After having a successful year in the movie Barbie as the “weird Barbie,” former SNL cast member Kate McKinnon hosts this year’s holiday episode, with pop icon Billie Eilish as the musical guest.
In true SNL fashion, the cold open focused on an award show called the Christmas Awards, just in time for the holiday season. No stranger to the cold open, Bowen Yang and Heidi Gardner take the role of the award hosts for the evening. The sketch brought the cast together poking fun at Christmas stereotypes, with the bad gift giver that is grandma, and the one relative who brings COVID to the party.
Kate McKinnon’s monologue saw her joking about being back at her “old job” at SNL, taking the seat as host tonight, and how uncomfortable she is being herself instead of the weird girl standing next to the hot person. She brought out the piano for a cheery tune, creating a parody of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” stating she was forced to sing. Iconic actors Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig made an appearance, singing the monologue away.
The next sketch took place at the North Pole, with elves as news anchors, set on the scene of a killer whale attack. Featuring Kate McKinnon as a scared Scot, it showcases how people always take to social media to write thoughts and prayers during a crisis in a silly yet real manner. Making fun of the fact that kids always want dogs for Christmas, SNL created a satirical infomercial with Pongo!, the perfect pet that doesn’t do anything or dies.
No one will ever forget about the iconic group ABBA, and returning to the screen are Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig, with Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang performing as the group, not missing a chance to do their best Swedish accent impression. Taking their greatest hits, the ABBA parody group remixed their hits, adding Christmas themes. The sketch was full of the cast breaking character, making it even more funny.
Kate McKinnon brings back her singing with Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig again, creating a country tune about Tampon Farm, a fictional place where women grow and harvest tampons. No one could have seen that twist coming, with the audience erupting into a fit of laughter.
Billie Eilish needs no introduction, the pop icon had a successful year with just one song officially announced, “What Was I Made For?” on the Barbie soundtrack. With several GRAMMY nominations at this year’s award ceremony, and even a Golden Globe nomination for her small role in SWARM, Eilish is just getting started. Just the other night on The Tonight Show, she teased she is working on her next album, with more TBA soon.
Introducing her were McKinnon and in a surprising twist, Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie. Billie Eilish sang her hit “What Was I Made For,” with her signature breathy vocals, singing on a stool with her brother Finneas playing piano. With a beautifully added string section and accompanying videos of “girlhood” in the background, the song could bring a tear to anybody’s eye and certainly did mine.
The Weekend Update tradition of Michael Che and Colin Jost reading each other’s jokes did not disappoint this year. Each joke was raunchier than the last, leaving most with their jaws hanging wide open.
Billie Eilish ended her SNL appearance with a haunting cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” showcasing her soulful and powerful vocals. During the last sketch, she joined McKinnon cosplaying as crazy cat ladies, showing off several cats.
Just announced on Jan. 20 is Euphoria and Priscilla actor Jacob Elordi hosting, with musical guest Reneé Rapp.
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