Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM DONALD & MELANIA TRUMP
Donald (TAK) & Melania (CES) Trump list who’s naughty & who’s nice
— This ends up being the last time Taran ever plays Donald Trump on SNL, after only three appearances. I have mixed feelings about SNL taking the impression away from him so soon. The impression isn’t very good despite the fact that I definitely see what he’s going for, but on the other hand, given how much SNL hyped the announcement that summer of Taran being SNL’s new Trump impersonator, I’m surprised they gave up on him so fast, and I can’t help but feel he deserved at least a few more chances to nail the impression. Also, I wonder if the impression being yanked away from him so fast is one of the many things that soured Taran’s attitude towards his later years at SNL.
— Like the previous Donald/Melania cold opening from this season’s premiere, I’m actually getting more laughs from Cecily-as-Melania’s lines than from Taran-as-Donald’s lines.
— Can’t find anything else to say about this. A pretty blah cold opening, even moreso than the previous Donald/Melania cold opening.
STARS: **
OPENING MONTAGE
— Why has Darrell Hammond made it a habit lately to always deliver his “It’s Saturday Night Live!” a full second BEFORE the SNL logo even shows up onscreen?
MONOLOGUE
MIM & countryman host sing Canadian Christmas song to show homeland pride
— Decent bit with Ryan Gosling trying to pass his Canadian self off as being from New York.
— Mike Myers cameo, for the second time in two consecutive seasons.
— Mike is fun here as expected.
— Love the bit with Mike insisting Ryan use the Canadian pronunciation of “sorry”.
— Ah, there’s those wild tap-dancing moves that I remember Mike previously doing a few times during his SNL stint, including during a dance routine he and his mom did in SNL’s Mother’s Day special from 1992.
— Even for a musical monologue, this song is actually pretty fun and charming.
STARS: ***½
SETTL
Settl dating app is for women willing to lower their marital standards
— A funny concept for a spoof of dating apps.
— A good laugh from the initial close-up of Taran as Vanessa’s mustached boyfriend.
— Great line from Vanessa, with her upbeat, professionally-delivered “We’re getting married in April, which is before my sister.”
— Aside from the still photos of him shown here, Pete is completely absent in tonight’s episode. He was also barely in the preceding episode, making his only appearance in a small non-speaking role in the final sketch of the night. His airtime has taken a hit lately. (Jon Rudnitsky is also absent tonight, but that’s no surprise. So far, he’s yet to get any noteworthy roles ever since his bad gay-themed roles in the Tracy Morgan episode.)
— Lots of funny little bits all throughout this commercial.
STARS: ****
CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Ms. Rafferty’s (KAM) UFO trip was less transcendent than other abductees’
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its very noteworthy, memorable debut.
— Even the mere initial visual of Kate’s haggard, laid-back, cigarette-smoking character sitting next to Cecily and Ryan’s more conventional-looking characters is very funny.
— Kate’s characterization, delivery, and general demeanor here are all an absolute riot.
— Kate, regarding the aliens who watched her pee: “I don’t think I was dealing with the top brass.”
— Kate, regarding no longer having her pants at one point of her UFO experience: “I was full Porky Piggin’ it in a drafty dome.”
— Kate’s performance and ridiculous lines have now begun cracking up Aidy, Bobby, and even Kate herself a little (the latter probably only induced by Aidy and Bobby laughing). I can’t blame anyone in this particular case.
— Kate’s descriptions of her UFO experience are getting more and more priceless as this sketch goes on.
— I’ve been surprised to once learn that Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell write these Close Encounter sketches. Could’ve fooled me, as these sketches feel completely different from Day & Seidell’s usual very recognizable style. I would’ve bet money that Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider wrote these.
— Now Ryan has memorably begun cracking up, in what ends up being our first of several displays tonight of Giggling Gosling.
— Overall, a true classic, a prime example of the greatness Kate could reliably bring during these peak years of her SNL tenure, and was another Kate McKinnon performance from these years that, when it originally aired, had me feeling I was watching a legend in the making. It’s a damn shame that, instead of keeping this a classic one-off piece like they should’ve, SNL ends up needlessly making it recurring, where it would become a textbook case of diminishing returns and trying too hard to recapture the magic of the original.
STARS: *****
SANTA BABY
prospect of meeting Santa overexcites (host) & (VAB)
— I like the tense look the other party guests have after the unsettling too-long lovey-dovey stare Ryan and Vanessa give each other after their first kiss in this short.
— Very funny reveal that Ryan and Vanessa still believe in Santa, and very passionately so.
— A lot of good laughs from how even more unsettling Ryan and Vanessa’s lovey-dovey actions with each other are becoming over the course of this short.
