When I was in college, SNL had kind of cleaned house and started over with a new set of cast members. I remember a friend of mine saying that no one will ever care about or remember these unfunny people. That cast included Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell and while Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, and Chris Kattan might not be in that much these days, I’d bet you’d still remember them.

I’ve always been a fan and I probably always will be. I can’t tell exactly how much of that is due to nostalgia and a weird sense of loyalty but I don’t really care. Some people will perennially believe that SNL was so much better five years ago. Others will just never like it. I think some people just don’t care for the nature of the show. Creating a brand new sketch show every week based on current events constrains SNL in ways that more revered sketch shows like Mr. Show or The State never were. You’re going to get a lot of political impersonation cold opens (often with a celebrity walk-on), a lot of celebrity impersonations, franchise characters (or characters Lorne Michaels would love to see become franchises), game shows, talk shows, commercial parodies, and, lately, digital shorts. There is, however, one final thing that you can get on an episode of SNL, which is pretty rare: a stand alone comedy sketch.

So, here are some of my favorite regular old sketch sketches from SNL. In picking these I decided that it couldn’t be a celebrity impersonation, franchise character (or attempt at one), or – and this was the most difficult – a sketch whose popularity gained it a second run (this disqualifies Live Report, Actress Round Table, Close Encounter, and Glice). I am allowing game shows because it’s a pretty standard sketch comedy device and, if you think that exception is b.s., well, it’s my blog, so, piss off.

Okay, here we go.

Super Showcase Spokesmodels

I hate breaking in sketches but I love it here. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph just seem like they’re having fun with a truly dumb concept they came up with. I also love vaguely European accents (see below).

Pizza Business

Melissa McCarthy is such a delightful weirdo. “Do what you love and the money will follow? I said, ‘Barb, you love eatin’ pizza.'”

What Have You Become?

If you’ve got a host that’s German (Austrian, close enough), a haunting, existential gameshow seems appropriate.

Devil Can’t Write No Love Songs

One of my favorite Will Ferrell sketches. (“More Cowbell” could have made this list but it doesn’t need to make any more lists.)

Norwegian Actors’ Playhouse

“Do you want me to strike him with a knuckle sandwich?” European accents and bad translations. Gets me every time.

A Few That Break My Rules

Maine Justice

I love this sketch because it’s just so dumb and everyone is so committed. It’s not Maine, it’s Louisiana. That’s the premise. But they play the hell out of it. (They did a second one with Jamie Foxx but the original is still my favorite.)

The Jamarcus Brothers

Technically this is an ad parody and I already had one with Christoph Waltz (I guess that just happened to be a pretty strong episode) and I hate breaking but what the hell, I love this sketch.