Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
SILENT NIGHT
The New York City Children’s Chorus [real] performs “Silent Night”
— A classy and touching way to address the previous day’s Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy, without being direct about it. Even now, when I’m 8 years removed from the tragedy, this cold opening is putting a lump in my throat.
— This would end up being this decade’s first of several somber cold openings that occur shortly after a tragic event has happened, usually tragic events involving mass casualties. Unlike this Silent Night cold opening, most of this decade’s other somber cold openings are direct in openly addressing the tragedy that had happened.
— When this cold opening originally aired, I remember that the moment where the camera fades to black after the Silent Night song concludes made me initially think that SNL was going to immediately go from that fade-to-black to the opening montage, without anyone saying “Live from New York…”, which shocked me, as it would’ve been the first time in, I believe, decades that a cold opening didn’t contain a “Live from New York…” or any kind of variation. However, when the fade-to-black in this particular cold opening was then followed by the camera fading back into the children to show them delivering an upbeat “Live from New York…”, I realized that SNL added the fade-to-black for a poignant, respectful touch.
STARS: N/A (not a ratable segment)
MONOLOGUE
MAS sings about holiday lustfulness; PAS, KRW, JIF, TIF, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson cameos
— Martin Short’s usual energy and comedic style is exactly what SNL and its viewers needed to lift up the show’s spirits during these times.
— Paul Shaffer!
— A huge laugh from the sudden part with Martin stepping right on Paul Shaffer’s hands when walking to the top of the piano, resulting in a great “OW!” from Paul.
— Martin’s whole “How does a man sit at the piano, I wonder” bit is great.
— This is now the FOURTH consecutive musical monologue, but for various reasons, I can’t complain about tonight’s particular instance of a musical monologue.
— Very nice to see that Cecily, Aidy, and Kate, “the new girls” as Martin calls them collectively, get their special little moment with Martin.
— And, of course, immediately after the special moment the new girls get, we get a Kristen Wiig cameo. Something about that succession seems strangely on-brand for SNL.
— Not sure, but I think Kristen rubbing Martin’s body with her “Dooneese” hand was an ad-lib, judging by Martin’s amusing reaction to that.
— Wow! Jimmy Fallon? Tom Hanks? Samuel L. Jackson? All randomly appearing in rapid succession backstage? Very fun.
— Funny unscripted bit with the llama.
— Such an enjoyable song from Martin, and as I often mention, I’m a sucker for former cast members doing monologues where they go all around the studio & backstage while singing.
— Now we get Tina Fey randomly seen standing next to Lorne. Yep, SNL’s definitely breaking out all the cameos in tonight’s Christmas episode.
— Martin even has the ability to make a cheap man-on-man kiss funny, as seen during his moment with Lorne.
— Interestingly, there’s no “Stick around, we’ll be right back” or anything else after Martin says “Paul McCartney is here!” at the end of this.
STARS: ****
A TONY BENNETT CHRISTMAS
Tony Bennett (Alec Baldwin) & brother Jerry (MAS) meet Kanye West (JAP)
— Tonight’s plethora of cameos from (mostly) SNL-related people continues, as we randomly get Alec Baldwin showing up and reprising The Tony Bennett Show sketches. With this being years before episodes containing a plethora of cameos would become a frequent habit and would be an annoyance to certain SNL fans (including myself), I can certainly enjoy it in this episode. In fact, the cameos are adding to the feel-good, Christmas-y spirit of this episode.
— This ends up being the final installment of the Tony Bennett Show sketches.
— Alec’s Tony Bennett is as funny as always, and Martin is solid as his similarly-traited brother.
— The story from the Bennett brothers about a girl with hemorrhoids is priceless, as is Jay-as-Kanye-West’s reaction.
— Fun and charming chemistry between Alec and Martin during the closing song.
— I like Martin unusual way of hugging the lower half of Alec’s body throughout this sketch.
— I’m surprised by how fairly short this overall sketch was, but no complaints from me.
