Our favorite ‘Saturday Night Live’ original songs

Despite voting for our 885 Countdown of the Greatest Songs from Movies and TV wrapping up last week, we’re still in Hollywood mode here at WXPN. But right now, we’re in New York mode. Live from New York mode, actually.

For 51 years, Saturday Night Live has been offering up sketch comedy late Saturday and into the wee hours of Sunday. A major aspect of the show is music, and they’ve had some legendary performances from its musical guests.

But that’s not what we want to talk about here. Instead, we’re highlighting our favorite original songs from the show. You know, the songs that reach absurd levels of absurdity, get stuck in your head for days, and even have really heartfelt messages.

Listen to our top picks below.

“Lazy Sunday”

In 2005, The Lonely Island—Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone—changed SNL and the internet with “Lazy Sunday,” starring Samberg and Chris Parnell. The parody rap not only hit hard with the live broadcast audience, but it was illegally uploaded to various websites and became one of the first viral online videos. In the song, Samberg and Parnell aggressively rap about their mundane lazy Sunday activities, including seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

“Lunch Lady Land”

Adam Sandler and Chris Farley (and some other cast members from the ’90s) were known as quite the pranksters in the 30 Rock offices, so much so that the two stars were fired from the show in 1995. They obviously went on to become movie stars in their own right, collaborating at times in their projects. But in 1994 they teamed up for “Lunch Lady Land,” a tribute to the unsung heroes of school cafeterias. Sandler and Farley break throughout the song, which also features the SNL band and PA native G.E. Smith, as Farley prances and dances across the stage in Sandler’s face. The rocking hook of “sloppy joe, slop-a-sloppy joe, yeah” is a true ear worm. We still miss Farley, and Sandler does too.

“D*** in a Box”

Another Lonely Island song, “D*** in a Box” is one of the most ridiculous and raunchiest SNL songs. This time, Samberg had Justin Timberlake alongside him to boost the song’s legitimacy. It premiered on the 2006 Christmas episode and was an instant sensation. The ’90s R&B style track went on to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2007, was included on The Lonely Island’s debut comedy record Incredibad, and hit No. 8 on Billboard’s Comedy Digital Track Sales chart. One aspect that makes it so funny is the censoring of the titular organ throughout the song.

“Choppin Broccoli”

Dana Carvey, Sigourney Weaver, and the late great Phil Hartman starred in this unforgettable 1986 sketch, which featured fictional musician Derek Stevens (Carvey) hacking his way through an A&R meeting. As he tries to sell them on his new music, Stevens gets hung up on an improvised line in the song: “She’s choppin’ broccoli.” He interpolates “choppin’ broccoli” in increasingly goofy ways, heightening the sketch, which at the end falls a bit flat. But it’s a good hook to sing when you’re preparing some florets for dinner.

“I Wish It Was Christmas Today”

On the 2000 Christmas episode, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan, Jimmy Fallon, and Tracy Morgan delivered a rare live performance of an original song: “I Wish It Was Christmas Today.” Really, only Sanz and Fallon actually perform music, and barely at that. Sanz sings about yearning for and loving Christmas, Fallon backing him up while trying not to break. All along Kattan merely holds a comically large keyboard Fallon fiddled with and Morgan just dances. Maybe an apocryphal story, but legend has it Morgan shoehorned his way into the bit at the last minute without even offering up what he would contribute to it. He just kinda dances around. And it’s electric. Sequel versions came later, and it even got covers from Julian Casablancas and Cheap Trick.

“Roundball Rock”

Jason Sudeikis and Tim Robinson star alongside Vince Vaughn, Keenan Thompson, and Kate McKinnon in the “Roundball Rock” sketch, sharing the name with the NBA on NBC theme song. The premise is the song’s original version featured lyrics that read as though a child wrote them (the real song is wordless). Robinson’s once underappreciated but now-beloved zaniness is on full display here, with Sudeikis playing the straight man and real-life them composer John Tesh. Tesh called the sketch “the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Christmastime For The Jews”

Robert Smigel was a longtime SNL writer and the man behind TV Funhouse (and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). For TV Funhouse in 2005, he helped bring about an all-time holiday song for the show: “Christmastime For The Jews” by Darlene Love. The song and video, done in Rankin-Bass style stop motion animation, touts all the fun Jews get up to around Christmas: eating Chinese food, seeing movies, sipping Manischewitz wine, watching Daily Show reruns, and more. On top of it being hilarious, it’s straight up a great song thanks to Love’s beautiful vocals, which are backed by Jimmy Vivino on guitar, Rich Pagano on drums, and SNL Musical Director Steven Gold on piano, keys, and bells.

“I’m On A Boat”

We’ve got another Lonely Island song to shout out. This one, featuring T-Pain, wasn’t first released on the show. Rather it was included on Incredibad then got some love on the show in February 2009. The song lampoons ’90s and 2000s hip-hop songs and videos while being incredibly nonsensical: “Arms spread wide on the starboard bow / Gonna fly this boat to the moon somehow.” It was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 52nd Grammy Awards and hit No. 65 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart.

“Natalie Raps”

In 2006, Natalie Portman hosted the show and if anyone took one thing away from the episode it was her very explicit song “Natalie Raps,” later retitled to “Natalie’s Rap” for Incredibad (oh yeah, this is another Lonely Island song). The over-the-top lyrics—we would highlight some, but they’re definitely not safe for work—hit so hard with her aggressive delivery because Portman is a Harvard-educated actress who, at that point, had been nominated for an Oscar, won a Golden Globe, and starred in three Star Wars films. A sequel, “Natalie’s Rap 2.0,” premiered on SNL in 2018.

“The Chanukah Song”

We saved the best (we think) for last. Sandler’s iconic performance of “The Chanukah Song” on Weekend Update is possibly the most memorable original SNL song of all time. While “Christmastime For The Jews” calls out the fun Jews have over the yuletide, Sandler’s song is a bit more lamenting. It ultimately shouts out numerous Jewish actors, musicians, writers, and more as a way to tell Jewish kids they’re not alone in feeling left out during Christmas. Hilariously, he also points out some people who aren’t Jewish, O.J. Simpson and Ebenezer Scrooge namely. The sing-song-y hook is so easy to get stuck in your head and should be in regular rotation for Jewish and non-Jewish families in the holiday season.