Saturday Night Live has a long history of poking fun at the Olympics.
In the show’s earliest years, original cast members such as Gilda Radner and John Belushi appeared as surprisingly vengeful gymnasts, and decathlon champions with highly unusual diet regimens.
The tradition they began has continued for nearly fifty years now, with each new cast addressing or parodying the breakout stars and biggest controversies from the world’s biggest sporting event. Here, in no particular order, are the Top 10 Saturday Night Live Olympic Sketches:
‘Olga Korbut’ (1976)
Gilda Radner makes a brief but memorable appearance on Weekend Update, portraying real-life Russian Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut, who was unexpectedly upstaged by Nadia Comaneci of Romania at the 1976 Olympics. After hearing Chevy Chase describe her as “a crushed, forgotten, saddened figure” and “a has-been at the age of 21,” Korbut lashes out against her opponent in a very blunt manner.
‘Little Chocolate Donuts’ (1977)
John Belushi’s unusual training diet was the subject of a famous 1977 Saturday Night Live sketch. Modeled after the Wheaties breakfast cereal ad campaigns featuring 1976 Olympic decathalon-winning athlete Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce Jenner), the sketch instead found Belushi starting each day with little chocolate donuts…and a cigarette, of course.
‘All-Drug Olympics’ (1988)
Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon star in one of the funniest Olympic sketches in Saturday Night Live history, one that might even outdo Dan Aykroyd’s 1978 Julia Child sketch in terms of fake blood spilled. Hartman stars as a Russian weightlifter juiced to the gills on performance-enhancing drugs, whose attempt to triple the existing world record goes terribly, terribly wrong: “Oh, that’s gotta be a disappointment for the big Russian….”
Read More: Rich Guy Might Make Saturday Night Live’s All-Drug Olympics Real
‘Telemundo Winter Olympics’ (2010)
Jennifer Lopez and Fred Armison appear as the befuddled hosts of Spanish-language television network Telemundo’s first attempt to cover the Winter Olympics. “We keep asking ourselves the same question: Why does anybody like the Winter Olympics? It is cold and the sports are silly,” asks Armison. “All the sports are either very strange or something you would do if you wanted to kill yourself,” adds Lopez.
‘Figure Skating Cold Open’ (1992)
Phil Hartman (as announcer Verne Lundquist) and Dana Carvey (as Scott Hamilton) try to keep things professional as they cover Beverly Hills, 90210 star Jason Priestley’s absolutely disastrous, fall-filled attempt to capture figure skating gold. “Could this cause permanent damage?” Hartman asks at one point. “Yes, someone should really stop this,” agrees Carvey.
‘Synchronized Swimming’ (1984)
Harry Shearer and Martin Short play brothers who dream of winning gold in men’s synchronized swimming, and aren’t discouraged by the fact that no such Olympic event exists. “That’s OK, because we could use the time,” Short notes, “because I’m not that strong a swimmer.”
‘Ryan Lochte on the Fall TV Schedule’ (2012)
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane pokes fun at gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte’s perceived lack of intelligence by having him talk about the most promising shows from the upcoming TV season. “I think they got me all wrong there,” Locthe declared soon after the sketch aired. “Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to go on ‘SNL’ and redeem myself.” That has yet to happen.
‘Mormons on the Slopes’ (2002)
Saturday Night Live legend Aykroyd returns to the show, teaming up with Will Ferrell as a pair of over-eager recruiters for the Mormon religion, attempting to win over Amy Poehler right in the middle of an Olympic skiing competition.
‘1994 Olympics’ (1994)
Commentators Phil Hartman and David Spade do their best to maintain proper decorum while discussing the dramatic weight gain that has negatively affected Chris Farley’s Olympic figure skating performance.
‘Swimming Instructor’ (2013)
A novice swimmer with very unlikely Olympic dreams (Will Forte) recruits world-famous instructor Doug Frangello (John C. Reilly) for an introductory lesson. The highly unusual process soon finds the two strapped very tightly together through a series of suggestive and uncomfortable gyrations, pausing only to give Frangello a moment to adjust his penis.
Bonus: Steve Martin, ‘Olympic Diving Event’
In his 1980 TV special Comedy is Not Pretty, frequent Saturday Night Live contributor Steve Martin plays a highly unconventional diving champion whose everyday moves somehow keep dazzling the judges.
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Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin
