Kate McKinnon's Oddball Saturday Night Live Gets A Boost From Billie Eilish And Special Guests
Kate McKinnon returned to Studio 8H to host "Saturday Night Live" for the first time this weekend. Though it might feel like a long time since McKinnon left the late night sketch comedy series, she only just departed in 2022 at the end of season 47, along with Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson. But how did McKinnon fare hosting "SNL" without Bryant, her frequent partner in comedy?
Honestly, a pairing of the two comedians was missed in the Christmas episode of "SNL," but executive producer Lorne Michaels tried to make up for the lack of Bryant's guest appearance with the return of two other alums: Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig. Not only did the two appear in the monologue to sing an "SNL" rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas," but they popped up in two of the better sketches of the evening. However, we shouldn't sleep on musical guest and former host Billie Eilish, who also popped up in a pair of sketches throughout the evening.
The only problem is, overall, this episode was even more peculiar than we might have anticipated. On top of that, something just felt off about the timing across roughly the entire episode. Maybe it's because this episode is following two superb episodes with Emma Stone and Adam Driver as hosts, but Kate McKinnon's episode of "Saturday Night Live" felt rather awkward and came up a bit short. Let's dig into the highs and lows of the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live."
What was the best sketch of the night?
Here's where Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig came in handy during Kate McKinnon's "Saturday Night Live." Along with Bowen Yang, the three women formed ABBA, the Swedish pop supergroup that has a recently rediscovered Christmas album coming out. Framed as an infomercial, we see ABBA performing very Swedish renditions of Christmas songs that sound eerily similar to their own famous hits. This is one of those instances where a basic sketch premise is elevated by the cast, especially when they can't help but make each other break character. Watching McKinnon, Rudolph, Wiig, and Yang mash their heads together and sing into each others' faces was just what this sketch needed to take it to the next level. Admittedly, it's not necessarily on par with some of the best sketches in other recent episodes, but it brought plenty of laughs.
How was the rest of the episode?
Tampon Farm – Seemingly following in the footsteps of "Fully Naked in New York," this episode of "Saturday Night Live" has a music video that feels like it comes totally out of left field. Honestly, I'm not even sure what's happening, other than showcasing a farm that somehow harvests tampons. Strangely enough, the nonsensical nature of such a farm actually takes over the sketch, as it's unable to sustain itself. However, the farm doesn't fail because they're harvesting tampons, but because the women who are supposed to be farming tampons are singing a song about the tampon farm instead. It's kind of the "Inception" of sketches about tampon farms, and having Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, and Billie Eilish popping up certainly helped bring it home. Strange but fun!
Gifts from Mom – Here's a perfect example of a sketch that was amusing, but something just felt off. I don't know if it was McKinnon's delivery and timing of her self-deprecating dialogue with her family, or that what she was saying felt a little too mean-spirited for the Christmas episode, but it didn't feel like this worked nearly as well as it could have. It's a bit of a mystery too, because the idea of a mother downplaying the gifts she got for her family is something we've all experienced, but the elevation of these instances didn't seem to hit with the audience. Personally, I wish the sketch would have elevated the bad gifts side of things, following in suit with James Austin Johnson's father character buying those terrible gifts for his daughters' significant others.
Whiskers R We with Billie Eilish – When Kate McKinnon was an "SNL" cast member, Whiskers R We sketches were a great opportunity to pair her with the host and some adorable cats. But since McKinnon was the host, they brought in Billie Eilish to play Barbara DeDrew's new co-host, with a familial twist. Eilish continues to show her penchant for being a solid participant in sketch comedy, even if she loses the voice a little bit towards the end of the sketch. However, this sketch had a bit of a hiccup in that it felt like they kept reusing the same cat, even if they were actually different. I'm not sure if this is a result of the ease with which certain cats could be grabbed by McKinnon and Eilish, but it was too distracting to overcome, and it kinda dulled the great reveal of Eilish likely being Barbara DeDrew's daughter. But even so, there was plenty to like here.
Yankee Swap – All right, you can see the punchline of this sketch coming from a mile away, but Kenan Thompson sells it so well that you can't help but enjoy it. When handed the touching gift of a cure for his sickle cell anemia, Thompson's character immediately swaps it for that Boogie Woogie Santa that plays some jazz and shakes his jolly body. Andrew Dismukes' reaction when he has to keep the sickle cell anemia cure is perfect, and even though this is a one-note gag that could have used some kind of escalation or variation, I still enjoyed it.
As for the rest of the sketches, they all landed somewhere in the middle with smatterings of awkward laughter. Whether it was the North Pole News alert about killer whales attacking, which didn't come close to being as funny as Eddie Murphy's rendition of a similar premise, or the "Meet Me in St. Louis" installment of Cinema Classics that had some flubbed physical cues that made for missed laughs, something just felt off. Even the intentionally bizarre "Pongo" sketch with a peculiar holiday pet felt like it didn't live up to the potential. But perhaps the most awkward was the Christmas Awards cold open, which felt like it had more polite laughter than genuine snickers.
How was Kate McKinnon as a host?
It should come as no surprise that Kate McKinnon was great as an "Saturday Night Live" host. Admittedly, McKinnon talks in her monologue about feeling uncomfortable speaking in her own voice, making the opening a bit of an awkward affair. But it kinda works in McKinnon's favor and only adds to her oddball charm. I liked the amusing ongoing gag of her silly variations on saying "anyway" as a non sequitur, and the musical rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was a lot of fun.
When it comes to her appearance in sketches, McKinnon had no problem fitting in with the cast. However, she almost fit in too well, to the point that it didn't really feel like she was hosting the show. It basically just felt like your average episode of "SNL," albeit with even more quirky humor. But considering McKinnon's desire to disappear into characters, perhaps that's exactly how she wanted it.
Weekend Update's joke swap never misses
At the end of the year, Colin Jost and Michael Che partake in a joke swap, where each of them writes jokes for each other that they don't see until it's time to read them from the cue cards. It should come as no surprise that Che won this round, and he really took it to another level this time.
For this segment, Che brought out Dr. Hattie Davis, who actually appeared on "SNL" decades ago in the show's third season. Davis is there to make Jost feel even worse about the jokes he's being forced to tell, especially the racially charged ones, and it's just hilarious to watch. The way Che had Jost reach out to Davis for a congratulatory fist bump after one of his offensive jokes is just icing on a deliciously uncomfortable cake. But Che saved the best for last, by forcing Jost to not only mock the movies of his wife, Scarlett Johansson, but use it for a perfectly awful reference to "Black Widow" that is remarkably cringeworthy.
Considering the fact that Weekend Update hasn't been too strong this season, it was nice to close the year with it being the funniest part of the episode.
That's all for "Saturday Night Live" in 2023. We'll be back next year after "Saltburn" and "Priscilla" star Jacob Elordi hosts the show on January 20 with "Mean Girls" musical movie star Reneé Rapp joining as musical guest.