STARS: ***½
ROYAL FAMILY DOCTOR
equerry (MAS) briefs Kate Middleton’s ob-gyn (BIH) on vagina protocol
— Hilarious characterization from Martin.
— The various vocalizations and phrases Martin uses in regards to how to refer to “the royal “*ahem*” are such a perfect use of Martin’s comedic style.
— I’ve always had a theory that John Mulaney possibly wrote this sketch and, between dress rehearsal and the live show, changed the scripted vocalizations and phrases that Martin was to use for “the royal “*ahem*”, in an attempt to catch Bill off-guard during the live show, ala the Stefon commentaries on Weekend Update. What makes me think that is the fact that Bill seems GENUINELY taken aback and amused by Martin’s various vocalizations and phrases for “the royal “*ahem*”, as if he wasn’t expecting them. Then again, Bill is easily breakable at this stage of his SNL tenure, so those vocalizations and phrases from Martin could possibly be stuff Bill was already familiar with, plus I can’t blame anyone for having a hard time keeping a straight face at Martin Short.
— Ha, Bobby could unintentionally be seen sneaking into the scene before he “magically popped up” to Bill’s side.
— Martin continues to be comedy gold in his delivery and performance here.
— Fred’s mere entrance gets a huge applause from the audience.
— Could’ve done without the ending gag involving Fred’s Queen Elizabeth hiking up her skirt and spreading her legs, as if we haven’t already seen Fred do that enough times in these later years of his SNL tenure. However, I did get a laugh from how him hiking up his skirt resulted in long, uncomfortable, awkward silence between Bill and Martin.
STARS: ****
YOU’RE A RAT BASTARD, CHARLIE BROWN
Al Pacino (BIH) heads all-star cast
— A very memorable and well-liked piece among SNL fans.
— Hilarious choices of out-of-place celebrities to play Peanuts characters.
— Martin is particularly spot-on as Larry David, both physically and verbally.
— Much like Martin as Larry David, Taran truly does have a strong facial resemblance to Michael Keaton here.
— The bleep-filled football scene between Bill’s Al Pacino and Kate’s Edie Falco is particularly funny.
— During the ending split-screen shot of the various actors playing Peanuts characters, Bobby can be seen among them (the last above screencap for this commercial), despite the fact that he wasn’t shown at any point earlier in this commercial. He’s playing Joe Pesci as the Peanuts character Woodstock, IIRC, but his main portions were cut from this commercial after dress rehearsal. Same goes for Fred, who could be seen very briefly in a Snoopy costume at one point in the middle of this commercial (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this commercial). I can’t remember which celebrity I heard he played in this.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Joe Walsh [real] perform “My Valentine”
WEEKEND UPDATE
newly bar mitzvahed Jacob tells story of Hanukkah & roasts family
The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party is supercilious sot
— Vanessa’s Jacob character makes his first SNL appearance since his debut two seasons prior. That debut from two seasons prior was in a sketch, but all of his subsequent appearances are on Weekend Update.
— Vanessa’s doing a spot-on, enjoyable, and endearing spoof of typical bar mitzvah speeches, even down to the little detail of her Jacob character moving his finger along the words he’s reading from his speech.
— Some laughs from how Jacob never answers Seth’s questions, and instead just goes back to reading from his speech.
— This Jacob commentary is starting to get really repetitive (even if that’s the point), but the endearing quality that Vanessa’s bringing to this is maintaining my goodwill. I get the feeling I’m not going to be so lenient in this character’s subsequent Update commentaries, given how almost all of them are basically the EXACT SAME THING. We’ll see, though.
— Ha, even Seth has a hard time saying The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party’s name.
— Girl You Wish etc.: “You need to grow up, Seth. ‘Cause there are some people in Africa right now where it’s like, nooo.”
— Girl You Wish etc.: “I’m sorry…why can’t Secret Santa just be openly gay?!?”
