Saturday Night Live Recap: SNL Carries On

The show must go on. In the middle of a COVID-19 surge, SNL sent the audience home and attempted a show with a limited cast and crew. Unfortunately, that meant no live sketches and no Charli XCX, who was still game to perform until she was told she couldn’t do her set at 3 p.m. A huge bummer, but arguably the most reasonable compromise other than outright canceling the show.

Best Surprise Guest

Tom Hanks, flanked by a lone saxophone player somberly playing him on, enters to light applause dressed in his Five-Timer robe. You might remember Tom getting his robe in his classic Five-Timer episode. After explaining the situation, he brings on Tina Fey, who admits this is not the smallest audience she’s performed for “because [she’s] done improv in a Macy’s.”

They introduce Paul Rudd, who is disappointed, but he still gets his Five-Timer robe from longest-serving cast member Kenan Thompson. (“Congrats on hosting four and a half times.”) Kenan surprises him with a taped message from Steve Martin, who keeps accidentally calling him “Tom Hanks.” The hosts then explain that the show will consist of some taped sketches and a few classic episodes, as Paul Rudd explains: “It’s going to be a little bit like that new Beatles documentary, a lot of old footage, but enough new stuff that you’re like okay, yeah, I’ll watch that.”

Best Interview With Prospective Grandparents

Paul Rudd is director Kasey HomeGoods, who got the job on merit. He’s filming a HomeGoods commercial with “real moms” played Aidy and Kate, asking them what they want for the holidays. Unfortunately for him, they want grandchildren. “What about something from HomeGoods?” “Grandchildren.” Aidy and Kate work well together here, and the audience laughter is not totally missed. Paul asks them to just tell him what gifts they’d like for somebody else, but Aidy and Kate are still baby-crazed. “I want her daughter fertilized.” “I want them to do the naked marriage dance.” They eventually convince Kasey that he too should get children, ending with Kelsey calling and announcing she’s pregnant.

Best Future Retrospective

Paul Rudd introduces the next sketch, which he explains they finished last night at 5 a.m. SNL gives us a glimpse of Pete Davidson in 2054. While this must be referencing whatever the hell happened to Joe Piscopo’s career, Pete’s giant forehead is hysterical. Paul Rudd shows up as Pete’s old writer Eddie Corman, who Pete dismisses after grabbing his present. It turns out to be a bag of weed. Pete has a change of heart and takes Eddie to dinner. “I used to be a sex symbol for reasons nobody could understand. This is the guy who came up with that!” Pete ends the sketch by singing, “You know I’ll be here waiting for you, the Pete Davidson Show,” which might actually describe SNL in 2021.

Best Early Christmas Present

The hysterical Mike Myers’s Carl Sagan Christmas Special is a classic from 1990, with Tom Hanks killing it as drunken Dean Martin. This sketch has so many great moments: the audience losing it at Victoria Jackson’s Sally Struthers, Phil Hartman as tone-deaf Dr. Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan throwing paint on Crystal Gayle’s fur coat. We even get Dana Carvey as Paul McCartney. SNL has changed a lot over the years, but I don’t think we’ll ever again see a moment like Carl Sagan and Dean Martin singing an ultra-scientific song about climate change.

Best ‘Weekend Update’ Throwback

Tina Fey joins Michael Che onstage to perform for an audience consisting of Paul Rudd, Kenan Thompson, and Tom Hanks. Colin is not there, but Tina says, “It’s not what you think; he’s getting work done.” This is actually pretty cool. Instead of just trying to do a straight “Weekend Update” without a set or graphics, Tina and Michael gamely make their way through a ton of jokes straight to the camera. “German police have broken up a plot by anti-vaxxers to kill a local official over vaccine mandates. It’s a classic conflict between Germany’s two favorite things: violence and rules.” I also love seeing Tina flub the COVID-vaccine one-year anniversary joke. “I blew it again!” It’s extremely intimate in a way only SNL can deliver, and amid a rough situation, Tina, Michael, Kenan, Paul, and Tom give us a good time.

Best Non-Talking Bird

In our final new sketch of the night, Paul Rudd is a customer behind Kyle Mooney as a little boy buying his mom Christmas socks. Paul soon holds up the line by asking Kyle way too many questions about his bird that blew away. Aidy as the mom eventually joins the song to say Kyle’s bird, T.J. Rocks, has started a band. Charli XCX ends up actually making an appearance on the show as the talking bird. I hope they can bring her back to perform later this season.

Keeping Score

Paul Rudd said it best in his closing remarks: “I know it wasn’t the show that you expected, but that’s the beauty of this place. Like life, it’s unpredictable.” SNL doesn’t just work hard to make us laugh every week; it’s a cultural mirror. You can watch any episode from the past nearly 50 years and know exactly what was going on in the world that week. This week it was the Omicron variant wrecking their highly anticipated Christmas show, just as it has thrown a wrench into our lives. But like SNL, we’re all trying to carry on and make the best of it. The effort was admirable, and my thoughts are with the cast and crew as I wish for a speedy recovery. Five stars. See you next year.