10 Awful SNL Episodes Fans Wish They Could Forget
Bad episodes of Saturday Night Live tend to stick longer than great ones because failure on live television is harder to smooth over. When something goes wrong, it happens in full view, and the format doesn’t allow much time to recover. These episodes are memorable because the breakdown is visible as it happens.
Steven Seagal / Michael Bolton (1991)
Credit: One SNL a Day
Problems began during the writing week when Steven Seagal pushed back on jokes and rewrote sketches to center himself. That approach carried into the live show. Regular characters were dropped, replaced by long monologues and staged fight moments. As a result, the episode felt unbalanced. The strongest sketches were the ones that barely involved Seagal at all, leaving the overall show flat and oddly joyless despite Michael Bolton serving as musical guest.
Adrien Brody / Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder (2003)
Credit: One SNL a Day
The night derailed during the musical introduction, when Adrien Brody ignored the script and brought Sean Paul onstage using an exaggerated accent and a costume NBC hadn’t approved. The reaction inside the studio was immediate. The sketches afterward were tight and uneasy, as if everyone was trying to steady the show rather than push it forward.
Elon Musk / Miley Cyrus (2021)
Credit: Instagram
This episode arrived after days of debate about whether a tech CEO belonged on a live comedy stage. Once the show started, long pauses and visible reliance on cue cards became part of the viewing experience. By the final segment, social media commentary had overtaken the broadcast itself.
Donald Trump / Sia (2015)
Credit: IMDb
This booking landed in the middle of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, with protests forming outside Studio 8H before the show even began. Inside, the sketches relied heavily on familiar catchphrases and applause cues. The audience reaction felt split, and the episode is now cited mainly when cast members discuss why the decision aged poorly.
Andrew Dice Clay / Julee Cruise (1990)
Credit: IMDb
NBC got exactly what it expected from this booking in one narrow sense: attention. Ratings jumped, headlines followed, and controversy carried the episode through the week. The backlash started before the show aired because Andrew Dice Clay’s stand-up persona relied heavily on misogynistic and homophobic jokes that many cast members and advocacy groups openly opposed.
Quentin Tarantino / The Smashing Pumpkins (1995)
Credit: One SNL a Day
Quentin Tarantino’s appearance as host showed how strongly his work depends on creative control. His films rely on careful editing, deliberate pacing, and tightly managed dialogue. Live sketch comedy removed that control. His sketch timing was rigid, and lines ran long. The episode became notable for showing that confidence in filmmaking does not easily translate to the demands of live television, even with The Smashing Pumpkins as the musical guest.
Kate Winslet / Eminem (2004)
Credit: Youtube
The episode aired immediately after a pop-culture week dominated by the Ashlee Simpson lip-sync incident, and the writing never let go of it. Jokes kept circling the same reference, even as the audience had already moved on. Kate Winslet committed fully, but the material boxed her in.
Paris Hilton / Keane (2005)
Credit: IMDb
By 2005, Paris Hilton’s fame came from reality TV and tabloids. The show adjusted accordingly by building sketches with shorter dialogue and heavy guidance from the cast. Paris Hilton stayed on script, but the constant steering flattened momentum.
Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M. (1994)
Credit: One SNL a Day
Season 19 was already wobbling under cast changes and uneven writing when Sarah Jessica Parker took the stage. She played straight characters, reacted on cue, and rarely shifted a sketch’s direction or energy. She delivered her lines well, but nothing bent around her presence.
Madonna / Simple Minds (1985)
Credit: Youtube
The season began under new leadership, with a reworked cast and an unsettled creative direction. During the dress rehearsal, a planned drug-test cold open was removed due to tone concerns, forcing last-minute changes to the lineup. Once the show went live, the pacing stayed uneven. Even with Madonna hosting, the episode felt unfinished. It is remembered for Jon Lovitz’s debut during a turbulent transition period, with Simple Minds as the musical guest.