Saturday Night Live
Ariana Grande & Cher
December 20, 2025
Ariana Grande returned to host Saturday Night Live for the third time, tasked with helming what is traditionally one of the best episodes of the year: the holiday episode. Recent previous hosts include SNL alums and royalty, including: Kate McKinnon, Martin Short and Steve Martin, Paul Rudd and Eddie Murphy, and so choosing her to host this episode suggests a degree of trust and faith SNL and Lorne Michaels have in Grande to deliver. On top of all that pressure, this episode was also now-legendary cast member Bowen Yang’s final show. So not only did Grande have to carry the Christmas episode, it also fell to her to usher Yang’s goodbye. And I’m happy to report she pulled it off.
This episode was easily the consistently funniest of the season so far. Grande was her delightful elfin self, leaning into whatever ridiculous task she was given, while also providing emotional support for Bowen’s final bow. All in all, a terrific episode, and she’ll be back for her Five-Timers jacket in no time.
President Flop Sweat delivered an address to the nation on Wednesday, where, for twenty minutes, he yelled at the country that we should be more appreciative of the destruction he has wrought in less than a year. James Austin Johnson’s version of the same speech lacks the anger, panic, and desperation of the original, while also reminding us of all the insanity we were served just this week: The Epstein Files redactions! The Kennedy Center desecration! Hunger Games! THAT WAS ALL THIS WEEK, GUYS.
Grade: B
Ariana Grande’s monologue is mostly a song, sung to “All I Want for Christmas,” in which she wonders what to buy for her cousin’s boyfriend. I know she’s Ariana Grande and that we weren’t getting out of this monologue without a song, but it really didn’t do it for me. It’s fine! It’s fine.
Grade: B+
Being an Elf on the Shelf is a hazardous job, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Here, Andrew Dismukes’ therapist Elf on the Shelf leads a support group where other Elves on the Shelf can vent about the indignities that they have suffered on the job. It’s genuinely hilarious.
Grade: A
It’s the aftermath of Home Alone with Adriana Grande as Macaulay Culkin, and if there is one sketch from last night that you should watch, it’s this one. I won’t give it away, but if you remember Martin Short and Steve Martin’s “A Christmas Carol” sketch from 2022, it’s similar.
Grade: A++
Marcello Hernandez and Ariana Grande are dance instructors in this thin bit that coasts on their chemistry and Grande’s constant threat to break.
Grade: B+
I was just thinking last week during the Variety “Character to Character” sketch that we haven’t had a celebrity impersonation bit in a long time, and apparently, someone read my thoughts. Because here, in the spirit of David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing “Little Drummer Boy,” random pairs of singers perform Christmas duets together, including Katy Perry and Bob Dylan; Kate Bush and Yoko Ono; and Lil’ Jon and Jane Wicklane. Also … is that really James Austin Johnson’s singing voice? Because, sincerely, wow.
Grade: B+
Kenan is either a burglar or … Black Santa. Maybe both. He pleads his case to a version of Cher’s “Believe” and leaves it up to the court to decide. Honestly, my biggest problem with this sketch is that it takes too long to get to the funnier — naughtier — bit.
Grade: B
“Weekend Update” touches on the Epstein files, the Vanity Fair article, and Robert F. Kennedy’s plan to withhold funds from hospitals performing gender affirming care to minors. It’s fine, but feels brief.
Grade: A-
Kam Patterson is Michael Che’s 12-year-old nephew, paying a visit to the “Weekend Update” desk with a message for Santa: he’s coming for him, and he better watch his back. It’s very funny, and the show needs to give him more to do. Looking at you, Lorne.
Grade: A
It’s the Christmas episode, which should mean a Che and Jost joke swap … except, Che lied to Jost that they weren’t going to do a joke swap. So Colin Jost is stuck telling Michael Che’s jokes with none of his own for Che to tell. It’s half as funny as a traditional joke swap (but still pretty vicious).
Grade: A
Aidy Bryant returns to SNL to bid Bowen Yang adieu by reviving their “Trend Forecasters” characters. It was never one of my favorite recurring “Weekend Update” character bits, but they are clearly having a great time and have such affection for one another that it’s hard not to be caught up in the infectious energy.
Grade: B+
The weakest sketch of the night is this Love is Blind spoof, in which one of the contestants comes to learn she matched with the Grinch. Mikey Day is giving his all, but it goes on too long, and honestly, I’d rather not think about the Grinch’s nether regions.
Grade: B-
Finally, Bowen Yang gets a lovely send-off with the final sketch of the night, in which he is a Delta Lounge employee on his final night on the job, and he duets “Please Come Home for Christmas” with Grande. It’s a whole metaphor for Saturday Night Live, and, thanks in large part to Yang himself not being able to hold it together, it left me in tears. This is obviously just the beginning of Bowen Yang’s career, and I’m sure he’ll be back on the 8H stage soon enough for cameos or to host. But for now, goodbye and good luck, Bowen. You were just so great.
Grade: A++
Cut for time: Sarah Sherman and Ariana Grande are the operators of the “Last Stop Christmas Tree Shop,” where you get what you get if you waited this long to buy a tree. It’s funnier and more absurd than the Love is Blind bit.
Grade: No grade
Cut for time: Ariana Grande pitches a “Espresso Martini Safe Room” — a space where twenty-something women can ride out their dangerous espresso martini drunks safe from posting questionable things on Instagram, or attacking their innocent boyfriends. This was actually much funnier than both the Love is Blind bit and “Black Santa,” but I guess maybe timing was an issue, and/or they decided to go with more Christmas-themed bits. It’s a shame.
Grade: No grade
Final Grade: A. And well deserved at that.
Saturday Night Live airs at 10:30/11:30 p.m. Saturdays on NBC and streams on Peacock.