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Tag: kristen wiig
Martin Short and friends gift us a delightful ‘Saturday Night Live’ just in time for Christmas
Saturday Night Live
Martin Short & Hozier
December 21, 2024
Merry Christmas! In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Saturday Night Live has gifted us an episode helmed by the brilliant and always hilarious Martin Short on the event of his fifth time to host, and packed to the brim with some of the show’s favorite hosts from the past, including Tom Hanks, Paul Rudd, and Melissa McCarthy.
Was the episode perfect? No. But it was filled with warmth, some familiar comforts, cheeky nonsense, and happy surprises, which, in the end, is all you can ask from a Christmas episode.
Kate McKinnon comes home for Christmas on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon & Billie Eilish
December 16, 2023
In my mind, the pre-Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live has traditionally been hosted by a former cast member — the perfect episode for some nostalgia and a homecoming. However, I did the math, and it turns out that over 49 seasons of SNL, only 10 of the Christmas episodes have been hosted by previous cast members, so go figure!
In any event, it’s the wonderful Kate McKinnon’s first trip back to SNL after having left the show in 2022 after 10 seasons. McKinnon is one of the best SNL performers of the past 20 years, a solid comedian who prefers to go full weird, and who has been the savior of many a sketch. And so I had high hopes for this episode, hopes that I’m afraid were unmet. It wasn’t a bad episode — McKinnon is always fun, she was joined by two other SNL greats, and the annual Christmas Joke Off is one for the ages — but overall, it feels like it could have been so much more.
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Quick question: How many of the Oscar nominees have you seen?
Will Forte finally returns home to ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Will Forte & Måneskin
January 22, 2022
During his time on Saturday Night Live, Will Forte created a specific space for himself, playing creeps, hysterics on the edge, goofy weirdos, and, of course, MacGruber, a thinly-veiled and loving tribute to 80s TV action hero MacGyver. It’s taken a while for Forte to return to host the show — he left in 2010 and has seen a number of his former cast members host the show since. But he finally came home this week, in an episode that felt like a genuine showcase for his signature weirdos. The sketches didn’t always land (see the final bit), but for longtime fans of Saturday Night Live, having him back was as familiar as putting on a worn but well-loved sweater.
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Kristen Wiig comes home for a ‘Saturday Night Live’ Christmas
Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig & Dua Lipa
December 19, 2020
Kristen Wiig, one of Saturday Night Live‘s most successful female cast members, returned home for the annual Christmas episode. (And I had it in my head for some reason that it’s a tradition for a former cast member to host this particular episode. But going back 20 seasons, I learned it’s only happened a handful of times: Jimmy Fallon has hosted this episode twice; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-hosted one year; Eddie Murphy hosted this episode last year; and Martin Short hosted this episode a few years back — and that’s it. And now you know this worthless trivia, too.)
BUT AS I WAS SAYING: Wiig returned and was her Wiig-y self: funny, wacky, and game, clearly enjoying herself and the material. Which is why I’m sort of baffled as to why after the grading was done the episode ended up with such a relatively low grade. I don’t remember disliking this episode, but I suppose if you include enough mediocre material, it drags the entire average down.
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Just a pathetic little man raging impotently from behind a teeny tiny desk
Now’s your chance to experience the best show of the year for free.
‘Saturday Night Live’ and Tina Fey offer a prayer to mothers as the season’s parting gift.
Saturday Night Live
At-Home, Part 3
May 10, 2020
Saturday Night Live‘s season came to a premature end last night for obvious reasons, but considering what they were up against, it’s truly a TV miracle that they were able to produce three episodes of solidly funny television. And this week’s episode was no different, thanks to help from a number of friends of the show, including Martin Short, Josh Gad, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Wiig, Danny Trejo, and the aforementioned Tina Fey.
Were there some duds of sketches? Of course there were; as Tom Hanks reminded us the first time we did this, there always are. But at least in my estimation, because the writers and performers were forced out of their standard process for creating a show, they became more creative and less lazy, and the result was three episodes of Saturday Night Live that will be remembered in television history. Great job, everyone — even you, Kyle Mooney. Here’s to hoping y’all are back home at Studio 8H in the fall, and that you bring this creative spark back with you.
Adam Sandler’s return to ‘Saturday Night Live’ was just all over the damn place
Saturday Night Live
Adam Sandler & Shawn Mendes
May 4, 2019
I’m going to be honest with you before we get into this: I am not a fan of Adam Sandler but for a few — no, make that one — exception, that exception being Happy Gilmore. I HATED Sandler when he was on SNL, and did not think it was a huge loss when he was fired 24 years ago. But Sandler has matured since his time on the show, as people are wont to do, and so while I came into this episode expecting to hate it and him, I was surprised to find I hated neither. Sandler, having become a huge movie star, seems more comfortable in his own skin, willing not to laugh more at himself than with himself, which is a huge relief.
All that said, it’s not a great episode, and in fact, one sketch — and an early one at that — received a dreaded F. You know what you did, Kyle Mooney.
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