First up was the night’s cold open… which tonight was also the opening monologue. In the first of many surprises of the night, Tom Hanks greeted us from an audience-free Studio 8H. “Tonight,” he said, “everyone on Saturday Night Live planned to do our big Christmas show and induct a new member into the five-timers club, but COVID came early this year.” “So, in the interest of safety, we do not have an audience, and we sent home our cast, and most of our crew. But I came here from California— and if they think I was going to fly 3,000 miles and not be on TV, they got another thing coming!” Hanks welcomed fellow Five-Timer Tina Fey to the stage before they welcomed Rudd together. Fey got a jab in about Hanks “starting COVID,” a reference to his much-publicized diagnosis early in the pandemic. After an openly, affably “disappointed” Rudd appeared to a smattering of in-studio applause, the three performers welcomed longest-tenured cast member Kenan Thompson to the stage. He presented Rudd with the iconic blue smoking jacket. Our hosts (the present performers took turns introducing various segments through the night) announced tonight’s somewhat improvised format: a mix of new digital short sketches filmed earlier in the week, live intervals, and some handpicked vintage sketches. Only Murders in the Building co-stars and SNL royalty Steve Martin and Martin Short appeared in a pre-recorded, amusingly overdubbed bit near the end. Next, one of the highlights of the night was a madcap would-be HomeGoods ad featuring Kate MeKinnon and Aidy Bryant firing on all cylinders as desperately wannabe grandmothers ‘who can’t contain their fiery need for a new generation. Rudd played an overwhelmed, “there-by-merit” director who discovers things about himself. It all ends with—a baby announcement! Definitely the weirdest part of the night was a Pete Davidson fever dream in the vein of Raging Bull. The moody, black-and-white, nightclub-set short contemplated Davidson’s ever-growing, phenomenal celebrity status. Co-starring Rudd, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, Kyle Mooney, Arguably the point of a night often more admirable for its under-pressure effort than delivery of laughs was a pairing of Michael Che and former Weekend Update anchor Fey sitting in for Colin Jost. The low-fi, visual-aid-free segment hardly went off without a hitch (some of the jokes even got botched)—but a handful were very funny. Hanks, Thompson and Rudd were the captive audience, often an on-camera addition to the sketch. Seriously, all five of tonight’s live cast members gave it everything, even though the show wasn’t fully formed. Respect. Rudd and Mooney held up a retail line with “The Christmas Socks,” a song that isn’t going to give Mariah a run for her money. Props to Mooney for playing a small child with stubble though. Among the vintage SNL sketches rounded up and re-aired tonight (they are classics, and worth a re-watch) are a pure slapstick holiday pageant with Short and… Paul McCartney! The sketch originally aired in Dec. of 2012, leading into a proper Studio 8H stage performance from the rock icon. Hanks introduced a more recent holiday-themed SNL moment: Eddie Murphy as an elf in sweatpants recounting a horrific North Pole accident. Murphy’s glorious 2019 return to 30 Rock ultimately garnered the actor a Primetime Emmy win. Before a barebones curtain call, tonight’s unusual SNL ended with Fey introducing an undisputed SNL classic: TV Funhouse animated banger Christmastime for the Jews, irreverent in the style of classic stop-motion TV specials. This famous sketch first aired in Dec. 2005, when host Jack Black was promoting Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Props to the [skeleton] crew and cast for pulling a shaggily entertaining night out of a hat. And of course congratulations to Rudd for pulling off an historic Five-Timers achievement under weird, far-from-ideal circumstances! This was the final episode of 2021. Season 47 is expected to resume in 2022 on NBC. What did you think of tonight’s unusual SNL? Sound off in the comments.
