The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between September 28, 1996, and May 17, 1997, the twenty-second season of SNL.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo

A cartoon by Robert Smigel, part of the Saturday TV Funhouse series. Originally appeared on the Dana Carvey Show. Debuted September 28, 1996.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 September 28, 1996 Tom Hanks It Takes Two To Tango 22 November 2, 1996 Chris Rock Queen of Terror 22 December 14, 1996 Rosie O'Donnell Don We Now... Or Never 22 April 19, 1997 Pamela Anderson Safety Tips 23 November 15, 1997 Claire Danes Blow Hot, Blow Cold 23 May 9, 1998 David Duchovny A Hard One To Swallow 24 November 21, 1998 Jennifer Love Hewitt The Ambiguously Gay Duo Fan Club 24 May 8, 1999 Cuba Gooding Jr. AmbiguoBoys 25 May 13, 2000 Britney Spears Trouble Coming Twice 28 October 19, 2002 John McCain The Third Leg Of Justice 33 September 29, 2007 LeBron James First Served, First Come 36 May 14, 2011 Ed Helms The Dark, Clenched Hole Of Evil

Mr. Peepers

Mr. Peepers was a part-monkey/part-human character created and portrayed by Chris Kattan. His signature bits of physical comedy involved eating apples one after another in rapid succession, and spitting out the pieces machine gun style. Often he would spit the apple chunks directly at characters in the scene. His other physical act was dry humping other characters, with the recipient of the act getting reprimanded when they tried to push him off.

Mr. Peepers was first introduced as an animal act brought out by John Barbary (played by Tom Hanks) on a parody of The Tonight Show (with Darrell Hammond as Jay Leno). In an episode in the 25th season, "Papa Peepers" (played by The Rock) was revealed to be Mr. Peepers's father. Another memorable sketch was a parody of an episode of Dawson's Creek, featuring Katie Holmes as Joey, the character she played on that show. On the Weekend Update segment of the May 17, 2003 episode, Chris Kattan performed a lightning-round montage of his most popular characters, and assumed the character of Mr. Peepers for a brief moment during that bit. It was the final episode of the 2002–2003 season, and also Kattan's last episode as a cast member.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 September 28, 1996 Tom Hanks 22 January 11, 1997 Kevin Spacey 22 March 15, 1997 Sting 23 November 15, 1997 Claire Danes 24 October 3, 1998 Kelsey Grammer 24 December 5, 1998 Vince Vaughn 25 November 20, 1999 Jennifer Aniston 25 December 11, 1999 Danny DeVito 25 March 18, 2000 The Rock 26 November 4, 2000 Charlize Theron 26 February 24, 2001 Katie Holmes 27 April 6, 2002 Cameron Diaz

Kincaid Played by Ana Gasteyer, Kincaid was a fast-talking MTV VJ. Sketch debuted September 28, 1996.

Gene, the Ex-Convict A Colin Quinn sketch. Debuted October 5, 1996.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 October 5, 1996 Lisa Kudrow 23 December 6, 1997 Nathan Lane

The Quiet Storm The Quiet Storm was a radio show hosted by Chris "Champagne" Garnett (Tim Meadows). Debuted October 19, 1996.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 October 19, 1996 Bill Pullman 22 February 22, 1997 Alec Baldwin 23 December 6, 1997 Nathan Lane

Ruby Daly A Molly Shannon character (in the same vein of her Courtney Love impression, complete with a cigarette and a sexy rusky voice) that debuted in the October 5, 1996 episode. She was a victim of an accident that waken up in her a complete obsession for Natalie Wood.

The Culps The Culps, or "The Culp Family Musical Performances", were recurring characters that appeared on SNL between 1996 and 2002, and were portrayed by Will Ferrell (as Marty Culp), and Ana Gasteyer (as Bobbi Mohan-Culp). Marty and Bobbi were an awkward, unstylish, married couple who served as music teachers at Altadena Middle School. In the sketches, they would perform prim, conservative medleys of modern pop, R&B or rap songs at various school functions, much to the embarrassment of their unseen son who attended the school; when Claire Danes hosted, she played their college-student daughter, embarrassed beyond words when her parents performed during Career Day.

