12/20/25: Ariana Grande | Cher

 

A Holiday Message from the President

• I really enjoy JAJ as Trump, and as a performer in general, but I would like it if the show lowered the amount of JAJ Trump cold opens.

• I got a good laugh from JAJ Trump mentioning his “mandatory daily cognitive test”.

• I got a decent laugh from the monuments Trump is renaming, the Statue of Liberty being renamed “Big Elphaba”  is a highlight in particular.

• JAJ Trump on the word “redacted”: It’s my second favorite R word, redacted…

• JAJ Trump: You can’t say Alex anymore, you gotta say Ken.

• Overall, while I wish we could get some different cold opens, JAJ is still as reliable as ever.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• It makes sense we would get a musical monologue with Ariana.

• I like the somewhat loose, and laid-back concept for this monologue. With Ariana not knowing what to get her relatives for Christmas.

• Bowen gets HUGE applause when he walks on, since it had been announced earlier in the week of this episode that this episode would be his last.

• Ariana, to Bowen: I loved your line in Wicked.

• I like how some other cast members are getting involved.

• Ariana: I also have to get gifts for the 24 gay guys who do my hair.

• Marcello’s hair here looks pretty similar to how it looked for his first season.

Rating: ***

Elf on the Shelf Support Group

• Nice to see another Support Group sketch in this era, since these are usually chances to give certain cast members a chance to shine. It also reminds me of the strong People Pleaser Support Group sketch that happened to be in the Josh Brolin episode that Ariana was the musical guest for.

• Wow, the “chipmunk” vocal effect for this sketch is pretty eerie. It also makes the audience’s laughter higher too.

• I like the weird names that the Elves have.

• Jeremy’s traumatized story about how he fell between the couch cushions is really funny.

• OH MY GOD at Ariana’s high voice here. It sounds downright scary, since Ariana’s voice is already high.

• I LOVE the reveal that Ariana’s cat ripped her in half, and her lower half is on the other couch cushion.

• Ariana crying Skittles is hilarious, especially since you can CLEARLY see Ariana pouring Skittles out of her hands.

• I love the section with Mikey’s story about how he’s an elf at a frat house, and the poor positions they put him in.

• Kam exploding is a FANTASTIC callback to Andrew saying earlier in the sketch that Elves die by thinking dirty thoughts.

• Wow, Jane’s portion here about how she had to watch a Grandpa groan for help was FANTASTIC, she genuinely killed it here. It’s nice to see Jane continuing her steady rise on the show.

• Ha, Kenan smoking out of a candy cane is great.

• I’m not sure we needed Kenan to explode.

Rating: ****

Home Alone

• The casting of Ariana as Kevin McCallister is pretty funny. I also wanna give a shoutout to Ashley’s PERFECT casting as the mother.

• Ha, Colin being cast as Buzz is really funny. It’s nice to see Colin in a pre-tape.

• Ashley as the mother: *laughing* I’VE BEEN AWAKE FOR 72 HOURS. *continues laughing*

• Eh, all the sudden deaths of Kevin’s family isn’t the shock that I’m guessing the show hoped it would be. It doesn’t help that it feels like all of the jokes about the traps Kevin made in Home Alone have already been made.

• I did get a good laugh from Andrew as the homeless man knocked out Ashley with a shovel.

Rating: **

Dancing 101

• Why did the audience applaud Marcello and Ariana’s entry?

• I’m not caring for Bowen’s pretentious characterization so far. I’m not caring for Marcello or Ariana’s characters either, but they’re performing this well.

• The dances being performed aren’t working for me so far.

• Marcello: We made Diabetes look like something you WANT!

• Ariana’s “I’m not vaccinated” twirl was great, but not really funny.

• For some reason, Ariana busts out laughing after her “In RFK’s America” line. It seems weird considering how locked into her performances she was in the episode she hosted last year.

• Yeah this sketch just isn’t working for me, it felt like the dances were written first, and everything else was written after that, since everything in between them feels like it’s trying too hard to be “random”.

• I did get a good laugh from JAJ’s dance “My ex dropped the charges so now that bitch is behind me!”

• This sketch feels way too loose. If I hadn’t watched this episode live, I would’ve EASILY thought this was from dress rehearsal.

• For some reason, Marcello places his fake goatee on Ariana’s chin. Again, way too loose for me to enjoy.

• Jeremy’s dance being based on how he has sex, and him just humping the air yelling “THANK YOU SO MUCH” is really funny. “And now for no particular reason, I have to go!”

• Wow, that ending with Bowen, JAJ, and Chloe cheesily saying to the camera “And that’s dance!” was AWFUL.

Rating: *½

Random Duet Christmas Spectacular

• I like the idea of this impression showcase.

• Nice to see JAJ’s Bob Dylan impression again.

• Andrew as Bruce Springsteen: Like all my stories, that’s not true!

• Ha, I really liked the part with Sarah as Kate Bush, and Bowen as Yoko Ono. Fitting casting for both.

• Eh, I’m not sure we needed Veronika as Post Malone. But Chloe as Bjork is great.

• Ha, I really liked the section with Jane as herself, and Kam as Lil Jon (Another great casting). I would love to see this duo again.

