Everyone has their own holiday traditions, so there are no rules when it comes to celebrating the spookiest time of year, Halloween. For 37 years, Saturday Night Live has been helping audiences get into the spirit of the season with their comedic twist on iconic creepy characters and other macabre shenanigans. We’ve selected ten of the funniest Halloween skits from the series that are at least as funny as this “sexy” Big Bird costume — which is pretty hard to top. Venture past the break for more hair-raising hilarity, and add to our list by mentioning your favorites in the comments, below.
Matt Foley On Halloween
What’s not to love about Chris Farley’s legendary man in a van down by the river, Matt Foley? The motivational speaker returns to the burbs to teach several teens a lesson about egging houses on Halloween. Farley’s physical comedy is still some of the best stuff around, plus we get to see Christian Slater with floppy hair and a cut-off denim jacket. Phil Hartman also makes an appearance.
Vincent Price’s Halloween Special
We can’t get enough of Bill Hader’s adorable and frustrated Vincent Price in this “spooky relic dug up from 1959.” Kristen Wiig pays a visit to Price’s spooky mansion, all dolled up as the glorious Gloria Swanson from Sunset Boulevard. Fred Armisen plays piano as Liberace. The real star of the skit, however, is Mad Men’s Jon Hamm who arrives as James Mason’s Humbert Humbert from Lolita. Although Price tries to remind his crazed, pervy guests that they’re on a family show, a boozy Mr. Mason breaks all the rules. The clip is worth watching just to hear the way Hamm says, “Vagina.” Hamm as JFK is also pretty great.
The Mirror
It’s not technically a Halloween ep, but we can’t leave out this fun digital short that rips on horror cinema’s cliché tropes. Ellen Page wakes up from a nightmare. She keeps seeing a zombie-like figure in her bathroom mirror (Andy Samberg and his Play-Doh face), but the whole scene turns out to be the zombie’s bad dream — along with a few other creepy creatures.
Clinton Halloween Party
This Clinton Halloween party skit makes us miss Amy Poehler’s jilted Hilary and Darrell Hammond’s sleazy Bill. The “witchy” woman and her Presidential husband — dressed as Mystery the Pickup Artist — hang out with the election elite. Even though we haven’t chatted about some of these political figures in a while, the scene still manages to make us laugh. Also, Obama.
Haunted House
We’re not big fans of fart humor, but this twist on television ghost-hunting shows is ok by us. Hugh Laurie is a psychic who finds himself in an embarrassing situation when a group of paranormal investigators — that can’t seem to find any ghosts — hilariously zero in on his mishap.
The Zimmermans
Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan as the inappropriately affectionate Zimmermans have Ben Stiller and Ana Gasteyer over for dinner on Halloween night. After baiting the reluctant Stiller with unruly champagne bottles and bobbing for apples, the apparent sexual frenzy comes to a complete halt when the comedian makes a passionate confession in the heat of the moment.
Firelight
Worlds collide in this Twilight-inspired skit starring Bill Hader as the angsty and elusive high school student Frankenstein (a greener version of Rob Pattinson’s Edward Cullen) and country star Taylor Swift in the role made popular by Kristen Stewart. She falls hard for him despite his choking problem. It’s still one of the best Twilight parodies ever.
Happy Halloween… What?!
Registered sex offender Jeff Montgomery (Will Forte) goes trick-or-treating at his unsuspecting neighbor’s house (Jon Hamm) and tries to convince him that his creepy “costume” isn’t real. He wants a Kit Kat, and he wants his neighbor to sign a form acknowledging that there’s a sex offender in the neighborhood — but, just kidding! Not really!
Daily Affirmations: Halloween
Stuart Smalley (Al Franken) treats his inner child during this Daily Affirmations sketch that includes Madonna shaming, an amazing skeleton tee and sweater combo, and all the twelve-step humor you could possibly want.
The Exorcist II
Only in an Exorcist skit featuring Richard Pryor would the possessed spew the comedian’s oft-repeated phrase, “Jive turkey!” Apparently Father Karras (Pryor) doesn’t like it when you talk bad about his mama.