Saturday Night Live’s cut for time sketches from season 44

Some of the best sketches from this season of Saturday Night Live never made it to air.

Each week Saturday Night Live sticks to a strict schedule. The cold open, monologue, sketches, and musical performances all have time limits so that the show runs for 90 minutes. That means that some sketches from dress rehearsal or that were pre-recording get cut for time.

Thankfully for fans, these sketches that don’t make it to air on Saturday nights do live on via the show’s YouTube channel. And in many cases these sketches are some of the best from the week. Deciding on what sketches and bits go on air is no easy task for Lorne Michaels and the writing staff. It can be hard to predict just what will hit with audiences so you can’t blame them too much for cutting something that turns out to be hilarious.

Last week’s episode hosted by Paul Rudd was the final episode of season 44. Even if you are one of the most dedicated Saturday Night Live fans who tuned in to NBC at 11:30 every Saturday night, there is a chance you didn’t see every sketch the writers and cast did.

So with that in mind, Last Night On has pulled together many of the “cut for time” sketches from season 44. There are a couple pre-taped bits featuring Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett which isn’t too surprising considering how focused they are on creating that type of content each week. But with a long summer break ahead for SNL, fans will surely be glad to see these sketches whether it is for the first time or to revist a favorite “cut for time” bit.

Chad’s Journey

Pete Davidson’s “Chad” character somehow never gets old. Davidson isn’t exactly the prototypical Saturday Night Live cast member to have a recurring character. His best work still comes at the “Weekend Update” desk. But Chad has proven to be a fan favorite and there seems to be no end to the possibilities he finds himself in.

Adam Sandler is perfectly cast to play Chad’s dad. The writers may have had Chad’s death and afterlife experience planned for a while, waiting for the right host to play the father. Chad is too popular of a character to stay dead however and returns to life in a very Chad-like way.

College Admissions

This sketch was one of the best from the week hosted by Sandra Oh. It’s a bit confusing as to why it never made it to air. It was one of Oh’s best performances and also featured another classic effort from Kenan Thompson.

It also seemed like the premise was exactly what Saturday Night Live was going for this season. Things weren’t so heavy on politics outside of the cold opens but the show still stayed on top of every major news story. The college admissions scandal was all over the news and late night. This was an excellent response to that from SNL but wasn’t lucky enough to make it to air.

New Cast Member

There is no such thing as too much Kyle Mooney in my opinion. You could argue that he plays too many shades of the same character but if the awkward, cringing humor is your style then you can’t complain.

Mooney also seems to be very interested in using behind the scenes at Saturday Night Live for material. He’s done this with his rap battle against Kanye West and his soap opera-like romance with Leslie Jones. We have to imagine his experiences as a new cast member inspired at least some aspects of this cut for time sketch.

Cars

As much as Kyle Mooney loves awkward comedy, he and Beck Bennett also love cheesy sitcoms from the 1990s. They take that idea to the extreme and add their own level of absurdity to it.

A lot of credit also goes to Claire Foy as Aunt Pinky. She hosted an early episode in the season and turned in an excellent performance. It wasn’t clear how solid her comedy skills were but she put any concern to rest pretty quickly. It’s hard to know how familiar she was with the sitcoms and tone being spoofed here, but regardless she compliments Mooney and Bennett perfectly.

Dianne Feinstein Message

This was another sketch that probably should have made it to air. Saturday Night Live has been criticized for going after conservatives and the Republican Party too much over the past few seasons. Here was a sketch that attempted to bring some balance by mocking Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. The senator had made headlines for a video in which she was less than friendly towards some young climate activists.

Having this sketch cut for time also robbed fans of another fantastic performance by Cecily Strong. She was arguably the best performer in season 44. Strong has been able to play Feinstein before and nailed the impression. Fans should be happy to know that all signs point towards Strong returning for season 45.

Retirement Party

This one was cut from the finale. We already have looked at how that episode went against expectations. In recent history the finale has featured a number of cameos and surprise appearances. Paul Rudd’s show didn’t quite match the firepower of seasons past but that may have been a conscious effort to keep the focus on the cast.

You can’t blame the show for wanting to do that when you see what they are capable of doing. Yes, this one was ultimately cut for time but it doesn’t take away from the dedication of Beck Bennett in playing the keytar next to Rudd.

Maybe this one was cut because they weren’t confident Kenan Thompson and Alex Moffat could make it through without breaking. Cast members breaking usually gets a laugh from the audience but you don’t want that to be the only reason they’re laughing.

Glitter Litter Automatic Litter

What list of Saturday Night Live sketches would be complete without a commercial parody? They have long been a staple of the show. Animals are always good for comedy so a cat litter commercial spoof was the perfect storm for Matt Damon’s episode.

Damon is in the running for best host of season 44. He started things off by playing Brett Kavanaugh in the premiere’s cold open. He followed that up by hosting the Christmas episode, making it one of the more impressive SNL runs for a guest in recent memory.

This sketch may have been a little too far out there to be aired. The Christmas show is a pretty big deal for SNL so having Matt Damon making jewelry out of cat crap may have been a little too extreme.

What did you think of these Saturday Night Live sketches? Which ones did you think deserved to make it to air and which ones were wisely left behind? Let us know in the comment section and be sure to keep checking out Last Night On for everything SNL.