The 50 Best and 50 Worst Episodes of SNL: The Results

Here are the final results of the vote.  I got a total of 11 responses from readers on the message boards, Facebook and e-mail submissions.  Most of the submissions followed a set pattern, although a handful of wild cards deviated sharply from the rest of the group.

The 50 best episodes of SNL

-10 votes-

• 1. Steve Martin / The Blues Brothers (04/22/78)
  • "This is one of those episode that made everyone in the future that vaguely remembers SNL episodes from the 70s assume that Steve Martin was a cast member" - J-Coleman
  • "Best of the '70s shows in my opinion- Festrunk Bros., Theodoric of York, Dancing in the Dark" - BillBrasky
  • "Probably the best episode of the 1970’s." - jojo

-8 votes-

• 2. Christopher Walken / Christina Aguliera (04/08/00)
  • "I know everyone will mention the cowbell sketch, but this whole entire episode was great!" - J-Coleman
  • "Blue Oyster Cult, census taker" - BillBrasky
• 3. Anne Hathaway / The Killers (10/04/08)
  • -"Best female host in recent years"- BillBrasky

-7 votes-

• 4. Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron (12/13/75)
  • "When future cast members talk about what they remember seeing growing up and watching they usually always point reference scenes from this episode" - J-Coleman
• 5. Eddie Murphy / Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers (12/15/84)
  • "I think Eddie Murphy coming back to host in this season was a milestone for the show." - J-Coleman
  • "Eddie returns to host; the classic "White Like Me""- BillBrasky
• 6. Tom Hanks / Aerosmith (02/17/90)
  • "Same formula as his previous hosting gig, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it". - J-Coleman
  • "Aerosmith on Wayne's World" - BillBrasky
• 7. Alec Baldwin / Paul McCartney (02/13/93)
  • "Maybe my favorite episode of all time- The Mimic, The best Chris Farley Show sketch w/McCartney, Sandler singing Red Hooded Sweatshirt, Soap Opera Digest, French class" - BillBrasky

-6 votes-

• 8. Sigourney Weaver / Buster Poindexter (10/11/86)
  • "The cast kicked off this season right! This episode is soooo good that you can’t even tell that Phil Hartman, Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks and Dana Carvey are “new”. They seem like vets! Even the original cast, Jean’s cast, Ebersole’s new hires and often time “featured cast members” sometimes came off like a bunch of nervous rookies, but these “new guys” came in like they’ve been on the show for years!" -J Coleman
  • "Great show that established the fact SNL was back from the abysmal 85-86 season."-jojo
  • "Lorne returns and makes the show good again- first Church Chat, Pathological Liar, Choppin Broccoli"- BillBrasky
• 9. William Shatner / Lone Justice (12/20/86)
  • "Just an all-around good show- Sweeney Sisters, Star Trek convention, etc." -BillBrasky
• 10. Christopher Walken / Arrested Development (10/24/92)
  • "Another candidate for the best episode of SNL’s history." -jojo
• 11. Jim Carrey / Soundgarden (05/18/96)
• 12. Kevin Spacey / Beck (01/11/97)
• 13. Norm MacDonald / Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem (10/23/99)
• 14. Conan O'Brien / Don Henley (03/10/01)
• 15. Jack Black / Neil Young (12/17/05)

-5 votes-

• 16. Tom Hanks / Keith Richards (10/08/88)
• 17. Alec Baldwin / The B-52's (04/21/90)
• 18. Tom Hanks / Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (12/08/90)
• 19. Charlton Heston / Paul Westerberg (12/04/93)

-4 votes-

• 20. Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short / Randy Newman (12/06/86)
• 21. Steve Martin / Sting (10/17/87)
• 22. George Wendt / Elvis Costello (05/18/91)
• 23. Jerry Seinfeld / Annie Lennox (04/18/92)
• 24. Tom Hanks / Bruce Springsteen (05/09/92)
• 25. David Alan Grier / Silverchair (12/09/95)
• 26. Ray Romano / The Corrs (03/13/99)
• 27. The Rock / AC/DC (03/18/00)
• 28. Justin Timberlake (12/16/06)
• 29. Peyton Manning / Carrie Underwood (03/24/07)
• 30. Jon Hamm / Coldplay (10/25/08)

