Cold Open
Donald Trump announces his collection of NFT trading cards.
• Ugh, ANOTHER Trump cold open!!! Hey, SNL, this guy’s not our President anymore! You don’t have to make every cold open focus on him!
• Anyway, he’s here to talk about his new collection of NFTs, which is apparently a thing the real Trump announced that week.
• None of these NFTs are making me laugh. Except maybe the one where he’s using eye lasers to melt Biden’s ice cream.
• It still feels weird seeing Mikey as Trump Jr. without Alex as Eric, and Cecily is adding nothing to this as Kimberly Guilfoyle (whoever that is).
Monologue
Austin Butler talks about immersing himself in the role of Elvis and how he overcame his shyness.
• I first became aware of Austin Butler when he appeared in an episode of iCarly in 2007. He played a hot guy that Carly fell in love with, who, ironically, is terrible at singing.
• All of the COVID references are funny in hindsight, given how it’s no longer a major concern.
• I love the doctored interview footage of him from ten years ago where he has a pitch-shifted voice.
• He actually mentions his Nickelodeon past here. Too bad they didn’t show any clips, because it would have been funny to see him singing with an awful voice!
• Rather bizarre how there’s no applause when he mentions he grew up watching SNL. In a lot of other monologues where people have said that, they usually get immediate applause.
• I love his Gollum impression!
• I can really identify with his stories about growing up shy, as I am also a very shy person.
• Overall, a nice, sweet monologue. I can already tell I’m going to like Austin as a host.
Sketch: The Phrase That Pays
Contestants try to find the missing letters in word puzzles.
• JAJ gets his first role as a game show host, something I’m surprised he hasn’t done before. Also, I’m fairly certain the name of his character (“Dan Smatter”) is supposed to be a pun of some kind, considering the track record of these game show sketches.
• I liked his response to Heidi interrupting his opening spiel: “Don’t do that. That’s not nice.”
• The live airing of this sketch had a bizarre error where the camera focused on Punkie while Heidi was delivering a line. This error has been fixed for reruns.
• Punkie constantly guessing that the answer contains “mama” is getting old.
• Totally predictable joke where Austin’s statement of confusion turns out to be the right answer.
• I’m not quite sure I understood Heidi’s reference to a chess player having a cheating device in his rear.
• The only thing I liked about this sketch was JAJ’s performance, especially his line at the end about how he knew there was an “X” in the last question, but doesn’t care.
Film: Christmas Epiphany
A drunk workaholic has a change of heart about his family.
• Nice retro black-and-white vibe. Kinda reminds me of a Schiller’s Reel.
• Amazing attention to detail on the audio quality of Mikey and Austin’s voices, sounding as if this is an old reel of film.
• I like the sudden turn this takes when Heidi spots Austin looking into her family’s house. It’s also amusing seeing Andrew wearing a mustache.
• I love Heidi’s odd robotic delivery.
• Great scene where Heidi makes the children look away from the window as Austin’s position makes it appear as if he’s giving Mikey a blowjob.
• Amazing twist at the end with Mikey’s character creepily peering through the window.
• Overall, a great film. This season has been having some really strong pretapes lately.
Sketch: Marzipan
The sweet treat that children crave more than any other during the holiday season.
• Already a bad omen for this sketch when Kenan starts talking in that annoying voice.
• Bowen’s character is extremely irritating.
• Austin’s glee at being abducted by someone with marzipan was pretty funny.
• I love Longfellow’s Frank Nelson-esque chef.
• Yet another sketch that just ends with everyone dancing. Why is that becoming a theme?
• I didn’t hate this as much as I did when it first aired, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Would it surprise you at all if I said that Kent Sublette wrote this?
Sketch: Jewish Elvis
Elderly women go crazy for Jewish Elvis.
• This sketch was apparently cut from the season premiere. I guess it made sense to save it for this episode because of the Elvis connection?
• No comment on Austin dressed like an old lady.
• An amazing concept of an Elvis that acts like a stereotypical Jew. Only from the mind of Sarah Sherman would you get an idea like that.
• I absolutely love the line about Austin’s “bagel” having too much cream cheese on it.
• One thing I’m not a fan of are Chloe’s constant reaction moments. Who does she think she is? Mikey Day?
• Second sketch in a row that ends with a song and dance number, although this one actually has, you know, a reason for it.
Musical Performance: “Break Up Twice”
• It’s interesting to note that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were originally booked for this episode, but their guitarist was sick with pneumonia so they had to pull out.
Weekend Update (featuring Krampus, Colin’s Great Aunt Pat, and Cathy Anne)
• Enough with the “seen here” jokes already.
• Bowen makes his first appearance on Update in quite a while. This time, he plays the mythological creature Krampus.
• The makeup on Bowen is pretty good, but the extremely flamboyant portrayal he’s giving Krampus is overdone by this point.
• At least we get a funny blooper where one of his horns starts coming off, and he ad-libs that he must be getting ill.
