Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
SANTA’S MY BOYFRIEND
St. Nicholas-smitten AMP, KRW, MAR sing “Santa’s My Boyfriend”
— A nice change of pace for a cold opening.
— A funny and charming reveal that the new boyfriend the ladies are singing about is Santa.
— Fun chemistry between Maya, Amy, and Kristen. Whenever I think of SNL’s short-lived Rudolph/Poehler/Wiig trio of female cast members, this cold opening is always the first thing to pop in my mind. They may not be as acclaimed a female group as the Fey/Dratch/Rudolph/Poehler group, but I like this group, and they would end up being the last female cast for years (at least until Kristen leaves the show) that has any kind of cohesion.
— Very solid song from the ladies, and this is something I can kinda picture appearing in a very early SNL era, such as with Gilda, Jane, and Laraine.
STARS: ****
MONOLOGUE
host, Alvin (BIH), Simon (FRA), Theodore (ANS) sing “The Chipmunk Song”
— Being so used to Justin Timberlake’s hosting stints, it’s hard to believe this is only his second time hosting. He’s already coming off as a comfortable veteran host here.
— A fun and silly concept of Justin singing with Alvin and The Chipmunks, played by the cast.
— Bill constantly alternating between portraying Alvin in a bro-ish way and a conventional way is solid.
— I love Justin’s occasional Dave-esque angry yells of “AAALLLVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!”
STARS: ****
COMPETING CHARITIES
singing & dancing mascot & Salvation Army Santa (WLF) compete for change
— Like the first time Justin played this character the last time he hosted, I admire Justin’s fun energy, but I don’t care for the sketch itself. I had remembered tonight’s installment being the best installment of this sketch, but it’s not holding up well for me in my current viewing so far.
— I admit, I am finding Justin’s soup-themed take on Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop” catchy.
— Pretty funny line from Justin about how Christmas isn’t about kicking a cup of soup in the “croutons”, after Will has kneed him in the groin.
— I remember a fellow SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2006 (who’s username was “Mike (male)”, I believe) pointing out that Justin was so damn good in this sketch that he was even able to withstand ALL of the props accidentally falling down in the background during his and Will’s duet at the end.
— What was with the awkward look on Justin’s face at the end after he and Will say in unison “Bring it on in to Salvation Army/Homelessville!” He looked like something genuinely might’ve been bothering him, but maybe I’m looking too much into it (as I often tend to do).
— Overall, slightly better than these Dancing Mascot sketches usually are, but that’s still faint praise from me.
STARS: **½
TARGET
Target Lady & stock boy (host) exasperate holiday shoppers (MAR) & (WLF)
— You’d be forgiven for mistakenly thinking as soon as this sketch shows up that this is the Target Lady sketch where Justin plays his memorable “Classic Peg” character, but this is actually a different Target Lady sketch, in which Justin plays a completely different and far-less-remembered character. Justin plays Peg in his next hosting stint in season 34.
— SNL couldn’t even be bothered to put fake blood on Justin’s lip? It seemed silly when the camera cut to a close-up of him with a non-bloody lip after Maya pointed out that his lip is bleeding.
— Not sure how to feel about Justin’s character in this sketch so far. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to “Classic Peg”, that’s for sure.
— I like Justin’s knowing, foreshadowing delivery of “I hope a third thing doesn’t happen to theeeeeeemmmm” regarding the frequent misfortunes happening to his chapped lips. Otherwise, I’m not caring for the comedic conceit of his character.
— The Target Lady material is getting the usual blah reactions from me. At least we got a long break from this character after her last appearance prior to this (almost an exact year earlier, in the preceding season’s Peter Sarsgaard episode), a long break that I remember lulled me into a false sense of security back at this time, with me assuming SNL had given up on doing these sketches.
STARS: **
DICK IN A BOX
(host) & (ANS) sing about giving a phallic present
— Here comes another all-time very famous and legendary Lonely Island Digital Short.
— Great early 90s R&B look to Andy and Justin’s characters.
— Kristen doing absolutely solid work as usual, even in her silent, simple role of a sensual, sultry girlfriend.
— Hilarious reveal of what’s in the box that Justin gives to Kristen.
— An extremely catchy song. I particularly love the melody of the “See, I’m wiiiise enough to knoooow…” part, which I think is actually a sample from a real song from the early 90s (not sure which song, though).
— Maya’s emotional, heartfelt reaction to her dick-in-a-box gift is very funny.
— Even the little part where a shot of Andy sliding down a banister is played back-and-forth in forwards and reverse is so perfect.
— A particularly hilarious, stand-out part with the steps on how to make a dick in a box (“1: cut a hole in the box… etc.”).
— Another perfect little touch is the false ending, where Andy and Justin are shown on a stage singing the lyric “It’s my (*bleep*) in a box!” in unison, and then they stand in a frozen pose with their arms cheesily up in the air while the music stops, making you assume that’s the end of the short (I know *I* thought so when this short originally aired), only for the music, singing, and dancing to suddenly continue out of nowhere. I love that fake-out.