-3 votes-

• 31. Elliott Gould / Anne Murray (01/10/76)
• 32. Steve Martin / Kinky Friedman (10/23/76)
• 33. Buck Henry / The Band (10/30/76)
• 34. Candice Bergen / Frank Zappa (12/11/76)
• 35. Steve Martin / The Dirt Band, Randy Newman (01/21/78)
• 36. Carrie Fisher / The Blues Brothers (11/18/78)
• 37. Eric Idle / Kate Bush (12/09/78)
• 38. Eddie Murphy / Lionel Richie (12/11/82)
• 39. Garry Shandling / Los Lobos (05/16/87)
• 40. John Lithgow / Tracy Chapman (11/19/88)
• 41. Leslie Nielsen / Cowboy Junkies (02/18/89)
• 42. Patrick Swayze / Mariah Carey (10/27/90)
• 43. Sting (01/19/91)
• 44. Catherine O'Hara / R.E.M. (04/13/91)
• 45. Michael Jordan / Public Enemy (09/28/91)
• 46. Christina Applegate / Midnight Oil (05/08/93)
• 47. Alec Baldwin / Luciano Pavarotti & Vanessa Williams (12/12/98)
• 48. Rob Lowe / Eminem (10/07/00)
• 49. Christopher Walken / Foo Fighters (02/22/03)
• 50. Justin Timberlake (10/11/03)

-also tied-

• 51. Alec Baldwin / Christina Aguilera (11/11/06)
• 52. Will Ferrell / Green Day (05/16/09)
• 53. Betty White / Jay-Z (05/08/10)

The 50 worst episodes of SNL

-9 votes-

• 1. Louise Lasser / Preservation Hall Jazz Band (07/24/76)
  • "When I saw this on DVD I thought Louise Lasser’s monologue was fake, and this was “a part of the show”… after reading tons of news articles and blogs I’m still not sure, but either way this episode was just sooo off. " - J-Coleman
  • "Lasser was a trainwreck of a host and the monologue was one of the all-time worst, dragging on and on with no humor. Alledgedly, Lasser demanded that the short film be shown on this show(Which was awful). Lorne apparently barred this episode from appearing as a repeat on NBC. Nothing memorable, unless you count Lasser speaking with a dog." -jojo
• 2. Milton Berle / Ornette Coleman & Prime Time (04/14/79)
  • "Another awful host." -jojo

-8 votes-

• 3. Steven Seagal / Michael Bolton (04/20/91)
  • "Arguably the least likeable host of all-time. His Andrew “Dice” Clay impression is so bad its funny." -jojo
• 4. George Foreman / Hole (12/17/94)
  • "Wow. One of the worst episodes SNL has ever produced. The “Uncle Joe,” “Hulk,” and “Time Boxer” are just awful. Foreman could barely read off of the cue card and couldn’t even get the “Living in a van down by the river” line correct." -jojo
• 5. Paul Reiser / Annie Lennox (03/18/95)
  • "As posters on Voy [one of the SNL message boards -editor] know, this featured the terrible “One Brother Diner” sketch, which wasn’t nearly as bad as the embarrassing “Sparkle Bright” sketch, in which ad-execs are disgusted by an interracial couple kissing. You know a show is bad when one of the “highlights” is a Q & A monologue mixed with stand-up from Paul Reiser. Yikes!" -jojo
• 6. Bob Saget / TLC (05/06/95)
  • "Another potential top 10 worst episode of all-time. Pathetic sketches such as “Where in the World is San Diego, CA,” “Dante,” “Fast,” and the head-scratching “Boyz II Men” sketch make it hard to believe that this show wasn’t cancelled." -jojo
• 7. Paris Hilton / Keane (02/05/05)
  • "A lowpoint in the history of the show, hosting-wise" -BillBrasky
  • "Hilton drags down the entire show. The material was terrible to begin with (Versace, Starkisha, approximately the 1,000,444th Trump parody)" -jojo
• 8. January Jones / Black Eyed Peas (11/14/09)
  • "I would like to thank the brilliant guy (or girl can’t remember who said it) from this forum during the Live Discussion Thread that said “how can a show with 36 writers only have two jokes!”) I actually tweeted this line!" - J-Coleman
  • "Jones is easily in the top 5 for worst hosts of all time. At one point she froze and actually asked which camera she was supposed to look at. This show was so bad that they did a farting “Rear Window” sketch. Even worse, Jones managed to completely screw up the sketch. That my friends, is when you know that you’re watching a terrible show." - jojo

