Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Jeb Bush (BEB) acts tough with Donald Trump (DAH) during GOP debate
— So SNL’s making it a regular thing to have Jon play the moderators of this season’s debate sketches, even after the backlash he received for his Anderson Cooper impression earlier this season?
— Jon’s Wolf Blitzer impression doesn’t sound much different from his Anderson Cooper, only without the effeminate qualities.
— Darrell Hammond has taken over the Donald Trump role from Taran, and will end up remaining in that role for the rest of the season.
— A freakin’ fantastic angry rant from Bobby’s Chris Christie.
— I got a big laugh from Jon’s Blitzer responding to a statement from Kyle’s Rand Paul by telling him “Uh, sir, we’re not taking comments from the audience yet.” I also love Kyle’s defeated way of responding “No, I’m Rand Paul, I’m up here…”
— Jay’s Ben Carson impression is getting sillier and funnier over the course of this season. The increasingly cartoonish, fun, and caricature-ish nature of this impression is rather Dana Carvey-esque, which I like.
— Pretty funny speech from Pete’s Marco Rubio.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Christmas song by TIF & AMP is alternately jaunty fun & Biblical downer
— A decent beginning with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler being very simultaneous in everything they’re saying.
— Tina and Amy’s usual style of humor and rapport is coming off well here.
— The jarringly different tones to Tina and Amy’s respective Christmas songs are okay, despite the repetitive nature and the fact that it’s not anything I’m finding to be laugh out loud funny.
STARS: ***
A HILLARY CHRISTMAS
Hillary Clinton’s (KAM) 2008 self (AMP) & Sarah Palin (TIF) visit her
— I love this idea of having Kate’s Hillary meeting Amy’s Hillary. A great way to bring two different styles of the same celebrity impression together.
— The interplay between the two Hillarys is so damn fun.
— As much as I’m enjoying a lot of things in this sketch, all of the statements being made about what a cakewalk Hillary’s path to winning the election next November is (particularly both Kate and Amy’s Hillarys gleefully declaring in unison “We’re gonna be president!” upon Amy’s Hillary learning that one of her future opponents is Donald Trump, a moment that I remember finding to be pretty classic when this sketch originally aired) is casting a bit of a pall over this sketch.
— The inclusion of Tina’s Sarah Palin is adding to the very fun atmosphere and energy of this sketch.
— The bit with Kate’s Hillary furiously stopping Amy’s Hillary from sending those emails is great.
STARS: ****
MEET YOUR SECOND WIFE!
contestants’ future mates are much much younger
— An extremely awkward but hilarious big technical error right at the very beginning, where, when SNL tries to play audio of Steve Higgins’ opening announcement about Bobby’s character while the camera is on a close-up of Bobby smiling affably into the camera, they keep accidentally cueing up the wrong audio, going back-and-forth between the Bronx Beat theme music (giving away the fact that we’re getting the return of that sketch later tonight, and that Maya Rudolph is in the building), audio of Darrell Hammond announcing Tina and Amy for their monologue from earlier tonight, and the correct Higgins announcement for this sketch. Making all of this even funnier is the fact that, while all of these back-and-forth audio miscues are going on, Bobby, ever the pro, just continues affably smiling into the camera like he’s supposed to, and you can tell that he’s stifling his amusement over the gaffe.
— Great reveal of this game show’s title, as well as the subsequent surprised reactions the contestants have to that title.
— An absolutely priceless and shocking reveal of Bobby’s future second wife currently being an 8th grader.
— Bobby, to his currently-young future second wife: “I guess I’ll…see you again in 20 years.” Tina: “Actually, it’s 7.”
— Aidy: “I thought this was a home makeover show!” Tina: “In a way, it is.”
— Amy and Tina are perfect for the game show host roles in this particular sketch.
— An excellent progression to the shocking reveals in this sketch, with Taran’s future second wife currently being EVEN YOUNGER than that of Bobby’s.
— A very funny casual reveal that Aidy is going to die in a tragic kayaking accident. I also love Aidy’s reaction to hearing that.
— Love the initial cutaway to a very deadpan Leslie.
— Kenan repeatedly whispering to himself “Don’t be white” when his second wife is about to be revealed is a riot.
— A freakin’ perfect fake-out with the appearance of Cecily’s adult character, who you initially assume is Kenan’s future second wife, only for it to be revealed that she’s currently pregnant with Kenan’s future second wife.
— Aidy, after it’s announced that the contestants are all going home with a new kayak: “I know I shouldn’t, but they’re so fun!”
— Overall, a bonafide all-time classic. Everything in this was perfection, it kept topping itself with all of the surprising reveals, and there was an endless number of hilarious parts.
STARS: *****
HOVERBOARDS
exploding Hoverboards are the hot toy this Christmas season
— A good spoof of the Hoverboard craze from around this time.
— Great visual of Beck as an old man happily riding on a Hoverboard while he’s on fire.
— Hilarious visual of a fearfully-screaming Pete speeding through the streets on his suddenly-accelerated Hoverboard at sound barrier-breaking speed, complete with a funny close-up of the now-pee-stained crotch of Pete’s pants. Speaking of which, I remember some online SNL fans back at this time, including two hosts of a now-defunct podcast that covered old SNL episodes (not That Week In SNL, which is still running), didn’t notice the pee stain and were baffled over why SNL threw in a close-up of Pete’s crotch. The two hosts of the aforementioned now-defunct SNL podcast spent a good amount of time unsuccessfully trying to figure out why the hell SNL would throw in a close-up of Pete’s crotch during a scene of him speeding through the streets on a Hoverboard. How in the world did so many people miss the noticeable pee strain on his crotch???
