“Saturday Night Live” returned with hosts Steve Martin and Martin Short, the famed comedians who star on “Only Murders in the Building.”
The famed sketch-comedy show featured Martin and Short delivering eulogies to one another, “A Christmas Carol” spoof, and a “Father of the Bride” sketch with cameos by Kieran Culkin and Selena Gomez.
Brandi Carlile was the musical guest and performed “The Story” and “You and Me on the Rock.”
Here are some notable sketches from the eighth episode of Season 48.
Cold Open
“SNL” often features a political satire sketch as the cold open. But this episode featured a cold open with a Christmas song: “Blocking It Out For Christmas” by cast members Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, and Bowen Yang among others. The cast made several short quips at Elon Musk and Kanye West in the song which encourages the characters to hide their negative emotions until the new year.
Strong sang the lyrics, “Elon, why does he own all the stuff? Why does he have to run Tesla and Twitter? Was outer space not enough?”
Yang continued: “And Hitler? When did Hitler come back? We basically all agreed years ago, Hitler should never come back.”
Thompson added “And why are his new fans Black?” before the chorus joins in song, “Let’s block it all out for Christmas!”
Opening Monologue
Martin and Short, who are longtime favorites on the show, delivered preemptive eulogies to each other in the opening monologue after first comparing their hosting records — Martin holds a whopping 16 times hosting “SNL” compared to Short’s “only” three.
After plugging the premiere of Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building,” Martin joked about his co-host saying that working with Short “is like World Cup soccer — somehow, I just can’t get into it.”
The comedians continue to go back and forth with bitter sarcasm in their funeral remarks.
“Wow! Not a large turnout!” Martin said of Short’s funeral. “Marty did not want to be cremated — too late. But I’ll always be haunted by Marty’s last words: ‘Tesla autopilot, engage.'”
Short quipped: “There are so many great things that I could say about Steve Martin. But this hardly seems the time nor the place.”
“I know Steve is looking down on us right now, because he always looked down on everyone,” Martin joked.
Before the monologue ended, Gomez, who co-stars with the pair on the Hulu show, made an appearance on stage.
“Now that Marty’s gone, who will I ever work with?” Martin remarked.
“What about me?” Gomez replied, running on stage and announcing Carlile’s appearance as the musical guest.
Weekend Update
“Weekend Update,” hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che, featured the week’s top news stories.
“Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema … announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party and is registering as an independent. Explained Sinema, ‘Pay attention to me,'” Jost remarked.
Jost also touched on the recent U.S.-Russian prisoner swap. “WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed from prison in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. It’s actually a great trade because Bout was only averaging five points and two rebounds a game,” he said.
Che continued to hit back at Herschel Walker, the former NFL player and Georgia Senate candidate. Che has frequently slammed Walker on “Weekend Update” over accusations of pressuring former partners to have abortions and being absent in his children’s lives.
“Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker in Georgia’s Senate runoff race. But I don’t think this is the last you’ll hear from Herschel Walker. I mean, unless he’s your biological father,” Che said.
“Weekend Update” also included characters Mary Anne Louise Fischer, played by cast member Ego Nwodima, as well as “Kurt and Deb from Wyoming,” played by cast members Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman, who showcase their celebrity impersonations as attempts to spice up their intimate life.
Other skits included a digital short by “Do Not Destroy,” and “The Holiday Train,” in which Short, Martin, Strong, and Thomspon sing a version of “Snow” from the holiday classic “White Christmas” before it is revealed that three of the characters are bears who made a wish to be human so they wouldn’t hibernate through the winter flurries.
A pre-recorded sketch cast Short as Ebenezer Scrooge from the famous “A Christmas Carol.” In the sketch Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning, tossing coins to children on the street which unintentionally harm them and wreak havoc on the passerby.
The show’s last sketch followed Carlile’s number, “You and Me on the Rock.” The sketch creates a sequel to the 1991 film “Father of the Bride,” which starred Martin and Short. The daughter reveals she is engaged for an eighth time while Martin’s character laments the lost money that has gone to his daughter’s previous seven weddings. The sketch features Culkin, who also starred in the original film as a 9-year-old, and Gomez who offers her musical talents for the wedding at a price of $1.8 million.
Actor Austin Butler will host “SNL” on Dec. 17 alongside musical artist Lizzo.
