Kristen Wiig is one of the most talented Saturday Night Live cast members of all time. During her memorable seven seasons on the iconic show, she came up with some of the weirdest and funniest characters in recent SNL history. Whether she was playing an awkward Target employee or an eccentric variety-show performer, Wiig always nailed whatever sketch she took part in. She could make even the smallest joke hilarious. These are some of her funniest SNL sketches.
1. “The Lawrence Welk Show” — Dooneese Maharelle
Dooneese Maharelle might be Kristen Wiig’s most famous SNL character. The sketch features an old-fashioned variety show hosted by Lawrence Welk where a group of sisters perform their sweet musical act. Wiig plays the weird sister, Dooneese. She is unsettlingly cheerful, has tiny hands, and some very unusual personal stories that she is eager to share with the audience. The best part is the contradiction between Dooneese’s extremely bizarre quirks and her perfectly normal sisters. Dooneese seems to believe everything about herself is completely normal, and in order to save the performance, everyone on stage has to pretend too. The character became so popular that they brought back the sketch multiple times with different hosts, including Betty White during her legendary 2010 hosting episode.
2. “Penelope”
Penelope is that friend everyone hates, the ultimate one-upper who has to top everything all the time. She can’t help but turn every conversation into a competition. If someone mentions a vacation, she’s just taken a better one. If someone broke their leg, she had her entire leg torn off by a shark and reattached. No matter what, Penelope has a bigger and more ridiculous story. Wiig’s commitment to the character is what makes it work because she plays Penelope with a complete lack of awareness of how she comes off socially. It is a great example of Wiig taking an annoying personality trait and building on it to create comedy gold.
3. “Target Lady”
Kristen Wiig’s Target Lady is one of her most beloved characters. While most of us like Target, Wiig’s character LOVES Target. The extremely enthusiastic Target employee is way too excited about everything happening in the store. She gets worked up over customers, merchandise, and how amazing Target is in general. She is often more interested in the products customers are buying than she is in actually doing her job. The character’s nonstop energy, constant commentary, and overly personal questions make every interaction awkward and hilarious.
4. “The Californians”
“The Californians” became one of SNL’s strangest recurring sketches and was also known for making cast members break mid-sketch. The sketch makes fun of residents of Southern California. Due to traffic and big city life, SoCal residents tend to find themselves discussing freeways and off-ramps way too often. The sketch blends this real-world truth with a soap-opera-style drama about wealthy Californians. While having super dramatic conversations, they constantly throw in unnecessary specifics regarding directions around Los Angeles. Wiig’s exaggerated accent and over-the-top reactions made other cast members fight to keep it together. The entire sketch is ridiculous to the point of hysterical.
5. “The Judy Grimes Report”
In this sketch, Wiig plays Judy Grimes, an awkward and energetic news reporter who can’t seem to deliver a basic report. She’s a travel correspondent who compulsively lies and then frantically tries to cover those lies with more lies, repeatedly saying that she’s “just kidding.” The character has tons of nervous energy, uses strange pauses, and has completely nonsensical reactions. Wiig was a master at creating uncomfortable train-wreck-type situations, and this might be the best example of that particular talent.
6. “Gilly”
Gilly is one of Kristen Wiig’s most well-known characters. She is a mischievous schoolgirl who always responds to teachers’ questions with the same phrase: “What?!” This is one of those sketches that doesn’t seem funny on paper, but in reality, the absurdity of it just works. The recurring gag is that she causes awful things to happen and then responds with her innocent look and trademark apology. While the concept of Gilly is extremely simple, Wiig’s line delivery and facial expressions make it nearly impossible not to laugh.
7. “Secret Word”
“Secret Word” is one of Wiig’s funniest sketches because it perfectly shows off her love of playing uncomfortable, unpredictable characters. She plays Mindy Elise Grayson, a washed-up Broadway actress appearing as a celebrity contestant on a game show. Once the game starts, she cannot stop herself from blurting out the secret words. Her inability to understand basic rules, combined with her need to perform, sends everything spiraling out of control. The sketch becomes funnier and funnier as her character’s melodramatic nature skyrockets.
8. “Two A-Holes”
Alongside Jason Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig was one half of SNL’s funniest couple. In the “Two A-Holes” sketches, Wiig and Sudeikis play a painfully self-absorbed couple who are completely unaware of how annoying they are. The two nail the confidence of people who think they are charming and witty but are actually the worst to be around. The humor comes from watching them proudly and joyfully behave in ways that are unbearable to others.