Top 10 SNL Classroom Skits of All Time

June 21st, 2011

Over the 40 plus years it has been on the air, SNL has made viewers laugh and sometimes groan with memorable sketches performed by some of the biggest names in comedic history. During this time, the show has satirized just about every aspect of society, from office politics to celebrity. Education and the American classroom haven’t escaped from being lampooned, providing the backdrop for some of the show’s famous characters and performers to shine. Whether you’re an educator or acollege student, these caricatures of the classroom (in no particular order) are sure to make you laugh.

1. Molly Shannon, Mary Katherine Gallagher:Whether she’s trying to join her school’s gang, The Black Angels, or taking part in the Christmas program, Mary Katherine Gallagher is the ultimate showoff. Sketches have the easily excitable Gallagher take part in a variety of antics, from auditioning for music videos to fantasizing about her counselor. She even falls in love with her teacher Mr. Fabray, played by Jeff Goldblum, licking him from head to toe. Here, she gives an overly enthusiastic audition for her school’s talent show.
   

2. Will Ferrell, Art Class Model:Students in this art class, taught by Lucy Lawless, are used to having pretty decent models to work from, yet when the usual model can’t make it, Will Ferrell acts as a last minute stand-in. As you might guess, he isn’t the cream of the crop, and is really just a homeless drifter who is both disgusting to look at and listen to.
   

3. Jerry Seinfeld, History Teacher:Trying to impart some historic knowledge on a classroom full of students, Jerry Seinfeld, here playing a history teacher, tries to get students to share what they know about WWII. The problem is, they don’t know much at all – and what they do know is mostly, well, wrong. Students seem more interested in pleasing the teacher and appearing smart than actually learning anything, a clever commentary on the state of education that’s just as funny as it is insightful.
   

4. Alec Baldwin, French Class:When it comes to appearing on SNL, Alec Baldwin can pretty much do no wrong. This sketch is no exception. Acting as an over-the-top French instructor, Baldwin tries to get students to pronounce French words and phrases in the correct manner (according to him) resulting in some ridiculous and entertaining French lessons.
   

5. Kristen Wiig, Gilly:Whether you love her or hate her, few can resist repeating Gilly’s trademark "sorry" or try to imitate her ridiculous dance after seeing the sketches. While not every sketch is comedy gold, Gilly’s very special, often destructive, relationship with her classmates and her teacher makes this character one that’s hard to forget. In this clip, she may have finally met her equal in art class.
   

6. Andy Samberg, MySpace Class:Even as technology has become pretty much omnipresent, many older adults still struggle with figuring out how to use it. Here, Andy Samberg is hired to help them learn, teaching a course on the now considerably less-popular-than-Facebook site, MySpace. He finds out very quickly, however, that most of his students have ulterior motives and aren’t just in the class to learn how to create a legitimate MySpace profile.
   

7. Steve Carell, CPR Class: Whether you had to learn in school or took a class on your own, most people have had at least a little CPR training. This clip features Steve Carell teaching a CPR class, demonstrating the new "hands only" method of CPR on a live volunteer. Unfortunately, he may not know his own strength and a real emergency is created with some gross and bizarre results.
   

8. Tina Fey and Justin Bieber, Teacher Crush: Wrong as it may be, teachers become romantically involved with their students more frequently than parents would like to imagine. In this sketch, Tina Fey starts to develop a crush on one of her students, played by Justin Bieber, the only one she doesn’t feel has a horrible attitude problem. When she begins fanaticizing about him (spurred on by his flirting/sucking up) hilarity ensues.
   

9. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Creighton Boys School: Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch star as two language teachers at a boys school who can’t understand why boys keep dropping out of their classes to take French. Once they meet the new teacher, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, it becomes apparent what the appeal for the young students is (hint: it’s not a desire to learn French).
   

10. SNL Cast featuring Ben Affleck, Night School Musical:Spoofing the popular High School Musical series, this sketch takes replaces high school drama with mid-life crises, as students struggle to learn about technology, accounting and even those pesky Excel spreadsheets in night school. Stick around for the end of the clip where Ben Affleck makes a special appearance as the class valedictorian.
    

Taken From Accredited Online Courses