— I absolutely love the extremely intense turn this has now taken. Ryan is performing the living HELL out of this, and Vanessa is equally fantastic here. This is just one of many things that make this and the following season Vanessa’s two best seasons. She’s the only example I can think of off the top of my head of a seven-seasons-or-more cast member who peaked during their final two seasons. Very impressive. [ADDENDUM: I just thought of another example: Tracy Morgan.]
— It’s a good thing this is pre-taped, because you KNOW Ryan would’ve broke hard during this if it were a live sketch. Unlike the Close Encounter sketch, a Giggling Gosling performance could’ve potentially hurt Santa Baby. The absolute intense, dead seriousness that he’s playing this material in this pre-taped format is part of what makes it work so damn well.
— The sequence with Ryan and Vanessa dancing on the table to the song “I Will Follow You” is a particularly standout portion of this fantastic short.
— A perfect emotional, helpless expression on Beck’s face during the bit with Vanessa sitting on his-as-Santa’s lap.
— Excellent ending with the real Santa peeking in through the window and fearfully backing away over the horror he’s witnessing.
— Overall, an absolute masterpiece. This is impressively also our second consecutive five-star classic in tonight’s episode.
STARS: *****
BIRTHDAY PARTY
at (VAB)’s 13th birthday party, Melanie yearns for honoree’s dad (host)
— The second and final appearance of this sketch. An odd coincidence how the two times it appeared was with a Canadian host (Drake, Ryan Gosling).
— Ryan is okay here, but he doesn’t compare AT ALL to Drake’s surprisingly masterful portrayal of a corny middle-aged dad in the first installment of this sketch.
— Wait, Aidy’s character says she’s 13-and-a-half here? So are we supposed to just forget the fact that the previous installment of this sketch had a reveal that Aidy’s character is actually in her 20s and had recently awoken from a years-long coma?
— This sketch is just following the exact same formula of the previous installment of this sketch, but it’s still working well, thanks to Aidy’s solid and fun performance. They probably made the right decision, though, to keep this recurring sketch at only two appearances and never do a third installment.
— Great pratfall from Aidy.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Smooth Sailin'”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Glamour Magazine correspondent Jill Davenport (CES) flirts with COJ
third-hand source Angelo Skaggs (host) is downstream of Anthony Crispino
— A pretty solid long-form news story breakdown/rant from Colin and Michael on the topics of congress defunding planned parenthood and President Obama making a statement about ISIS not being a threat to America.
— Hmm, so far, this commentary of Cecily’s is VERY reminiscent of an Update commentary Kristen Wiig once did as a flirting expert.
— During Cecily’s commentary, I like the cutaway to a headphones-wearing Michael casually bopping his head.
— Yeah, this general Cecily commentary is just a big ol’ reprisal of the Wiig flirting commentary, even though, to Cecily’s credit, she’s performing it really well. I’d like this commentary a lot more if it weren’t so derivative.
— Not only a very funny Isis Cosby joke from Colin, but I also love Michael’s ad-lib afterwards about SNL’s decision to have Isis Cosby be represented by a photo of a white baby: “There’s no way Isis Cosby is white.”
— A lot of Bobby’s big Update characters (Drunk Uncle, Anthony Crispino) seem to be on their way out lately, judging from how less and less they’ve been appearing. In fact, this ends up being Anthony Crispino’s final appearance.
— Oh, until now, I had completely forgotten about Ryan’s appearance in this episode’s Anthony Crispino commentary. This ends up being the first of two times in Ryan’s two hosting stints that he would appear as a recurring Update correspondent’s similar-traited friend.
— A huge laugh from the Star Wars/Cool Runnings bit in the Crispino commentary.
— Ryan’s doing a solid job emulating Bobby’s characterization, and, after just playing dull straight roles in all of his previous live appearances tonight (including in his own monologue), it’s good to see Ryan finally get to let loose and play a silly comedic role. He and Bobby are an absolute blast together here. Bobby’s Crispino is going out on a good note here.
STARS: ****
HOMETOWN BAR
(KYM) tries to embarrass boyhood rival host during his hometown visit
— An interesting absurd characterization from Kyle, playing a comically unconvincing bully.
— The more and more this sketch goes on, the more and more Kyle’s goofy, oddball characterization is cracking me the hell up. He’s probably one of the very few people who could make this sketch work with such a goofy and oddball characterization, as the material itself is nothing to write home about and I have a hard time picturing a lot of other performers being able to sell the goofy and oddball characterization that Kyle’s doing so well here.
— Another sketch tonight that sets off a bit of a chain reaction of breaking among the performers, as not only do we get another display of Giggling Gosling throughout this, but one particularly funny line delivery of Kyle’s also causes Cecily and Bobby to lose it.
— I’m really showing myself to be a 90s kid here, but something about the way Kyle’s face looks in that wig (along with the fact that he’s playing a bully) reminds me so much of Skull, of Bulk and Skull, the two bully characters from the original Power Rangers series.
