Saturday Night Live bid adieu to 2020 and marked the end of Trump’s presidency during Kristen Wiig‘s homecoming.
The Christmas show largely avoided Trump, but set aside a couple of minutes to run through some of POTUS’ “greatest moments” during Weekend Update. (Colin Jost confirmed this is the last episode before Trump leaves office, so SNL is looking at a five-week break.) Beck Bennett’s Mike Pence made an appearance in the cold open (alongside fellow Trump cronies Rudy Giuliani and Ben Carson), but the sketch was used to introduce Alex Moffat as incoming president Joe Biden. (The skit aired just hours after former portrayer Jim Carrey tweeted his formal resignation.)
After the cold open, Wiig kicked off her third hosting stint (her fourth if you count last spring’s SNL at Home finale) with the help of Kate McKinnon and Kamala Harris impersonator Maya Rudolph, all of whom shared some of their “Favorite Things” during a reworked version of a Sound of Music classic. What followed was a parody of a certain critically derided limited series (featuring some of Ego Nwodim’s best sketch work of the season), a plethora of holiday-themed sketches (including a “deleted scene” from Home Alone 2 and yet another bad take on Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch), and the return of not one, but two of Wiig’s most well-known characters — neither of which would have surprised Aunt Sue.
What sketches stood out this week? And what missed the mark? Grade Wiig’s episode, then scroll down for all the highlights and lowlights.
Nwodim stole the show as Ms. Williams, the no-nonsense educator who was having none of what her horned-up student (played by Andrew Dismukes) was proposing in this FX on Hulu parody.
“You’re pulling a ‘C-‘ in my class. That’s not hot for me,” she told him, point blank. “You can barely read.”
The digital short featuring Wiig as the forgotten mother on Christmas morning was also pretty great.
Wiig had soooooo many recurring characters during her seven seasons, which begs the question: Why did she bring back the same two characters — Secret Word contestant Mindy Elise Grayson, and the perpetually surprised Aunt Sue — she brought back the last time she hosted a proper episode, in 2016? Both sketches suffered from diminishing returns. (Plus, I couldn’t help but think how fun it would have been to see how Target Lady’s holding up during the pandemic.)
Chris Redd, Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner’s desk pieces (as Motown singer Smokey Robinson, Michael Che’s next-door neighbor Willie and Instagram influencer Landis Trotter, respectively) couldn’t compete with the anchors’ semi-annual tradition of swapping jokes on air — and the best was saved for last.
“It was announced that Creed singer Scott Stapp will play Frank Sinatra in an upcoming movie,” Jost read aloud. “But the good news is Sammy Davis Jr. will be played by Scarlett Johansson.”
Whereas the Home Alone 2 sketch at least had the surprise bludgeoning of the Wet Bandits, this piss-poor continuation of Dr. Seuss’ holiday classic offered little more than a barrage of obvious sex jokes. (Pete Davidson’s turn as The Mean One wasn’t quite as embarrassing as Matthew Morrison’s recent turn, but it was still pretty bad.)
After holding her own opposite Wiig and Bowen Yang in the “U.S.O. Performance” sketch, Dua Lipa hit the stage with one of 2020’s biggest hits, “Don’t Start Now” (embedded above). That was followed by a second song, “Levitating” (which you can watch here).
I look forward to the joke swap on weekend update every year! So funny. Felt it was a little shorter this year.
thats what i was thinking. in years past i thought they did more jokes, and they are usually some of the best ones.
I ‘ve never found Kristen Wiig as funny as she thinks she is. All of her characters end up sounding the same. And that secret word sketch, it’s so repetitive and pointless. I don’t get why people find it funny. Always love Dua Lipa though she’s great.
I agree with you. I have never found her funny and I have always felt like she played the same character in ever sketch. Overall this was one of the weaker episodes of SNL this seasons.
Her recurring characters are all over the top and to similar and the monologues all have the same tone. There’s just too much schtick and scene chewing to her performances. It’s not as though she can’t do other types of comedy, I avoided Bridemaids for years because I didn’t think I could take her as the lead for two hours but she was great. She can both write and perform a different type of comedy, and that would be a welcome change when she’s on SNL.
Can’t stand her on SNL, fine with her movie stuff.
Opposite is true for me with Will Ferrell, awesome on SNL, not a big fan of his movies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m mostly the same, except for Elf – I feel he was the right actor for the right part with that. But most other roles, I’ve not been a fan of his despite enjoying him on SNL. As for Wiig, I kind of agree, but I do think she had a couple characters that could have made it better (I agree with the comment in the recap about the Target lady should have been back). I’m really curious to see how she does in Wonder Woman 1984.
That’s how I feel about Heidi Gardner. All her characters are so whiny. Once they said “influencer” on Weekend Update I knew it was gonna be her.
When Kate joined the cast I thought she’s gonna be their Kristen replacement and then when Heidi joined I thought they found their replacement Kate
I like Heidi Gardner but her shtick is very specific. If anyone can succeed Kate it’s probably Chloe Fineman. Although, energy-wise, I think Bowen Yang is SNL’s next fabulous superstar.
Agreed about Chloe Fineman.
agree about Bowen
Worst was lady who couldn’t keep a secret.
Best was robe for mom. I do have to wonder why the son got a *built* Lego Millennium Falcon. The props guys probably wanted to have a little fun.
The SNL annual joke swap is always hilarious. I usually hate the Secret Word sketch, but this one landed a couple of really good jokes.
I had high hopes for this episode… I live me some Wiig…but unfortunately found 80% of it underwhelming at best :/
I think SNL missed a shot by not having Dua Lipa play Wonder Woman in a sketch. They have more than a passing resemblance
This makes me sad (because I could really use a laugh) but the best things about this episode were the interstitial photos and Dua Lipa’s outfit in her second song.
Nwodim: A Teacher.😍Laughed so hard, my stomach ached!😂🤣🤣
I was fairly underwhelmed with the episode in general. Am I the only surprised there wasn’t a Target Lady sketch for Wiig? That seems like it would be a no brainer.
Agree, though it was better than some episodes this fall. (The Bill Barr episode was terrible.) I was hoping for one of the “sisters” sketches in which she plays the homely sister with the large forehead and small hands.
Remember when they all used to go ice-skating in Rockefeller Center at the end of the Christmas episode? Miss those days.
Andrew Dismukes has been flying beneath the radar so far, but in the teacher sketch he was giving serious Andy Samberg vibes. Hope he gets more chances to show his chops. Also Ego Nwodim is killing this season!
Yeah, now that I think about it. You’re right, Target Lady in the middle of a pandemic had great possibilities.
I’m an old guy, (In my 40’s!!!) but I actually really liked Dua Lipa. I thought the songs were Really Strong! I don’t think she needs all that visual/coreo help. The songs are strong enough. Focus on that. (And maybe she will improve her vocals a bit if she doesn’t have to try to remember steps.)
I can’t stand Wiig!
Weekend update was the best part of the show.