— Girl You Wish etc.: “It’s origami. That’s Spanish for ‘goose’.”
STARS: ***
WHAT UP WITH THAT?
Samuel L. Jackson & Carrie Brownstein [real] observe
— This ends up being the final installment of this recurring sketch, until it gets a surprise revival during an “SNL At Home” episode 8 years later.
— Curiously, Cecily has replaced Nasim in Nasim’s regular role as one of the two backup singers, despite Nasim still being in SNL’s cast, which must mean they have something different planned for her in tonight’s installment.
— Another rare instance of Jason’s red tracksuit dancing character (Vance) actually speaking.
— I love Samuel L. Jackson’s angry warning to Kenan’s Deondre Cole to not cut him off.
— Jackie Rogers Jr.!!!! Not only is it a blast to see Martin bring him back, but he’s actually very fitting in a What Up With That sketch.
— Tim’s dancing past the screen as a casually-dressed Santa is hilarious.
— Ah, there’s Nasim. Fun appearance from her as “Grinchina”. I wonder if the reason for her playing a different role than usual in tonight’s What Up With That installment is because she possibly spoke up to the writers or Lorne, telling them she was tired of being stuck playing one of the backup singers in this recurring sketch and wanted to finally get a comedic showcase in it.
— Other than the Jackie Rogers Jr. appearance, here comes the most noteworthy moment of tonight’s What Up With That installment: Samuel L. Jackson exclaiming in frustration an unscripted “Man, fu–”, cutting himself off before saying the full F-bomb. Then, while Kenan is responding to that by ad-libbing “Hey!” and “Come on, Sam!”, an off-camera Samuel adds in, “This some bullshit!” This results in an absolutely classic ad-lib from Kenan: “Come on, now! That costs money!”
— I love how, while Kenan is thanking her for being on the show, Carrie Brownstein does a mouth-zipping motion, referring to Samuel’s half-F-bomb and full-S-bomb. I also love the meta-ness of Kenan calling Brownstein “the funny one in Portlandia”.
— Overall, the Jackie Rogers Jr. appearance and the ad-libs between Samuel L. Jackson & Kenan make this one of the more standout installments of What Up With That. Not a bad way at all for this recurring sketch to go out (until 2020).
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear [real] perform “Cut Me Some Slack”
OLD FRIENDS
old friends (FRA) & (MAS) meet while shopping & catch up on inadequacies
— Hmm, interesting and unusual how this sketch has an intro from Kenan, standing in front of the sketch’s set.
— Funny mention of Fred being a professional James Cameron impersonator at parties.
— We get a lot more hilarious bizarre reveals that Fred and Martin are casually making about themselves. I am loving the absurd humor in this, as well as the smooth way it’s flowing and the way it’s being played completely straight, all of which makes this sketch feel like a typical sketch from British sketch comedy shows. A very underrated little sketch, and this is easily one of the better things Fred has done in these past-his-prime later years of his SNL tenure.
STARS: ****
PAGEANT AUDITION
(MAS) won’t let his musical partner (musical guest) sing during Christmas pageant audition
— Amusing opening bit with Kenan.
— Very fun pairing of tonight’s host and musical guest.
— Although the “ironic” concept of Paul playing the member of a musical duo who can’t sing has potential to be too corny, there’s more than enough goodwill and charm from this sketch to prevent that corniness.
— Martin’s sudden angry “THAT’S YOUR CUE, MONTY!!!” outburst has me laughing out loud.
— Very funny bit with Paul now dinging his triangle too early, inducing another hilarious angry outburst from Martin.
