Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 2015–16

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced during the forty-first season of SNL, which began on October 3, 2015.

Young Girl Interrupting Porn Shoots

The shooting of a porn movie is regularly interrupted by a young girl (Aidy Bryant), seemingly unaware of the fictional aspect of the scene she has stumbled into.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	October 10, 2015	Amy Schumer	The girl interrupts "Hot For Teacher 8" starring Schumer and Kyle Mooney because she needs help going over the day's lesson. [1]
41	January 16, 2016	Adam Driver	The girl interrupts "The Doctor is in... My Butt 4" starring Driver as Dr. Rockhard and Beck Bennett. [2]
43	November 18, 2017	Chance the Rapper	The girl interrupts "Skank Babysitter 17" starring Chance and Heidi Gardner thinking that a pizza delivery is real despite her already having eaten dinner. [3]

Citizens Forum

An array of eccentric people monopolize the podium during the public comments segment of different public events such as a city council or school board meeting.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	October 10, 2015	Amy Schumer	Bakersfield, California city council meeting. [4]
41	January 23, 2016	Ronda Rousey	Again, citizens speak at a Bakersfield, California city council meeting. [5]
47	October 2, 2021	Owen Wilson	Parents speak about COVID-19 safety policies at a school board meeting. [6]
47	January 29, 2022	Willem Dafoe	Tenants speak at an apartment building's tenant meeting. [7]

Colleen Rafferty

Three people are being interrogated about a paranormal encounter or phenomenon they experienced. But Colleen Rafferty's (Kate McKinnon) recollection of the events vastly differs from the other two (played by Cecily Strong, typically, and the host), and is filled with unsavory details.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	December 5, 2015	Ryan Gosling	Close Encounter, with Kate McKinnon, Gosling, Strong, Aidy Bryant, and Bobby Moynihan. [8]
41	May 7, 2016	Brie Larson	Near-Death Experience, with McKinnon, Larson, Strong, Bryant, and Moynihan. [9]
42	December 17, 2016	Casey Affleck	Christmas Miracle, with McKinnon, Affleck, Strong, Bryant, and Moynihan. [10]
43	September 30, 2017	Ryan Gosling	Another Close Encounter, with McKinnon, Gosling, Strong, Bryant, and Mikey Day. [11]
44	November 10, 2018	Liev Schreiber	Paranormal Occurrence, with McKinnon, Schreiber, Strong, Bryant, and Day. [12]
44	May 18, 2019	Paul Rudd	A Journey Through Time, with McKinnon, Rudd, Strong, Bryant, and Day. [13]
47	May 21, 2022	Natasha Lyonne	Final Encounter, McKinnon's final episode as a cast member. With Lyonne, Strong, Bryant, and Day. [14]
49	April 13, 2024	Ryan Gosling	Close Encounter, McKinnon appears in a cameo. With Gosling, Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang, and Day. [15]
50	February 16, 2025	50th Anniversary Special	Close Encounter, with McKinnon, Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Bryant, and Jon Hamm.

Deenie, Somebody's Mom

Deenie (Kate McKinnon) inaccurately recaps her favorite shows on Weekend Update while eating from a plastic container.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	December 19, 2015	Tina Fey, Amy Poehler	Deenie gives a year-end wrap-up of daytime soaps while she eats baked salmon. [16]
41	April 9, 2016	Russell Crowe	Deenie discusses The People v. O. J. Simpson with Colin Jost while eating brussels sprouts and imitation crab. [17]

Undercover Boss

An Undercover Boss parody where Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) goes undercover as a low level employee to interact with his subordinates.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	January 16, 2016	Adam Driver	Kylo Ren goes undercover as Matt, a radar technician. [18]
45	January 25, 2020	Adam Driver	Kylo Ren goes undercover as Randy, an entry level intern. [19]