STARS: ****
MOVIE SET
acting coach from The Jeffersons seeks inapt emoting during serious scene
— Yeah, I definitely didn’t need a second installment of this.
— Wait, now Kenan’s character says he did five seasons on The Jeffersons? In the previous installment of this sketch, he said he only worked on The Jeffersons for one day. And that made much more sense, because the cartoonish acting techniques he teaches are NOTHING like the acting on The Jeffersons.
— The more and more this sketch goes on, I’m actually kinda finding Tina and Amy’s imitation of Kenan’s cartoonish acting techniques to be kinda chuckleworthy (especially Amy doing the George Jefferson dance). While that still may be faint praise, it’s certainly more than I laughed at Chris Hemsworth and Kate doing that in the first installment of this sketch. (Odd coincidence how they brought this sketch back the week after Hemsworth hosted for a second time.)
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Meet Me in the City”
WEEKEND UPDATE
somebody’s mom Deenie (KAM) doesn’t know names of soap opera characters
TIF & AMP tell the last two Weekend Update jokes of 2015
— The audience’s energy in this episode is so high that even Colin plays off of it during his sign-on while the audience is applauding after the Update opening title sequence.
— The first appearance of Kate’s Deenie character, who I recall hearing was based on writer Paula Pell’s mother.
— Hmm, Kate keeps occasionally breaking for no apparent reason throughout this commentary. Am I watching a Kate McKinnon performance from 2015 or 2021?
— While I certainly have no familiarity with Paula Pell’s mother, I’m still finding Kate’s character relatable (which I’m sure is SNL’s intention), as she reminds me of my grandmother in a lot of ways. Too bad Kate’s constant breaking is distracting from the material and is serving as an unfortunate reminder of what’s to come in her later years on SNL.
— A somewhat interesting breakdown from Colin on Martin Shkreli.
— A special bit, with Tina and Amy doing Colin and Michael’s last two jokes of 2015. Since these jokes were written by this season’s Update writers instead of whoever wrote Tina and Amy’s dreadful Update jokes from their Update era together, I won’t complain like I usually do about the Fey/Poehler teaming on Update.
— A decent joke from Tina and Amy each, and my goodwill towards that is helped by the aforementioned fun, feel-good energy that tonight’s audience and general Christmas episode is bringing.
STARS: ***½
THE CHAD & MRS. DOUGLAS SHOW COLLECTION
clips on 1970s variety show DVD are colored by alcohol, cocaine, roofies
— Naturally, a Fey/Poehler hosting stint brings us a Maya Rudolph cameo.
— Maya dusting off her hammy singing routine, I see. Since we’ve gotten a long break from it, I don’t mind seeing it here, and the ending of her scene with her randomly hiding in the gift bag is funny.
— The decent execution of this sketch’s material is helping me overlook all of the aggressive James Anderson/Kent Sublette-ness of the material.
— A huge laugh from the reveal of Kenan’s Bill Cosby in the “Baby’s It’s Cold Outside” clip.
STARS: ***
TINA & AMY’S DOPE SQUAD
Amy Schumer & Gayle King [real] provide Dope Squad support for TIF & AMP
— Funny delivery from a laid-back Aidy at the beginning of the interview.
— After Tina and Amy’s initial song, which was certainly funny, Aidy steals this short with the hardcore rap she suddenly breaks out into. She’s doing a solid job here, and her rapping is actually very catchy.
— I love Amy Schumer’s “Wait, who are we mad at???” line.
— Good ending with the ladies’ reaction to the cliched explosion they’re walking away from.
— Another good line from Schumer, with her responding to being asked if she’s okay after the aforementioned explosion by saying “No, I’m suing everyone here.” She’s making me laugh more in this one short than she did in her actual hosting stint earlier this season.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Ties That Bind”
BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY & JODI
Betty & Philadelphian cousin (TIF) learn of Jodi’s pregnancy
— This ends up being the final appearance of this sketch (as of 2021).
— The usual solid performances from Amy and Maya as these characters.
— Fitting casting of Tina in this Philadelphia-accented role.
— The bit with Amy and Maya’s characters enviously saying they wish they had accents was already used in an earlier Bronx Beat sketch, the one from the season 34 Hugh Laurie episode.
— As expected, good interplay between Amy, Maya, and Tina here.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
musical guest, TIF, AMP, MAR, cast members, Paul McCartney [real] perform “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
— Ooh, a change of pace, with Tina and Amy delivering their goodnights speech from the musical guest stage as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are getting set to do their special next musical performance.
— Paul McCartney making his required annual SNL appearance.
— So damn fun and rare seeing the whole cast get involved in this great musical performance. A very special moment.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good and fun episode, and, as mentioned throughout the review, featured a nice infectious energy, which is perfect for a Christmas episode. The feel-good atmosphere of this episode was also given a boost by the exciting novelty of having two hosts.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Meet Your Second Wife!
A Hillary Christmas
Tina & Amy’s Dope Squad
Hoverboards
Republican Presidential Debate
Bronx Beat with Betty & Jodi
Weekend Update
Monologue
The Chad & Mrs. Douglas Show Collection
Movie Set
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Hemsworth)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
We enter the year 2016, with Adam Driver making his hosting debut