“Saturday Night Live” celebrated its 50th anniversary in epic style over the weekend, which got Mexico News Daily thinking: Over the years, what have been the funniest SNL sketches about Mexico?
The following list spans from comedian Steve Martin playing a Spanish tutor who barges into people’s homes in Season 5 to a couple of parodies of the Latin American television classic “Sábado Gigante” that aired during this past season, the 50th.
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The list is aimed at sketches that have Mexico themes, but leeway has been granted to include sketches about the Spanish language or Mexican food. It is presented in chronological order, not as a ranked list. Let us know in the comments if we missed any good ones!
“Spanish Tutor”
In the Season 5 premiere of SNL on Oct. 13, 1979, Steve Martin plays a man who enters the home of Paul (Bill Murray) and Sharlene (Gilda Radner) uninvited. Once inside, he explains how he was really good in Spanish class as a kid and he offers to teach them for free, but then goes on to make himself at home, including stripping down to take a shower.
This sketch was chosen to represent Season 5 during the three-hour “SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration” that aired Sunday on NBC and Peacock.
“Spanish Class”
This premise was first used in Season 9 on Oct. 15, 1983, with guest host Rhea Perlman playing the overzealous Señora Sanchez, who insists that all conversation in her Spanish class be “en español.” Among the students are Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
A similar premise reappeared in the 48th season on April 15, 2023, with SNL’s Mikey Day as a Spanish teacher who gets flustered when two new students, guest host actress Ana de Armas and SNL’s Marcello Hernández, expose his limited language skills. Almost entirely in Spanish, the sketch included a cameo by musical guest Karol G.
“Enchilada”
In a sketch that has been referenced and shared by viewers for years, “Enchilada” premiered on Nov. 10, 1990 during Season 16. The skit featured SNL’s Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman and others as NBC News executives whose exuberance in over-pronouncing Latin American names, locations and words is over-the-top funny.
The sketch includes guest host Jimmy Smits and a cameo by sports announcer Bob Costas, whose surname gets pronounced with Latin flair.
“Mexican Stereotype”
In a Season 19 skit that aired Nov. 13, 1993, SNL’s Rob Schneider plays a Mexican man who expresses his excitement for NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Dressed in a sombrero and wearing a fuzzy Pancho Villa mustache, Schneider takes a baseball bat labeled NAFTA and smashes a pinata labeled “U.S. Economy.” Then he says with a laugh, “You see, all the goodies fall down south — to Mexico.”
He also posits that there are people against NAFTA, such as 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot. Says Schneider, as a burro can be seen in the background: “Who are you going to believe? A great patriot like Ross Perot, or me, a crude, Mexican stereotype?”
“Spring Break: Cancún”
On a “Weekend Update” during Season 19 in 1994, SNL cast members Chris Farley and David Spade tell some stories about their recent Spring Break trip to Cancún — where Chris was like “Hey,” and David was like “Huh,” and a cop was like “Why,” and a shark was like “Grrrr.”
“Besos Y Lagrimas”
A parody of Spanish-language telenovelas that uses exaggerated melodrama and over-the-top acting, “Besos Y Lagrimas” (“Kisses and Tears”) debuted during Season 29 on Feb. 21, 2004. The first installment stars singer Christina Aguilera as Elena, a maid who is having torrid affairs with all of the male characters in the sketch.
The premise was used twice again, with guest host Antonio Banderas as the hunky farmer Paolo in 2006 and guest host Jennifer Lopez as a nun who comes between characters played by Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig in 2010.
“Taco Town”
In one of the best fake commercials in SNL history, “Taco Town” aired on Oct. 8, 2005 and starred Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg. But the real star of the sketch is the presentation of the restaurant’s new all-beef taco wrapped in half-dozen other foods (such as a crepe, a pizza and a pancake) and then fried in batter and served in a commemorative tote bag filled with veggie chili. “Do tacos get any more kick-butt than this?”
“La Policia Mexicana”
From Jan. 17, 2009 in Season 34, this is a sketch about a hard-scrabble TV cop show with a twist. “Tonight’s episode was written by Ms. Larkin’s fourth-grade Spanish class,” the intro notes, which means everyone in the interrogation room is speaking in hilariously basic Spanish, and flash cards are used to establish the scene of the crime. Even basic cop questions are turned into Spanish lessons.
“Can I go to the bathroom,” the culprit (Bobby Moynihan) asks. “En español!” the cop (Fred Armisen) demands. When El Jefe (Bill Hader) comes into the room at a crucial time, his big contribution is asking, “Que hora es?”
“Telemundo Winter Olympics”
Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez and SNL’s Fred Armisen star as confused Telemundo announcers who are baffled as they try to make sense of the sports played at the Winter Olympics. The sketch aired in Season 35 on Feb. 27, 2010. The announcers express dislike for the cold weather and the “silly” sports on ice and snow, and a field reporter complains about losing fingers to frostbite.
“Trump and Peña Nieto”
For the Season 41 episode that aired Nov. 7, 2015, the guest host was none other than 2016 presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. In this skit, he portrays himself receiving a check from Mexico’s then president — Enrique Peña Nieto as portrayed by SNL’s Beck Bennett — to help build the border wall.
Peña Nieto, this time played by Alex Moffat, also appears during Season 42, on Feb. 4, 2017 in a sketch in which Trump (played by Alec Baldwin) tries to get him to say “What?” so he can trick him into paying for the wall.
“Date in Mexico”
Never seen this one? That’s because it was cut due to time from the Season 45 episode that ran on Nov. 23, 2019. In this sketch, former Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell, in his fifth appearance as a guest host, plays an emotional wreck who is on vacation in Mexico when his girlfriend breaks up with him.
“Jeanine Pirro on the Mexico–US border”
The former attorney and judge Jeanine Pirro is portrayed by SNL’s Cecily Strong as a boozy conservative who has a lot to say about the border situation in this Weekend Update bit from May 22, 2021 in Season 46. “Have you seen the border?” she says sloshily. “If Joe Biden had his way, we’d let everyone in, from gauchos to banditos, from chicas to chamacos, from El Chapo to Del Taco.” Chamacos generally means “kids” but can also mean something similar to “brats.”
“Telenovela”
SNL’s Ego Nwodim portrays an actress playing a housekeeper on a Spanish soap opera, “El Passión de las Padillas,” during an Oct. 21, 2023 sketch from Season 49. When the director points out she has pronunciation issues, she replies, “Oh, that makes sense. I don’t speak no Spanish.” But wasn’t a Latina supposed to be cast? “Who not Latina?” she replies. “My name is Latina Jefferson.”
The sketch includes Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and a surprise appearance late in the sketch by rock ’n’ roll legend Mick Jagger.
“Sábado Gigante”
In a spoof of the Spanish-language show “Sábado Gigante” (“Gigantic Saturday”), the comedian Nate Bargatze plays a man who gets picked to compete on the show but doesn’t speak Spanish. The skit aired on Oct. 5, 2024, and came back 11 weeks later with the actor Paul Rudd playing the non-Spanish speaking contestant this time.
“Sábado Gigante” was a flamboyant and spirited variety game show that was a staple in Mexican households for years and years. It originated in Chile in 1962 but moved its production to Miami in the 1980s and aired on Univision until its demise a decade ago. Its host was named Don Francisco, who was portrayed by SNL’s Marcello Hernández in the SNL skit.
Though Hernández is of Cuban and Dominican Republic descent, the main writer of the sketch, SNL’s Steven Castillo, is a Mexican American.
Mexico News Daily