Marty played the keyboard and sings backup, while Bobbi was the lead vocalist, who sang in a high-pitched, operatic style. In between medleys, the Culps make comments to the audience of middle school students, often implying that the children are mocking them, most often by showing them the finger. Debuted November 2, 1996.

The Culps followed in the tradition of earlier skits that began with 1970s sketch Nick The Lounge Singer and continued in the 1980s with The Sweeney Sisters. The basic premise being that the singers, who usually perform in bottom-of-the-barrel gigs, sing modern songs in their own unique style, but are totally oblivious to how unstylish and "cheesy" their performances are.

Ferrell and Gasteyer reprised their roles in 2012 when Ferrell hosted the May 12th episode. The couple had a gig at an LGBT prom. They later returned for the 40th anniversary special on February 15, 2015, in a tribute of musical sketches, and at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in 2025.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 November 2, 1996 Chris Rock 22 February 15, 1997 Chevy Chase 22 May 10, 1997 John Goodman 23 November 15, 1997 Claire Danes 23 December 13, 1997 Helen Hunt 23 February 14, 1998 Roma Downey 23 April 11, 1998 Greg Kinnear 24 October 17, 1998 Lucy Lawless 24 January 9, 1999 Bill Paxton 24 May 15, 1999 Sarah Michelle Gellar 25 November 6, 1999 Dylan McDermott 25 February 5, 2000 Alan Cumming 25 May 20, 2000 Jackie Chan 26 November 11, 2000 Calista Flockhart 26 January 13, 2001 Charlie Sheen 26 April 14, 2001 Renee Zellweger 27 September 29, 2001 Reese Witherspoon 27 December 15, 2001 Ellen DeGeneres 27 April 6, 2002 Cameron Diaz 37 May 12, 2012 Will Ferrell

The Delicious Dish The Delicious Dish is a culinary-themed radio show hosted by Margaret Jo McCullen (Ana Gasteyer) and Teri Rialto (Molly Shannon). The show is presented as a parody of public radio (and in particular, NPR), with very quiet, low-key hosts and dull, specialized subject matter. The pleasant, modest hosts are typically quite taken with the sometimes crushingly dry subject being discussed—albeit in an extremely reserved (but unfailingly chipper) way. The SNL episode's host will play a guest appearing on "The Delicious Dish", who is typically portrayed as being just as uncharismatic as the hosts. When Molly Shannon left the show during the 2000–2001 season, Rialto was replaced by the new co-host Lynn Bershad, played by Rachel Dratch.

In an interview with the real NPR, Gasteyer cited The Splendid Table, and Good Food—a local program on member station KCRW—as influences on the sketch. She noted that because of the lack of commercials, a show could easily "take [its] time and explore a subject to the point that people want to weep with boredom".

The most well-known edition of the sketch featured host Alec Baldwin as the chef Pete Schweddy—whose store sells the Christmas dish "Schweddy Balls". The two hosts remained consistently oblivious to the various double entendres being used by Schweddy to describe the dish (relating to "balls" as a slang term for testicles), such as stating that the balls can be bought in a "sack", and boasting that "no one can resist my Schweddy Balls." In 2014, Rolling Stone named the "Schweddy Balls" sketch the 20th best SNL sketch of all time, noting that "those who didn't get the joke on first utterance would get multiple chances." So iconic was this simple bit of wordplay that Ben & Jerry's produced an ice cream in honor of the skit in 2011 (although said flavor would also result in controversy among groups who felt that it was inappropriate for such a product).

Gasteyer and Shannon reprised their characters in a one-off revival of the sketch during the May 8, 2010 episode, with host Betty White playing guest Florence Dusty—a baker famous for her "dusty muffins".