— Excellent ending with Andy and Justin getting arrested.
— Overall, absolutely perfect and epic, and by far breaks the slump of good-but-not-great Digital Shorts that this season has had. I remember how it was especially exciting to witness this short as it aired live and ALREADY have that feeling that you’re watching something truly special, something that you can tell will be the talk of the town online for the next week or so, especially after having seen how Lazy Sunday got that treatment an exact year prior.
— Until now, I had recently been of the (possibly unpopular) opinion that, as great as this short is, its later sequel, Mother Lovers, is actually superior to it. I’m now re-thinking that opinion, as I ended up enjoying Dick In A Box during this current re-watch more than I expected to. We’ll see how I feel about how the great Mother Lovers stacks up against this when we reach that episode.
STARS: *****
THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Jimmy Carter (DAH) & others discuss Iraq
— I’m sure to a good number of people, Dick In A Box immediately being followed by Barry Gibb Talk Show is a tremendous one-two punch (hell, just listen to the audience: their exuberant applause as the screen fades to black at the end of Dick In A Box turns into absolutely WILD screaming when the screen then fades in to this Barry Gibb sketch), but for me, the return of Barry Gibb Talk Show hurts the momentum that the show gained with Dick In A Box, as I never cared for Barry Gibb Talk Show as a recurring sketch. I’ve always felt it should’ve just stayed a one-off, as the sketch only worked for me in its debut. However, at least this sketch will keep up the huge energy that’s been in the air tonight.
— Here we have Jimmy Fallon during the odd, awkward, dark stage of his post-SNL career, after his failed attempt to become a movie star, but before his successful attempt to become a late night talk show host.
— I will say that I always love that Barry Gibb Talk Show theme song, at least.
— I got a chuckle from Justin’s Robin Gibb unhappily doing a facepalm in reaction to Kristen-as-Sandra-Day-O’Connor’s corny “Stayin’ Alive” pun.
— There goes Justin’s obligatory character break that happens once in every installment of this sketch, though this particular break was just a very mild and quick smirk.
— Speaking of breaking, I once again give credit to Jimmy for getting so into character as Barry Gibb that he refrains from his usual habit of breaking easily.
— Darrell’s Jimmy Carter routine feels kinda out of place in this sketch.
STARS: **
DRY EYES
game show contestants (host) & (FRA) try to keep from crying
— Unless I’m forgetting something, this is the very first game show host Bill has ever played. As we know now, he would go on to be one of SNL’s best-ever at regularly playing game show hosts.
— I love Bill’s reaction to Fred losing the first round by instantly crying.
— Very funny little part with Justin jovially laughing off Bill disclosing the sad fact that Justin’s father left him at a young age.
— Whenever Justin is fighting to keep from crying, I love the intense, wide-eyed look he stares into the camera with while turning his head slightly to the side (the third-to-last above screencap for this sketch).
— Fred is so good at making comical crying faces.
— What was the point of casting Kristen in the EXTREMELY brief, silent walk-on role as a game show model who walks Fred off of the show? SNL might as well have gotten an extra to play that role.
— The Sad Songs round Justin performs in is pretty solid.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “My Love”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Lou Dobbs (DAH) wants two walls & a trap door built along Mexican border
New Jerseyite same-sex couple’s Christmas wishes have been fulfilled
— Darrell-as-Lou-Dobbs’ line about eating a taco was pretty funny.
— A laugh from Darrell-as-Dobbs’ unconventional concepts regarding a Mexican border wall.
— Darrell’s overall Lou Dobbs commentary was short and sweet.
— Some really solid Update jokes tonight.
— Blah, the return of the Same-Sex New Jersey Couple. Sure, these characters are progressive compared to SNL’s demeaning portrayal of gays prior to this season, but these characters do nothing for me otherwise.
— I remember an SNL reviewer from back at this time in 2006 (I think the same reviewer I mentioned earlier: “Mike (male)”) made a good point when complaining that the fact that the second question Seth asks the Same-Sex New Jersey Couple in their so-called “topical” commentary tonight is a completely off-topic “What are you guys gonna get each other for Christmas?” is proof that SNL was really pushing it bringing these characters back tonight when the writers clearly didn’t have much of a way to tie them to current events this week. Did SNL just desperately want to use that groan-worthy mistletoe gag?
— What was with both Seth and Amy waving goodbye to us in unison in a cheesy, exaggerated manner during their sign-off? Inside joke, I take it?
STARS: ***½
HIP HOP KIDS
beats & dance moves harm chances of escape from mineshaft
— I recall disliking this sketch in my original 2006 review of this episode (link here), to the degree that, on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board where I originally posted that review, a board member who usually really liked my reviews actually called me out on being “way off” on my negative opinion of this Hip Hop Kids sketch (gee, thanks for telling me that MY OPINION is wrong). In fact, I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people seem to have a high regard for this sketch. I’ll go through this sketch with an open mind this time, in an attempt to see what all the hoopla is about.
