SNL After Party (S49 E8- Air Date 12/16/23) - "I Give Trash Because I am Trash"

 Host: Kate McKinnon
Musical Guest: Billie Eilish

One of SNL’s most talented alums, Kate McKinnon, returned home for her first ever SNL hosting gig. McKinnon had a penchant for manic, oddball characters. So much so, that she landed the role of “Weird Barbie” in the blockbuster Barbie movie this year.

Does McKinnon bring back the chops she showed us in her decade long run on the show that reached the finish line in 2022? Or, did this final show of the year give us a trash gift for Christmas?

Cold Open

What’s this! A cold open that has nothing whatsoever to do with politics!

Instead of something on Russian binders, massive lawsuit verdicts or dipping poll numbers, we got the “95th Annual Christmas Awards” hosted by “wo people from the E! Network you’ve never heard of.” (Heidi Gardner and Bowen Yang).

The awards are various riffs on Christmas, from bad gifts for kids, feelings savings acting on the holidays, and unwelcome holiday guests.

Chloe Troast appears as someone who sings holiday songs but doesn’t really know the lyrics. I can tell you, my son was outraged that our bit was clearly impinged on. SNL writers pay close attention to my blog, right?

Overall, the cold open did not really hit the mark. It was a pleasant change of pace from current events, but this was not the strongest start from the gate. And it felt really long.

Monologue

Kate McKinnon is a ball of awkward. That’s practically her brand. In her monologue, she admits that talking in her own voice is really not for her. She then showed us a picture of her before her junior prom in a dramatic dress. She apologized to her date for “That feeling you get when your date show us in a Ren Faire dress. And is gay. And is me.”

She sang a take on “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” while pretending (and not even that) to play a tiny piano (possibly mocking Adam Driver’s monologue last week).

She was then joined by - CAMEO ALERT - Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig to help her finish the song. It was a nice reunion.

So far - and I know it’s early here - we haven’t gotten the full Kate.

North Pole News

North Pole elves broadcast a breaking news event where a pod of killer whales burst through the ice and ate some residents. Mikey Day as reporter Kirby Gigglemittens covers the story, and interviews eyewitness McKinnon (Pickle Burt (?) McCuddlepuff). McKinnon is an inexplicably Scottish elf who barfs up Skittles while recounting the tale of what she saw. This is vintage wide-eyed over the top McKinnon. While the sketch is not that funny on paper, McKinnon carries it with her ridiculous character (that is surely a take on Quint from Jaws). There are some funny bits of various condolences or trolling from the likes of the Easter Bunny and The Grinch.

McKinnon is back.

Pongo

You know, when I heard McKinnon was hosting, I got excited hoping she would join forces with and bring back the weirdness we loved from Sarah Sherman, who has been relegated to fairly straight roles this season.

My hopes were not in vain.

This pre-taped commercial involves a robotic dog given as a gift for Christmas by parents Mikey Day and Sarah Sherman.
McKinnon shows up as an elderly fan of Pongo, because “He’s kinda wet.”

The sketch takes a series of dark turns that allow Sherman and McKinnon to have some fun and play at their over the top best.

Pongo was a welcome Christmas gift.

ABBA Christmas

My other hope was that McKinnon and Yang would get a chance to be ridiculous. Boy was I not disappointed.

James Austin Johnson hosts an infomercial for an ABBA Christmas album, featuring “The Fleetwood Mac of cold weather.”

And then the fun really begins as McKinnon and Yang are joined by Wiig and Rudolph as ABBA.

The quartet is absolutely hilarious, mocking everything about ABBA, including their accents (absurdly provided in different hysterical varieties…but Maya Rudolph wins) and “standing close facing different directions”.

This was a fantastically fun sketch that was “perfect for mothers and their gay sons.”

Gifts From Mom

McKinnon and Johnson give Christmas gifts to their daughters and their boyfriends. McKinnon insults her gifts and herself, while Johnson gives gifts that insult his daughters.
It feels more like a Wiig sketch than a McKinnon sketch. The joke on this one wears thin pretty quickly.