• The final duo with JAJ and Ariana have FANTASTIC performances from both.

Rating: ***½

Black Santa Claus

• I got a laugh from the reveal of Kenan’s ridiculously long beard.

• Kenan: Well, if it’s okay, your honor girl…

• Weird pause from Ariana just now.

• The concept of Kenan singing this song with obnoxious autotune is pretty dumb on paper, but Kenan is actually performing this pretty well, and is making this enjoyable.

• The reveal that Kenan is “Black Santa Claus” is pretty funny. 

• One thing I don’t like about this sketch is that Ariana is kind of sidelined here.

• I love the reveal that the items Kenan has been stealing were women’s clothing.

• Mikey: You’re not Santa, you’re a pervert!

• Kenan: Why can’t I be both?

• I liked the ending with everyone dancing off the set of the sketch. 

Rating: ***

Weekend Update

• I liked Che’s joke about how the Epstein Files got delayed because the gov’t ran out of black ink to redact the info.

• I always enjoy the “seen here” jokes, and Colin’s joke about RFK wasn’t an exception “Seen here describing how close he is to blackface.”

• Nice to see Kam get thrown a bone, after having pretty rough airtime for the majority of the first half of the season.

• Kam: Do you think Santa is watching SNL?

• Che: He’s over 100 and white so probably.

• Ha, I really like the concept of this commentary, with Kam threatening Santa if he doesn’t get the gifts he wants.

• Kam: Imma step on any elves in my way.

• This commentary is a good utilization of Kam.

• Kam, about Ms Claus: I’m about to go to Polar Express on that hoe.

• Eh, I don’t really like that the Joke Swap this Christmas isn’t even a Joke Swap, it’s just Che making Colin say offensive jokes.

• Yeah, these jokes just aren’t working for me. It’s just going for shock value more than them being funny.

• That’s it??? If it was gonna be this short, they just shouldn’t have done this at all.

• We get the return of the Trend Forecasters and Aidy Bryant!!! I’ve always loved Aidy so I’m not complaining at all that she’s making a cameo.

• I also really enjoyed these characters from when Aidy was in the cast.

• Aidy’s delivery is hilarious as always.

• Aidy on the Mistletoe: There’s already a plant that makes you kiss, it’s called MARIJUANA!

• Aidy on counting down: JUST START THE DAMN SONG YOU BASTARD!

• Ha, I loved Bowen and Aidy saying “Go to bed, bitch” in Mandarin.

• I always love the end of these commentaries, with Michael Che being out.

Rating: ***½

Love is Blind: The Reunion

• Ha, I love the reveal of Mikey as the Grinch. Second episode in a row with Mikey playing the Grinch, which is a fun coincidence.

• I’m really liking Ariana’s hesitance to get close to Mikey.

• Andrew: Wow, what an incredibly relatable situation.

• Ha, Mikey acting like a douchey Grinch is pretty funny. But this is another sketch tonight that isn’t a good use of Ariana’s talents.

• Mikey: Being called the Grinch is really triggering for me…

• Eh, I’m not sure how to feel about Mikey being the one who is pregnant.

• I didn’t care for the sonogram picture of the Baby Grinch.

Rating: ***

Delta Lounge

• Here we go… Bowen’s goodbye.

• We’re getting the “subtle” meta-ness that some Goodbye sketches usually get, with Bowen saying it’s his “last shift at the Delta Lounge”. It reminds me of Cecily Strong’s last day at “Radio Shack”.

• Aww, I really like Ariana complimenting Bowen’s eggnog “Some of it was great, some of it was rotten.”

• Kenan: My biological son finally found me so the jig is up.

• Aww, Kenan saying he’s gonna miss Bowen was really sweet.

• I can excuse the lame joke with Ariana calling Bowen a bottom.

• Man, this sketch is so sweet, Ariana and Bowen hugging while they’re singing is especially sweet.

• Wow, Bowen is starting to get emotional, I’m starting to get emotional as well.

• Cher makes an appearance, and gets a decent line “Everyone thought you were a little bit too gay.”

• Overall, such a sweet Goodbye sketch for Bowen. I’m not going to give it a rating since it wasn’t really comedic.

Thoughts

Another fairly forgettable episode, and a disappointing Christmas episode overall. Also a fitting way to end a pretty weak December string of episodes. This episode wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t a lot of memorable material (Bowen’s goodbye notwithstanding). Considering how Ariana Grande had one of the most talked about episodes last season, and was such a strong host then, it’s really disappointing to see SNL not utilize her the best. She performed the best with what she was given, but she (for the billionth time with this season's hosts) didn’t carry any of the material.

Farewell to Bowen Yang. I know there were some sketches and other moments of Bowen’s that I really didn’t care for, but I can’t deny that Bowen was a VERY important cast member who had some incredible highs throughout his entire tenure. Despite my issues with some aspects of him as a performer, I’m gonna miss him.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

Elf on the Shelf Support Group

Weekend Update

Random Duet Christmas Spectacular

A Holiday Message from the President

Monologue

Black Santa Claus

Love is Blind: The Reunion

Home Alone

Dancing 101

5.8/10