5 High-Flying ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketches About Superman

1 Superhero Party

Bill Murray as Superman hosts a 1970s dinner party with girlfriend Lois Lane, sporting a super-apron as he pops nachos in the oven. A bevy of costumed heroes show up to smoke and drink, but it’s John Belushi who steals the show as the Incredible Hulk. First, he accidentally sits on the Invisible Girl in the bathroom, then destroys the toilet with his gamma-radiated poop. “Take it easy,” he tells the gagging Flash. “It’s not supposed to smell like roses.”

2 Superman Auditions

The first Superman of the modern superhero movie era, Christopher Reeve, shows up to audition for his iconic role in this 1984 sketch. But he loses the part to spindly Rich Hall, who proves more adept at catching live bullets between his teeth.

3 Superman on the Lenny Wise Show

Superman superfan Jerry Seinfeld squeezes into the blue tights for this 1992 sketch, but it’s Phil Hartman as radio talk show host Lenny Wise who steals the show with questions like: 

• “Does it make you uncomfortable discussing kryptonite?” 
• “If I came upon a piece of kryptonite, how much do you think it’d be worth?” 
• “Any chance of telling us your secret identity?”

4 Superman’s Funeral

This 1992 sketch is a throwback to 1979’s Superhero Party, from obscure superheroes arriving in ridiculous costumes to Chris Farley emulating his hero Belushi in green body paint as the Hulk. Surprisingly, the inarticulate behemoth gives the most moving eulogy at Superman’s funeral service. “Hulk not good with words. Hulk write it down,” he begins before donning his reading spectacles. “Superman was that rarest of things. Every superhero owes him a debt of gratitude and homage. His life was a superhuman expression of the noblest aspirations of man. And in death, he has become the ideal. Of my friend Superman, I can only say this: He was my hero.” 

Then Hulk smash funeral home lectern.

5 Superman

John Mulaney got his turn to don the cape in this cut-for-time sketch from earlier this year. Sarah Sherman channels Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, but the sketch is really a showcase for Chloe Fineman as Lois’ bizarro roommate, Glenn. “Nice tights, by the way,” Glenn tells the Man of Tomorrow. “Whoa! I can almost see your peanut. Well, lucky for you, I’m deathly allergic. Otherwise, I would have bit that thing off, clean off!”