Farm Song

Kate McKinnon stars as an earnest singer songwriter music video about women working on a very special farm. Musical guest Billie Eilish, Maya Rudolph, Kristin Wiig and even well respected former SNL writer and actress Paula Pell help with singing and farming. This probably falls more in the clever than hilarious category, but it’s well executed.

Weekend Update

Let’s waste no time here with Ego Nwodim’s rich aunt character or the usual (though high quality) news jokes that get a lot of laughs and appreciative groans this week.

The highlight was the annual “joke exchange" where Che and Colin write jokes for each other that they are reading for the first time live. At least that’s the claim. I choose to believe. I’m also a sucker for Miracle on 34th Street, what can I say?

This year, Che upped the stakes by having “poet, author and activist Dr. Hattie Davis” (who appeared on SNL season 3, says Che) sit next to Colin in her wheelchair. This was a brilliant increasing of the stakes. But what’s even more brilliant is - from what I can tell - there is no Dr. Hattie Davis. So, maybe that cane in the house at the end of Miracle on 34th Street is a coincidence after all. Nonetheless, while watching the jokes, the temporary belief that Colin had to tell horribly offensive jokes - particularly one about his wife - while sitting next to a civil rights activist from the 1960s really made this the best joke exchange to date.

The jokes were hugely offensive and hilarious, and the believable ruse with Dr. Davis was a thing of beauty.

I’ll post the link below, but every single trigger warning in the books is hereby being issued.
(Note: If I am wrong, and Dr. Davis is a real person, I apologize for my ignorance. But, whether she’s a real person or not, her presence during this sketch was spectacular).

Gift Swap

An office participates in a “Yankee” gift swap.

The results are pretty predictable, and the sketch outlives the premise fairly soon.

Cinema Classics

Kenan Thompson’s Reese De’What hosts a look at Meet me in St. Louis.

Thompson’s host, who is a bad guesser, explains that director Vincent Minelli directed the young actress (Margaret O’Brien) to produce real tears in a scene with her sister (Judy Garland) by telling her that her dog had just died.

McKinnon plays Tootie to Chloe Troast’s Judy. The bit is an excuse to let McKinnon get more and more manic and angry. It takes some fun extreme turns, but it’s also really just a good opportunity to let Kate do what Kate does.

Whiskers R We

McKinnon brings back her cat and pun loving shop owner. This time she is joined by her very similar intern played by Eilish. McKinnon and Eilish have fun with this, and the bit is always reliable. Who doesn’t love cats on a live show and truly awful cat puns.

Eilish holds her own here, but McKinnon is just so reliably great as this character. This installment adds - believe it or not - something of a storyline.

It’s a fun 11:55 sketch.

The Goodbye Wave

Best Sketch: For the joke swap alone, Weekend Update takes the prize this week. The layers of offensiveness this year were just brilliant, and let Update edge out ABBA Christmas for the title this week.

Worst Sketch: Unfortunately, this was also a tough choice this week. I can think of three sketches that I could justify giving this to, but I think I’ll go with the Gift Swap because it was just so drawn out and obvious. I’d have gladly traded the time used for this with a return of the alien abduction sketch (which, I know, was retired when McKinnon left as a regular cast member).

Random Notes:

- Billie Eilish was arguably the best musical guest of the season. Her first song was “What was I Made For?” from Barbie. McKinnon and Barbie director/writer Greta Gerwig introduced this performance which featured Eilish singing in front of an oddly moving video as her brother played piano. It was, for lack of a better word, lovely.

Eilish’s second song was a compelling and well done version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” I rarely include videos of the musical performances (mainly because I am less qualified to critique music than I am comedy. And I am woefully underqualifed for that as it is). But I’m posting this one at the end of the recap to help you get in the seasonal mood. It’s a little magical.

- We now have two weeks without a Please Don’t Destroy video. Someone, please, make sure the boys are okay.

- Am I imagining this, or has the show gotten more bloody lately? A strange question to ask about a sketch comedy show, and it’s not a criticism, but here we are. This Paperless Post commercial that was cut for time seems to support my belief.

Grade: B+

Now, have yourself a merry little Christmas courtesy of Billie Eilish.

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