• Heidi’s decline continues as she debuts a new character: Colin’s “Great Aunt” Pat. This character has an extremely annoying voice and isn’t funny in the slightest. I sense Kent Sublette’s influence.
• Ugh, Cathy Anne is back. At least this is the last time we’ll ever be seeing this character, so I’ll try to be more lenient on her for once.
• You can hear some people in the audience gasp when Cathy Anne says she’s there to say goodbye.
• Kind of fitting how Cathy Anne’s final appearance has the cops chasing her for all of the bad things she’s talked about on Update.
• Nice use of Kate and Aidy in the picture of her cell mates.
• I love how she shows a picture of Cecily and Colin hosting Update together.
• Ballsy joke referring to Judy Garland as a “famous drug addict”.
• I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, that actually wasn’t too bad for a Cathy Anne commentary. You can tell Cecily is going to miss playing this character. She even gives Jost and Che a hug at the end. Awwww….
Sketch: White Elephant
Things don’t go quite as expected during a gift exchange.
• Hey, Devon still exists! And JAJ gets a non-impression role for the second time tonight!
• That ashtray looks so fake.
• Austin’s performance in this is so good! He’s really believable as a sore loser type of person. And, I find that very relatable, as I’ve acted like that sometimes.
• Not a fan of the random Santa ending.
Film: Jennifer Coolidge Is Impressed By Christmas Stuff
The actress browses various Christmas items.
• This sketch was cut from the previous episode.
• Chloe’s impression isn’t as spot on as it was last season. What the hell happened to it?
• I like Longfellow’s reaction when Chloe asks him if he wrote Jingle Bells.
• Punkie has a great disgusted reaction to Chloe comparing egg nog to Santa’s body fluids.
• Not the funniest sketch, but harmless enough.
Musical Performance: “Someday at Christmas”
Please Don’t Destroy: Plirts
The guys try to get Austin Butler to invest in their new company.
• Funny visual of Martin walking in wearing a plastic shirt.
• I love Austin’s reactions to all this nonsense.
• Great to see Devon and Marcello show up too.
• I like the continuity with Lizzo being in a relationship with Martin after her appearance in that short from last season.
• Marcello has a great moment when he shows the side-effects of wearing a plastic hat.
• Great ending where they all pose on the runway with their plastic accessories.
Sketch: Blue Christmas
Cecily’s last day at RadioShack is celebrated with the help of Casual Elvis.
• Oh, man. This is going to be hard for me to watch again…
• Decent subtext with Cecily playing someone who’s leaving RadioShack after many years.
• Is this Molly’s first appearance in the whole episode?!? What’s the deal with that?
• Kenan sounds like he’s trying not to cry.
• Excellent use of Austin’s Elvis impression, with him singing “Blue Christmas”.
• One thing I’m really going to miss about Cecily is her beautiful singing voice. No matter how much she’s annoyed me at times, I’ve always loved her singing.
• Now this is turning into a full cast sketch. Even Colin shows up to sing a few lines!
• Man, Colin’s trying way too hard to hold his tears in.
• Heartwarming moment where they all give Cecily a hug.
• Overall, wow. I don’t know what to say. When my brother and I heard that this would be Cecily’s last show, we were both excited that we’d no longer have to suffer through her burnt-out and lazy performances. But then this sketch came on, and we felt sorry that she was leaving. A beautiful farewell to the longest lasting female cast member, and one that almost makes me feel bad for criticizing her so much in the past.
Cut For Time: Fusion Scientist
A family gushes over their son after he helped with a massive scientific breakthrough
• I have no idea why this is only the second cut sketch we’ve gotten to see this year.
• Marcello is doing such a great job in this sketch as the jealous brother.
• I like the story about Marcello insulting his soccer team by saying that the sport is for “filthy South Americans”.
• And now even more disturbing details are being revealed about Marcello’s character, such as how he interned on porno films.
• Great scene where Marcello tries (and fails) to jump out the window when he finds out he’s adopted.
• A nice slice-of-life sketch. I wish this was in the live show and not that stupid marzipan bullshit.
Final thoughts: A great Christmas episode. Austin Butler made for a great host that was willing to do anything. I’d love to see him come back.
This is also the point where we have to say goodbye to Cecily Strong. What else is there to say about her? Her tenure started out good, had a shaky year in Season 39, but recovered from that and went on to have some good seasons. Then, around Season 45 or so, she started coming off more and more disinterested. This got worse in Season 46 when she missed a few episodes, and when she came back, she was even more out of place than ever. I’m just glad that she got the closure she deserved in this episode. Good luck with your future endeavors, Cecily.
Best sketches: Monologue, Christmas Epiphany, Jewish Elvis, Cathy Anne commentary, Plirts, Blue Christmas
Worst sketches: Cold Open, Marzipan, Great Aunt Pat commentary
Next review: Aubrey Plaza/Sam Smith
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