he chose to base his Kirk more on Han Solo than William Shatner, Pine got to do a Shatner impression when he hosted SNL and played Kirk in a sketch that showed a “lost episode” of the original series.
The sketch had Kirk and Spock interacting with Spock’s brother “Spocko” who flirted with Lieutenant Uhura and got the crew to dance to his song “Pizza Beach.” While Pine played it straight man in the sketch, it was fun seeing him take a more classic approach to Star Trek.
4 Adam Driver – Kylo Ren
By far the most popular SNL sketch on this list, Adam Driver reprised his Sith character, Kylo Ren, for a sketch that mashed Star Wars with the TV show Undercover Boss. Kylo ended up going undercover as “Matt the Radar Technician” and had to deal with abusive bosses, smart-mouthed Stormtroopers, and the realization that he killed several of his co-workers’ children.
The sketch was so popular, Driver did a follow-up years later, this time playing “Randy” an entry-level intern on his Star Destroyer. His new characters became so popular fans actually cosplayed as them during conventions.
3 Daisy Ridley - Rey
Daisy Ridley reprised her Star Wars character Rey in a manner of speaking for a series of SNL “screen tests” that showed her acting opposite notable Hollywood actors like Sofia Vergara, John Mayer, and Michael Buble. While Daisy seemed to enjoy some of her new co-stars, they were decidedly not Star Wars material.
Curiously, another Star Wars alum - Natalie Portman - also played her character Queen Amidala for her infamous SNL rap songs where she showed a more brutal side of the queen as she beat up her SNL co-stars!
2 Patrick Stewart – Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Patrick Stewart has shown a great willingness to poke fun at his iconic Star Trek character Captain Jean-Luc Picard, even voicing him in several Robot Chicken sketches. When he hosted SNL, however, he got to do a weird mash-up of Star Trek and The Love Boat.
The sketch had Picard playing matchmaker for some of the passengers aboard his intergalactic cruise ship – and discussing love with his emotionless android crewmate Data. For someone famous for dramatic roles, Stewart has a great gift for comedy.
1 Gal Gadot – Wonder Woman
Shortly after Wonder Woman was released, Gal Gadot hosted SNL and reprised the Amazon princess – who gets a visit to her home island of Themyscira from two lesbian castaways played by Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant. Although the women are initially elated to discover they’ve discovered an island populated with beautiful women, it turns out none of the Amazons identify as gay. Princess Diana finally kisses McKinnon’s character – but feels absolutely nothing. Interestingly, however, Wonder Woman has been depicted as bisexual in some comic storylines, indicating her sexuality is still up for debate.
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