— Surprisingly, this is Jason and Kenan’s respective first appearance of the night, and for Jason, it ends up being his ONLY appearance of the night.
— There goes Maya doing that slowly-lean-back-in-a-staccato-manner dance move in yet another sketch.
— Amy: “That’s a stalactite, Jo-Jessica! You gotta recognize your sedimentary rock formations!”
— Oh, I love the voice Jason’s using.
— Jason’s using some of the same dance moves he would later famously use on a regular basis in the future What Up With That sketches.
— I’m already starting to come around on this sketch. I’m finding it fun and amusing, even if I still wouldn’t call it particularly great.
— Second episode in a row with Bill being unrecognizable under make-up he wears as a monster, this time with him being accompanied by an also-unrecognizable Will as a fellow monster.
— What the heck is Amy cracking up at?
— Funny reveal of Amy and Justin having eaten some of their friends.
— Now it’s Justin’s turn to crack up again.
— SNL would strangely and randomly bring this sketch back THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS LATER, with a completely different and less-fun host (Ryan Phillippe) and with almost all of the characters being replaced with new ones (even Kristen oddly plays a different-named character than the one she plays in the first installment of the sketch). I doubt many people remember that second installment as well as this Timberlake one. The only things I remember about the second installment are Andy playing a voice-of-reason character among the hip hop kids, and then-cast-member Abby Elliott doing a really bad and unconvincing attempt at speaking in an urban voice.
STARS: ***½
ELF AUDITION
(host)’s stepmom Virginiaca tries helping her audition to be a Macy’s elf
— I remember someone (possibly SNL Archives, back when that site used to include tidbit notes for some sketches) pointing out the misspelling of the word “freight” in the sign in the background of this sketch that states “frieght elevator” (the second and third above screencaps for this sketch).
— Speaking of the background, Kenan can unintentionally be seen standing outside of the door entrance, waiting for his cue to enter (the second above screencap for this sketch).
— UGH, the obligatory return of the painfully-unfunny and hacky Starkish– uh, I mean Virginiaca. Ha, that gaffe of me nearly referring to Virginiaca as Starkisha was actually genuine, which just goes to show you how similar those two characters are.
— So I guess we’re supposed to ignore the fact that Virginiaca had a completely different white stepdaughter in the previous installment of this sketch?
— Speaking of Starkisha, the gag with Virginiaca pointlessly using her cellphone to call up the person standing right next to her was actually used before in a Starkisha sketch (the one from the season 30 Paris Hilton episode), further proving my point that there are almost no differences between the Starkisha and Virginiaca sketches, except the fact that the Virginiaca sketches are even worse.
STARS: *
A HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM NANCY GRACE
Nancy Grace (AMP) is sympathetic to those making false rape accusations
— At least we get a change of pace for Amy’s Nancy Grace, with her being taken out of her TV show.
— Sounds kinda odd hearing the audience very lightly giggling throughout Amy’s serious, non-comedic intro speech about sexual assault. I’m assuming the audience (who has been very energetic tonight in general) is eagerly awaiting the comedic conceit of this sketch.
— Some chuckle-worthy lines from Amy, but something is a little off-putting about this sketch to me. The dour, slow pacing of it, along with the dark (and not the good kind of dark humor that I love) rape-themed subject matter, all feel very odd and out of place in this high-energy, fun-loving Christmas episode.
— I got a laugh from Amy’s threat to pull out the Duke boys’ hearts and eat it.
— Overall, not awful, but I probably would’ve appreciated this sketch more elsewhere. It just felt too wrong, jarring, and momentum-killing for the tone of this episode, especially as the final sketch of the night. How do you close a fun-loving Christmas episode with THIS (the following Timberlake musical performance notwithstanding)?
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “What Goes Around”
BAND SHOT
— The show has apparently had to cut a scheduled sketch at the last minute, as the show comes back from a commercial break just to show the SNL Band playing for a few seconds before the show immediately goes back to another commercial break. At least the rarely-shown-by-this-point SNL Band gets some much-needed airtime, and at least I now know SNL didn’t originally plan on that dour, out-of-place Nancy Grace piece being the final sketch of this otherwise-upbeat Christmas episode. I wonder what cut-at-the-last-minute sketch was scheduled for this spot.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad. I don’t find this episode to be anywhere NEAR the classic that a lot of people seem to, but there were a few strong things in the first half of the show (particularly the centerpiece of the show: the priceless and legendary Dick In A Box), and, as I mentioned earlier, almost all of this episode had a fun-loving, upbeat energy (partly helped by Justin Timberlake’s presence), which is nice to see in a Christmas episode, and somewhat helped my mood towards this episode. However, this episode was bogged down by how weak a lot of the recurring stuff was, as well as the odd note the Nancy Grace sketch ended the show on.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Annette Bening)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 2007, with host Jake Gyllenhaal