— Wow, an awesome and clever way to segue from this sketch to Paul’s next musical performance. Love it.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & The New York City Children’s Chorus [real] perform “Wonderful Christmas Time”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Wow. This was an even better episode than I had remembered, which is certainly saying something, as I had always been very fond of this episode. I’m pleasantly surprised to see how even MORE fond of this episode I was during my viewing just now. I mean, man, look at all of those high ratings I gave out throughout the review. In fact, the only two things all night that got a rating below four stars was A Tony Bennett Christmas and Weekend Update, and those were still good. This episode probably has one of the highest rating averages out of this entire SNL project. And in addition to how consistently strong this episode was, it had such a feel-good, Christmas-y energy, helped by Martin Short’s always-fun presence. That combo of strong sketches and a feel-good, Christmas-y energy is how I like my Christmas episodes of SNL to be.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
You’re A Rat Bastard, Charlie Brown
What Up With That?
Monologue
Royal Family Doctor
Old Friends
Pageant Audition
A Tony Bennett Christmas
Weekend Update
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jamie Foxx)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 2013, with host Jennifer Lawrence
Man, this season is on a ROLL. I wasn’t sure how accurate my cheery memories of this season were, but I think they’re justified. I do recall things falling off once we get to 2013, though, so we’ll see how they go.
Michael,
From what I recall (and this is the faintly remembered opinion of a 14 year old, so you know you can trust it) the next 3 episode are pretty rough, and I remember worrying that the show’s streak was over, but then things pick up with the Waltz episode and remain fairly strong the rest of the season. There’s a chance I’m wrong about the next 3, though, since 14 year old me was pretty much predisposed to hate the Bieber & Levine episodes.
Yeah, my memories (and I haven’t rewatched):
Lawrence/Levine/Bieber: Bad, with Levine being slightly better than the rest
Waltz: Really good
Hart: Okay
Timberlake: Pretty good, better than the last Timberlake one
McCarthy: I can’t remember this one because I get her hosted episodes interchanged in my mind.
Vaughn: Weak, but one of my all-time favorite sketches
Galifianakis: Good
Wiig: I think not good, but I don’t recall
Affleck: Good
So yeah, after a very distressing January dip, things do improve a lot more down the stretch.
Yeah that’s about how I remember it, though I actually remember the Hart one being great, but I was much more into his shtick at 14. His most recent episode was AWFUL, though.
Yeah what a great first half of the season.
From what I remember the second half unfortunately doesn’t match that
“This would end up being this decade’s first of several somber cold openings that occur shortly after a tragic event had happened, usually tragic events involving mass casualties.”
I remember Cecily’s speech after the Paris attacks and Jason Aldean after the Vegas shooting. Any others I’m forgetting?
I didn’t mind the 9/11 tribute a decade earlier because New York was the epicenter of that tragedy, but these tributes to tragedies in Paris, Vegas and even Sandy Hook just felt wildly out of place on a comedy show. I know I’m a rat bastard for saying it, but they just come across as cringy to me. Sweeter than the maudlin To Obama With Love, but cringy nonetheless. I’m sorry, but that’s the way I feel. Otherwise, one of the funniest episodes of this season.
Sandy Hook had happened the day before. They had to do something. It would look tone deaf not to.
The Clinton one was absolutely atrocious.
Even the Clinton One I felt was appropriate at the time and I admit can still get me kind of choked up (I’m a major softee). The Obama one was just embarrassing, though, and one of the most transparently bullshit things the shows ever done.
The same program that enabled and normalized Trump by letting him host can’t act like it’s a tragedy when he wins.
Especially after they spent weeks acting like he had no chance.
One review called the “Silent Night” performance “a way of addressing the tragedy without actually addressing it.” Perhaps it would have been better to be direct.
I can’t imagine putting on a show the day after Sandy Hook. That had to be gutting.
There was also the Hallelujah opening in the 2016 Dave Chappelle episode, not only paying tribute to the election (by having McKinnon!Hillary sing it as a thank you to her supporters) but also to the then-recent death of Leonard Cohen.
Obviously not quite AS tragic an event as others, but it was the first tribute that came to mind with this opening.
Paul Giamatti’s character in Spy Glass from his season 30 episode has the same name as Martin Short’s Royal Family Doctor, Rupert Smythe Pennington.
Both WUWT guests were also guests on Letterman the night before.