— Nice turn this sketch takes with Kyle’s tearful breakdown.
STARS: ****
NESPRESSO
seeking Nespresso, puzzled Danny DeVito (BOM) trails George Clooney (TAK)
— Second consecutive episode with Bobby’s new Danny DeVito impression. At least he’s wearing a wig here that makes him resemble DeVito more, as opposed to that terrible wig he wore in the preceding episode.
— A laugh from the visual of Bobby-as-DeVito’s tiny legs while he’s being measured for an outfit.
— I don’t think I’m familiar with the actual Nespresso commercial this is spoofing (if I saw it, then I don’t remember it), but I don’t seem to need to be. The sheer oddness of this commercial (which I’ve been told is a very accurate spoof to the real commercial) is making me laugh a lot, Bobby’s a lot of fun in his performance and has a lot of good lines, and I’m enjoying the odd-couple pairing of his DeVito and Taran’s George Clooney.
STARS: ****
THE WIZ LIVE!
The Wiz characters meet Scarecrow (host) from The Wizard Of Oz
— I strangely love seeing Michael in that scarecrow make-up and doing that dance with the others at the beginning, just because it’s Michael Che, of all people, doing that.
— In that scarecrow make-up and with that goofy eager facial expression he keeps making, Ryan looks uncannily like Taran at times.
— Solid characterization and voice from Ryan, and, much like I said about his Update appearance, it feels good to see him get to let loose and play a goofy role, given the number of straight man roles he’s been playing all night.
— Funny bit regarding Ryan wanting to touch Sasheer’s hair.
— I can’t find much else to say, but I’m enjoying this sketch just fine, and it’s a huge improvement over the really lousy previous two times this SNL era attempted a spoof of NBC’s annual live musicals (Peter Pan and The Sound Of Music).
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “River”
SANTA AND HIS MAGICAL ELVES
(host) & fellow masochistic elves try goading Santa (BOM) into discipline
— Ohho, no. Not the return of this.
— What in the world was with that absurdly long, silent pause just now? Who exactly forgot their line? Kenan?
— The only positive I can find in this sketch is that I’m strangely kinda liking Ryan’s typical giggliness and smiliness here, and am finding that it works in this particular role.
STARS: *½
IN MEMORIAM
a photo of SNL wardrobe crew member Jenna Krempel marks her passing
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode with two absolute classics and lots of other good stuff. There was also a nice and fun vibe to this episode, partly helped by Ryan Gosling, who, even with his constant giggliness and bland straight man roles, had something likable and charming about him as a host.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Santa Baby
Close Encounter
Settl
Weekend Update
Hometown Bar
Nespresso
Monologue
Birthday Party
The Wiz Live!
A Christmas Message from Donald & Melania Trump
Santa And His Magical Elves
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew McConaughey)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Chris Hemsworth
Part of why Close Encounters doesn’t feel like a typical Seiday-written piece is that—beyond not having the same structure as most of their stuff—they usually don’t write for Kate much. It’s one of their better sketches so it makes me wish more writers would try working with cast members they typically don’t write for.
It’ll be interesting to see how you feel about Mikey Day and his writing as you progress towards the current season. I used to enjoy his style but he slowly became my least favorite part of the show, even more than any cameos or long political opens.
@Ruby I think Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell are responsible for some phenomenal sketches but you’re right in saying that they have gotten formulaic as of late. Mikey Day reminds me of Seth Meyers in that he’s a better writer than he is a performer.
I’m glad Santa Baby was rated so high. That’s been a classic for me since I first saw it (as is Close Encounters but that gets lots of love already). Vanessa is outstanding in her performance. There is a darkness and intensity that we don’t always get to see from her that shows her range. I’m always hoping to see Vanessa in more movies because I think she has the potential to be a wonderful character actor if given the chance.
You sure about that different structure? We’ve got a couple of “reactor” characters (Aidy and Bobby/Mikey), and a couple of “normal examples” (Cecily and The Host) who are contrasted with the Star Weirdo (Kate). Sounds a lot like David S Pumpkins, Kevin Roberts, Paul & Phil, Boo-Boo Jeffries and the girl on the poster to me!
As a kid, I loved The Wiz Live sketch and I still do. I wouldn’t say it’s a guilty pleasure, but I’d take it over your average Anderlette sketch in a heartbeat. Also, it has some of my favorite lines.
“Oh, my name’s Dorothy too. Does your friend know how to whip, dab, and do the nae nae?”
(pause)
“I have no idea what those words are.”
And also,
“Your hair is so wild and wonderful! And your hair is—“
“No”
“Yep, got it”
IIRC, I think “Settl”got hit with Plagiarism claims…
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/saturday-night-live-plagiarism_n_566762e0e4b0f290e5210ef1
Well, Anderlette, looks like a shitty Trump opening saved you from having the only subpar material in an episode (in addition to my Andlerlettedown tally I’ve been doing, I think I’ll add a ‘tired of winning’ tally, for every night where the Trump open is the only poorly rated segment.) I believe Anderlette also wrote Nespresso.