-7 votes-

• 9. Frank Zappa (10/21/78)
  • "I remember when E! used to play re-runs of this episode and I was like “man, he must hate this show or something”. One thing that confusses me is that so many people on forums and blogs are defending him. Listen up people, just because you feel his music doesn’t suck, that doesn’t mean he’s immune from sucking in other areas." - J-Coleman
  • "Awful host." - jojo
• 10. Malcolm McDowell / Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band (11/22/80)
  • "This episode was like watching a boring ass play."- J-Coleman 
  • "Most of the '80'-81 episodes are included in this list." - BillBrasky
  • "The Rocket Report was a classic but some of the all-time worst sketches (Commie Hunting Season, Jack the Stripper, Leather Weather) are featured along with an idiotic cold opening involving an electric chair." -jojo
• 11. Martin Lawrence / Crash Test Dummies (02/19/94)
• 12. Nancy Kerrigan / Aretha Franklin (03/12/94)
• 13. Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M. (11/12/94)
• 14. Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi (02/18/95)
• 15. Tom Arnold / Tupac Shakur (02/17/96)
• 16. Donald Trump / Toots & The Maytals (04/03/04)

-6 votes-

• 17. Madonna / Simple Minds (11/09/85)
• 18. Tom Green / David Gray (11/18/00)
• 19. Adrian Brody / Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder (05/10/03)
• 20. Hilary Swank / 50 Cent (02/19/05)
• 21. Gaborey Sidibe / MGMT (04/24/10)

-5 votes-

• 22. Deborah Harry / Funky Four + 1 More (02/14/81)
• 23. Harry Dean Stanton / The Replacements (01/18/86)
• 24. Jason Patric / Blind Melon (01/08/94)
• 25. Jon Bon Jovi / Foo Fighters (10/13/07)
• 26. Steve Martin / Jason Mraz (01/31/09)

-4 votes-

• 27. Jodie Foster / Brian Wilson (11/27/76)
• 28. Strother Martin / The Specials (04/19/80)
• 29. Ray Sharkey / Jack Bruce & Friends (01/10/81)
• 30. Sally Kellerman / Jimmy Cliff (02/07/81)
• 31. Teri Garr / The Dream Academy, The Cult (12/21/85)
• 32. Jimmy Breslin / Level 42, E.G. Daily (05/17/86)
• 33. Halle Berry / Britney Spears (10/18/03)
• 34. Robert DeNiro / Destiny's Child (12/18/04)
• 35. Annette Bening / Gwen Stefani, Akon (12/09/06)
• 36. Michael Phelps / Li'l Wayne (09/13/08)
• 37. Robert DeNiro / Diddy Dirty Money (12/04/10)

-3 votes-

• 38. Burt Reynolds / Anne Murray (04/12/80)
• 39. Elliott Gould / Kid Creole & The Coconuts (11/15/80)
• 40. David Carradine / The cast of "The Pirates of Penzance" featuring Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and George Rose (12/20/80)
• 41. Oprah Winfrey / Joe Jackson (04/12/86)
• 42. Anjelica Huston & Billy Martin / George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic (05/24/86)
• 43. Steve Martin / Eric Clapton (09/24/94)
• 44. David Hyde Pierce / Live (01/21/95)
• 45. Chevy Chase / Live (02/15/97)
• 46. Roma Downey / Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot (02/14/98)
• 47. Jackie Chan / Kid Rock (05/20/00)
• 48. Drew Barrymore / Macy Gray (10/13/01)
• 49. Sarah Michelle Gellar / Faith Hill (10/12/02)
• 50. Jeff Gordon / Avril Lavigne (01/11/03)

-also tied-

• 51. Bernie Mac / Good Charlotte (04/05/03)
• 52. Andy Roddick / Dave Matthews (11/08/03)
• 53. Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey / G-Unit (01/17/04)
• 54. Kate Winslet / Eminem (10/30/04)
• 55. Ellen Page / Wilco (03/01/08)
• 56. Rosario Dawson / Fleet Foxes (01/17/09)
• 57. Megan Fox / U2 (09/26/09)
• 58. Drew Barrymore / Regina Spektor (10/10/09)
• 59. Scarlett Johansson / Arcade Fire (11/13/10)