To this day, Jackson claims he only said “fuh” but idk, sounded like he put a k sound on the end of it to me. The next week he went on Jimmy Kimmel Live and said that Kenan was supposed to cut him off and didn’t he added “I’m used to working with professionals who know their lines, even the ones that are written on cue cards in front of you.” Kenan said that Jackson did apologize for calling unprofessional at a later date. Jackson did acknowledge he did say “bullshit”. All that being said “Come on now, that costs money” is one of my favorite ad libs ever on the show.
https://twitter.com/SamuelLJackson/status/280186515873738752
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/samuel-l-jackson-snl-f-404865
I watched this episode when it originally aired (first one for me in a few years) and was surprised to Fred Armisen still on the show despite already having Portlandia on his plate.
This was definitely the strongest first half of a season out of the entire 2010s. Season 42 came close but there were a couple pretty weak shows in there.
DRESS CUTS
Malibu High
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dress-rehearsal-malibu-high/n30780
The Essentials – Muggin’ & Hammin’
~ Robert Osborne (Sudeikis) presents the work of Muggin’ Jimmy Dutch (Tim), known for the longest comedic mugshots in history. In a film clip, Jimmy’s wife (Nasim) asks “Did you take the trash out?”, with the response “Your mother left last week!” followed by an extended mugshot to the camera. Then a clip of Dutch’s similarly-minded rival, Hammin’ Hal (Short): he’s a clerk in a haunted hotel talking to a guest (Taran), when a ghost (Bobby) spooks him into making an exaggerated facial-funny. The studio teams them up for “Jubilo Junction”: an actress known as “The Set-Up Queen” (Aidy) warns them not to break any vases or peek at her changing behind the curtain. The two men get into a real fight which damages their mugshot ability in future productions. In Muggin’s next movie, his wife (Cecily) nags him incessantly. His mugshot consists of a slow neck-turn to the camera with a stolid expression. Hammin’ Hal suffered a facial freeze, or a “permanent mug”. His kissing scene with an actress (Kate) does not go well due to lip paralysis. Osborne ends the show with a mug of his own
CBC News Toronto – Darwin the IKEA monkey
~ News anchors (Hader & Cecily) check in with the weathergirl (Kate): mostly snow and a minute patch of sunshine on the map. Sports anchor (Sudeikis) advises one way to endure the hockey lockout: sharpen a hockey stick and poke your eyes out. Next up, an update on Darwin (Short), the coat-wearing monkey who gained fame from running around an IKEA store in Toronto. Darwin has been released into the wilderness, here’s some footage: he meets a fellow monkey (Bobby), who throws his bags. Darwin refuses to tip him. Another monkey (Tim) farts into his hand, smells it, and falls off a branch. The two monkeys rip off Darwin’s coat. Female monkey (Vanessa) continually tries to kiss Darwin, but he refuses
~ Martin blooped when he couldn’t get the dollar out of his coat. (“Imagine I have a dollar in my hand. You wouldn’t get it because you don’t DESERVE IT!”)
Broadway Sizzle
~ Darius Modelo (Hader) and new co-host (Kate) welcome an up-n-coming singer (Short), who appears in a mirror and sings about wearing man purses and lip gloss so his potential mate “will explode in her skirt”. He tells the hosts he is three years short of 21, followed by the 3 sitting in silence for a few seconds. Some more chatter, then we hear a song by Donny (Fred). Darius tells Donny he won’t be at the swimming lesson tomorrow because he’s getting something looked at. Short closes out the show with a holiday song (“Christmas in the ghetto / hookers eating Cheetos…”)
Update – Elf On The Shelf (Bobby)
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-elf-on-the-shelf-on-watching-you-dress-rehearsal/2752262
Verismo Home Brew
~ airs next show, though unfortunately they cut the Verismo Home Toilet part, with Tim as a bum making a mess in the bathroom
TIDBITS
monologue: when Martin kissed each of the new girls, Kate licked his cheek. Martin: “Someone had hot dogs for lunch.” Kate puts her finger to her lips as if to say “Don’t tell anyone”. Tom Hanks and Tina Fey did not appear. Kristen Wiig was re-used for the scene with Lorne
What Up With That?: Sam Jackson said “motherfarter”, no true swears. After Diondre said Carrie Brownstein is the funny one on “Portlandia”, he looked to Fred’s saxman to confirm
After McCartney’s final song, Short’s character from the audition sketch came on stage and told him that he’s “never gonna sing again!”
