After seven and a half years in office Bowen Yang's last episode as an actor was a gift for him because his friend was pictured on it Ariana Grande and iconic hero, Cher. He also got a farewell sketch for his leading role, which was very touching. But overall this was an uneven episode with some unsatisfying sketches and a complete absence of Ashley Padilla. That's all that happened on Saturday Night Live This week.
Cold opening
James Austin Johnson dressed up as Donald Trump to deliver a holiday message to Americans from the White House. Johnson's recent performances as Trump underscore rumors of his alleged dementia, use of broken syntax, missing words and more nonsensical utterances than usual. Trump talked about renaming buildings and how his name was removed from Epstein's files. There was a funny reference Danger! and an occasional story about the Indigo Girls before that satisfying opening and closing.
Monologue
Ariana Grande returned to host and immediately mocked her work in the sequels. Before long, Grande was singing a song about people you should give Christmas gifts to, like your cousin's boyfriend Steve, even if you don't know much about them. Bowen Yang soon joined him and received sentimental applause at his last performance. Other cast members also took part in this fun seasonal musical number.
Elf on the Shelf Support Group
Andrew Dismukes played the elf who founded the Elf on the Shelf support group. Grande played Twinkle Butter, who was decapitated by a cat. Mikey Day played an elf mistreated in a fraternity, while Jane Wickline's elf witnessed the downfall of a landlord. Despite the extra technical effort of manipulating the members' voices to make them sound more elfin, it was quite silly, but it had its moments.
Home alone
In this film, Grande played Kevin McAllister, and many actors played the other actor. Home alone characters who have returned home to a house that is still booby-trapped. It was a bloody parody of a horror film, so amazingly creepy that it was even funny.
Dance 101
Marcello Hernandez and Grande played pompous dance instructors leading a distrustful class, except for the enthusiastic Denniston (Bowen Young). It was a crude display of sociopathic behavior, complete with good physical comedy.
Christmas performance “Random Peacock Duet”
Using Bing Crosby and David Bowie's classic (and infamous) duet “Peace on Earth” https://exclaim.ca/”Little Drummer Boy”, Grande and various actors made impressions of strange musicians, including Katy Perry and Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Bad Bunny, Kate Bush and Yoko Ono (Bowen Young, perpetuating the cliché), Stevie Wonder and Benson. Boone, Post Malone and Björk, Lil Jon and Jane Wickline (as herself), Cameron Winter and Benson Boone (again), and Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion, who are played quite decently by James Austin Johnson and Grande. As for the parade of micro-impressions, it was somehow both bold and predictable.
Black Santa Claus
Kenan Thompson played Mr. Brown, an accused twisted thief who defended himself in court by claiming to be Black Santa Claus by singing a song to the Cher tune “Believe.” It was just absurd, but kind of funny.
Cher
Wreathed in auto-tune (but maybe also lip-syncing?), blonde Cher and the men dancing along to sing along blasted “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” which was an old techno song from the early '90s based on her production and choreography here.
With support SNL band and The Roots guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, dark-haired Cher and some female backup singers performed a Vegas-worthy version of Chuck Berry's “Run Run Rudolph” from home base 8H, and it was hilarious. She was also introduced by Antonio, an old character played by Grande.
Weekend update
Colin Jost compared Jeffrey Epstein to Santa Claus, and he and Michael Che criticized the Justice Department's redacted release of Epstein's files. Jost joked about Trump's MRI tests, and Che criticized Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Che introduced us to his 12-year-old nephew Tyson, played by Cam Patterson. Tyson wanted to send a message to Santa, which started out sweet but soon turned into a violent threat to Santa if Tyson didn't get the gifts he wanted. It was mediocre.
Che and Jost performed their traditional “read jokes to each other” line for the first time, but apparently Jost was told they weren't trading jokes this year. So Yost read a few of Che's jokes, which were very awkward and more harshly hostile than funny.
Aidy Bryant made a cameo appearance, joining her former and now departing co-star Bowen Young as their trend forecaster characters. This feline couple has always been funny, and it was nice to see them back in the Update for probably the last time.
Love is Blind: Reunion
In the Bachelor and Bachelorette dating show parody, Grande played Janelle, who, after 11 weeks of unseen communication, was amazed to meet and see her crush for the first time, who was the Grinch. Mikey Day played the Grinch, and eventually Janelle got over her shock and accepted “Neil”, who was actually the Grinch. It wasn't worth the time it probably took Day to dress up to look like Neil.
Ed's last shift at the airport's Egg Nog station
Bowen Young played Ed, who worked at an airport gas station. As Ed chatted with the other cast members and Grande, it became clear that the musical number was a metaphor for Young's final episode. Despite all this emotional turmoil, Ian had to sing through his grief and, ultimately, through his tears. Cher even stopped by to play Ed's boss to say goodbye to Young, reminiscent of similar stellar final moments by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.
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