I think my biggest problem with Mikey as a cast mate is that they try to throw him into the Taran role when he simply has NONE of the versatility Taran had in spades. He can do his one thing well (and even then is getting pretty grating with that). I don’t have it out for him too much (especially because, as has been pointed out, I think he’s a good writer) but if I had to pick a least favorite current cast member it would definitely be him.
“Hmm, so far, this commentary of Cecily’s is VERY reminiscent of an Update commentary Kristen Wiig once did as a flirting expert.”
Lol, considering those were two of the biggest crushes of my young life, you could have done 1000 of those sketches and middle/ high school me wouldn’t complain.
Honestly, I prefer Mikey as a performer – he and Streeter do have some strong moments but their material is pretty rote (Streeter is more interesting when with other writing partners), whereas Mikey, when he goes beyond “Mikey reacts,” can bring some moments of life and edge onscreen. I just wish he did so more often.
Ryan Gosling is a very endearing host. Whereas his screen persona can at times seem a little calculated, his sheer goofiness and bewilderment as a host feel natural (balanced out by his sheer commitment in the pre-tapes). I wish he hosted a little more often, but it may be better that he just kept to a few times so the breaking won’t start to seem manufactured.
I feel like I’m being contrary, but I just don’t get anything out of Close Encounters. It might have helped if I had been watching at the time, as various cast members breaking or Kate doing her “tough” persona might have felt fresh, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. The best I can say is the first one does stick to a tighter format and doesn’t rely on Kate using the hosts as literal props, which tends to feel more like the Carol Burnett Show than most of Kristen’s run ever did.
I do love Santa Baby. For one thing, it helps more people learn of the wonderful Ricky Nelson, but beyond that, the atmosphere is absolutely sublime – sometimes pre-tapes can set up a format at the start and then just repeats and repeats until you feel bored. This one builds the whole way through, as you can tell something is “off” with the Ryan and Vanessa characters yet you don’t quite get just how much until halfway through. Vanessa is really playing against type here, but she’s wonderful. As @Shawn says, I wish she had more roles similar to this. I could have seen her nailing a movie like Natural Born Killers (which this has vibes of, now that I think of it). This short is sometimes just mentioned as an example of Vanessa coming up with a way to kiss hot male hosts – that’s fine, it’s a good laugh, but that shouldn’t take away from the high quality of her work.
(as for a cast member along these lines peaking in the last two years of a late run, the closest I could say beyond Vanessa would have been Cecily in seasons 43 and 44…although 45 and 46 haven’t been BAD for her [to be honest between her family struggles in season 45 and her time off for her own project in 46, it’s felt like she has not been entirely there], I really wish she had left at the end of 44 as that was a fantastic period for her)
Beyond Santa Baby, my favorite part of this episode is the anti-comedy sitcom homage with Beck, Ryan and Kyle. My favorite is “Wing,” but this is a very close second. They nail the “Stefan Urkel” absurdity perfectly and give some of the best “bad acting” ever on SNL – Bobby’s one line alone is a marvel, and Beck’s “Oh yeah…because you only care about being COOL,” is one of the few times I would be tempted to use that “chef’s kiss” emoji. This piece is one of Beck’s very best moments in the cast. I never get tired of it.
Promos (this one has an interesting location):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuVeezrsVeQ
(sorry, thought this posted)
According to the show’s Instagram, Jon Rudnitsky played the snowman in the monologue.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-7_giAMNDQ/?igshid=h955qxbxpqu
I didn’t mind Peter Pan live
Edit:
The SNL Parody of Peter Pan Live.
Loved the Wiz sketch, but it would have helped if they added Elphaba in Wicked, and the other characters reacted to her: “A wicked witch does not go mopin’ about guys!” “I’m not wicked, I’m misunderstood!” Too bad SNL didn’t spoof their live productions of Jesus Christ Superstar or Hairspray (they could have had a field day taking on the latter’s white savior aspect).
“Why has Darrell Hammond made it a habit lately to always deliver his “It’s Saturday Night Live!” a full second BEFORE the SNL logo even shows up onscreen?”
It seems between the past two and the current montage, the logo has actually been coming up sooner. I won’t be surprised if in the next one, it’s the first thing you see, similarly to season 29.
With Ms. Rafferty out of the way that makes me wonder: Is Pete’s Chad character the only major non-Update recurring character we have left? Like not a political impression, or a sketch framework, but just a straight up recurring character well known enough to the general public to get recognition applause.
The snowman in the monologue is Bonhomme Carnival, the mascot for the Quebec Winter Festival. He was also in a few music videos for Men Without Hats.