Rat Bastard: cut scene with Fred as Matthew Broderick/ Snoopy and Bobby as Joe Pesci/ Woodstock. Both can still be seen in small clips
McCartney stood up and danced a lil jig after the first song
Before signing off Update, Seth shares where to donate for victims of the Sandy Hook shootings
Old Friends original ending: both men told the store employee to throw their new purchases away
No significant changes in Royal Gynecologist. Seth Meyers wrote it, but John Mulaney IS in the credits this week, so maybe he helped. Since folks are wonderin’, Mulaney is credited in 8 live shows spread throughout this season, plus the first Update Thursday Special and at least one dress where he wasn’t in the “main body” of writers
MULANEY CONTRIBUTIONS 2012-13
Thu Sep 20 – Carville
Oct 6 – (unconfirmed)
Oct 13 – Huffington
Oct 20 – Stefon
Nov 10 – (dress credit only, listed under “additional sketch”)
Dec 15 – (unconfirmed)
Jan 26 – Huffington
March 9 – Stefon
May 4 – Carville
May 18 – Stefon
DRESS RUNDOWN
Silent Night
monologue
VERISMO (CUT)
Bennett Bros. Christmas
Royal Gynecologist
RAT BASTARD
Broadway Sizzle (CUT)
McCartney & Joe Walsh
Update
Elf On The Shelf (CUT)
Bar Mitzvah Boy
Girl At A Party
donate (CUT)
What Up With That?
Darwin (CUT)
MALIBU HIGH (CUT)
old friends
McCartney & Nirvana
Essentials: Muggin’/Hammin’ (CUT)
pageant auditions
McCartney & NYC Children’s Chorus
goodnights
I would say the second half of this season is plagued with good sketch ideas coming off really weak. Some of the ideas for some sketches you’ll see have really funny premieres, but ended up being massacred between Wednesday and Saturday.
And as @APC said, the amount of somber cold opens we’ll see over the next few years breaks my heart. And this happens for three consecutive years.
Martin Short’s indefatigable energy and penchant for the absurd make him an absolutely essential host. It’s high crime they’ve only given him the spotlight just the three times. He can play on nostalgia, but you can basically wind him up and point him in any direction and he’ll give you the goods. For me, the Royal Family Doctor is the best of the night (I dig the Charlie Brown impression parade, but my personally ceiling for impression parades is a little lower). It’s a classic two-hander that is made sublime with Short’s delirious performance. Armisen’s portion is probably unnecessary, but it helps the sketch land the ending effectively. I think it’s a classic of the era.
My God they brought back What’s Up with That during tonight’s Sudeikis episode.
Almost 9 years later
I think it’s a crime Peacock doesn’t stream the entire episode. Been wanting to watch the monologue for years. Any suggestions where the whole episode can be viewed?
Try this:
https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-38-e-10-martin-short-paul-mc-cartney
You sir, are a GENIUS…and maybe an angel! This is fantastic. Many thanks and Merry Christmas!
This is the highest rated Christmas episode. Totally worthy of the honor; SNL had a moment to
meet after Sandy Hook and they did it beautifully.
Three sketches in this episode get a full ***** for me: Royal Gynecologist, Charlie Brown, and WUWT (Sam Jackson makes this the best one). The monologue is probably **** 1/2 for me, Short is having a blast and it has such amazing energy.
One of the most joyous episodes the show has ever done and one I revisit often.