America's Funniest Pets

The presenter of an animal-based video clip show invites the two presenters of a French similar series, Joelle LaRue and Noelle LeSoup (Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon). He asks them to cohost the show and provide silly voiceovers for the clips. But said voiceovers turn out to be more depressing than their American counterpart.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	January 16, 2016	Adam Driver	Finn Raynal-Beads (Driver) presents America's Funniest Cats with LaRue and LeSoup. [20]
42	October 22, 2016	Tom Hanks	Ron Howard (Hanks) presents America's Funniest Pets with LaRue and LeSoup. [21]

True Tales From The Sea

Adventurers down on their luck are rescued by beautiful mermaids, including Shud (Kate McKinnon), a part-woman, part-blobfish mermaid who doesn't exactly enchant the men she's trying to seduce.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	March 12, 2016	Ariana Grande	Mermaids (Grande, Cecily Strong, McKinnon) of different aquatic species rescue three sailors (Beck Bennett, Taran Killam, and Bobby Moynihan) from a watery grave. Each mermaid needs to receive a kiss in order to become fully human. [22]
42	March 11, 2017	Scarlett Johansson	A World War 2 fighter pilot (Mikey Day) is shot down and falls into the sea but is rescued by Titacles (Beck Bennett) and must marry one of his mermaid daughters (Cecily Strong, Sasheer Zamata, McKinnon, Johansson). Cunk (Johansson) is 92% angler fish and grotesque like Shud. [23]

Shanice Goodwin: Ninja

Despite her big stature and general clumsiness, Shanice Goodwin (Leslie Jones), cashier by day and ninja by night, is inexplicably a master of stealth.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	April 9, 2016	Russell Crowe	Shanice rescues the ambassador's daughter (Vanessa Bayer) who has been kidnapped by the Russian mob (Crowe, Jon Rudnitsky, Kenan Thompson, Taran Killam). [24]
42	March 11, 2017	Scarlett Johansson	Sensei (Bobby Moynihan) has been kidnapped by the British mob (Mikey Day, Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, Alex Moffat, Kenan Thompson). Shanice joins her rival Dominika (Johansson) to rescue him. [25]

Chad

Pete Davidson plays Chad, an apathetic, easily distracted youth with limited conversational skills whose catchphrase is "okay". He's the heartbreaker of several people decades older than him, but he couldn't care less about their grand declarations of love. In one instance, he is the obsession of a psychopathic serial killer, but Chad takes no notice of the killer's attempts to torment him.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	April 16, 2016	Julia Louis-Dreyfus	Pool Boy [26]
42	November 5, 2016	Benedict Cumberbatch	Office Hours [27]
43	October 7, 2017	Gal Gadot	The Chosen One [28]
43	December 2, 2017	Saoirse Ronan	Bachelor Auction [29]
43	January 20, 2018	Jessica Chastain	Doctor's Orders [30]
44	March 2, 2019	John Mulaney	The Unknown Caller [31]
44	May 4, 2019	Adam Sandler	(Cut for Time) Chad's Journey
45	December 7, 2019	Jennifer Lopez	Chad & JLo [32]
45	February 8, 2020	RuPaul	Chad & RuPaul [33]
46	October 24, 2020	Adele	Chad in a Haunted Mansion [34]
46	May 8, 2021	Elon Musk	Chad on Mars [35]
50	February 16, 2025	50th Anniversary Special	The Stagehand

Suburban Mothers

A group of suburban mothers engage in cult-like behavior in trying to convert a newer, inexperienced mother into doing something that proved them of their motherhood.

Season	Episode	Host	Notes
41	May 7, 2016	Brie Larson	The moms convince a soon-to-be mother (Brie Larson) at her baby shower to get the "mom" haircut. As she realizes that she's transitioning to mom behaviors, the cut magically appears on her head. [36]
42	May 13, 2017	Melissa McCarthy	The moms explain to a new neighbor (Melissa Villaseñor) the ritual of choosing a "mom" animal to represent their entire personality. [37]