In 2024, Gasteyer and Shannon revived their characters for Capital One advertisements where they interview Samuel L. Jackson and "Capital One Bank Guy" (Jeremy Brandt), in partnership with SNLs 50th anniversary.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 November 16, 1996 Robert Downey Jr. 22 December 14, 1996 Rosie O'Donnell 22 February 8, 1997 Neve Campbell 22 May 10, 1997 John Goodman 23 October 18, 1997 Brendan Fraser 23 December 13, 1997 Helen Hunt 23 March 14, 1998 Julianne Moore 24 October 3, 1998 Kelsey Grammer 24 December 12, 1998 Alec Baldwin The "Schweddy Balls" episode. 25 December 11, 1999 Danny DeVito 26 October 21, 2000 Dana Carvey 26 February 17, 2001 Sean Hayes 26 April 7, 2001 Alec Baldwin First appearance by Dratch as Lynn Bershad. Baldwin reprises his character of Pete Schweddy, this time promoting his "Schweddy Wiener". 27 March 16, 2002 Ian McKellen 35 May 8, 2010 Betty White Gasteyer and Shannon returned to their original roles for the sketch.

Shopping at Home Network A Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan sketch. Debuted November 16, 1996.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 November 16, 1996 Robert Downey Jr. 22 January 18, 1997 David Alan Grier 22 March 15, 1997 Sting Mark Hamill appears as himself.

Cinder Calhoun Portrayed by Ana Gasteyer, Calhoun was an activist, feminist singer who played at the Lilith Fair festival. In one episode, she is introduced as the warm-up act for the festival. Ultra-politically correct, she would go out of her way to pronounce ethnic-named cities in their native dialect and would frequently dedicate her songs to activist causes. On a Christmas episode she sang a song called "Christmas Chainsaw Massacre", referring to the "senseless cutting down of innocent trees for our twisted holiday pleasure". She also performed the anti-Thanksgiving song "Basted in Blood" in a duet with Sarah McLachlan, referencing in her introduction as being inspired by Fiona Apple's criticism of Butterball Turkey for having a 1-800 number for Turkey recipes. She professed her love for Garth Brooks in a song entitled "Adonis in Blue Jeans" when he hosted the show. Debuted November 23, 1996 in a Thanksgiving Song Auditions sketch.

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 23 September 27, 1997 Sylvester Stallone 23 November 22, 1997 Rudy Giuliani 23 February 28, 1998 Garth Brooks 23 May 9, 1998 David Duchovny 24 December 5, 1998 Vince Vaughn

Celebrity Jeopardy!

A parody of the annual celebrity tournament of the television quiz show Jeopardy!. Debuted December 7, 1996.

Janet Reno's Dance Party Janet Reno's Dance Party ("coming to you live, from my basement/the deck of a battleship") was an SNL sketch starring Will Ferrell as U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. It aired four times and featured the song "My Sharona" by the Knack. Debuted January 11, 1997. During the dance party, Reno expressed an aversion to mosh pits and accused her youthful guests of lying during interviews. While she opposed moshing, Reno did engage in stage-diving during one episode, warning the dancing youths below to brace themselves for "180 lb of pure Reno." In most episodes, Darrell Hammond would make an appearance as then-President Bill Clinton, urging Janet to leave her basement and rejoin society; he would assure her that nobody blamed her for the events at Waco, to which Reno would respond, "DANCE PARTY TAKES AWAY WACO!". Notable guests included Donna Shalala (played by Kevin Spacey), who slow-danced with Janet; and Rudy Giuliani (played by himself), who lost to Janet in a boxing match. The last time the sketch aired, January 20, 2001, which was her last day as Attorney General, Janet Reno herself made an appearance. Will Ferrell stated:

Appearances Season Episode Host Notes 22 January 11, 1997 Kevin Spacey 22 February 8, 1997 Neve Campbell 23 November 22, 1997 Rudy Giuliani 26 January 20, 2001 Mena Suvari

The X-Presidents