Saturday Night Live: Kate McKinnon / Billie Eilish

December 17, 2023 4:15 AM - Season 49, Episode 8

Dr. Hattie Davis is not a real person.

• Cold Open - Christmas Awards: Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Punkie Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, Molly Kearney, Chloe Troast, Marcello Hernandez, Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes, Ego Nwodim
• Monologue: Kate McKinnon, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig
• North Pole News: Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang
• Pongo: Andrew Dismukes, Sarah Sherman, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Kate McKinnon
• ABBA Christmas Album: James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon
• Gifts From Mom: Kate McKinnon, James Austin Johnson, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, Molly Kearney
• Tampon Farm: Kate McKinnon, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Molly Kearney, Chloe Troast, Billie Eilish, Marcello Hernandez
• Billie Eilish - What Was I Made For?
• Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
  • Rich Auntie w/No Kids: Ego Nwodim
  • Joke Swap: Dr. Hattie Davis
• Office Yankee Swap: Kate McKinnon, Chloe Fineman, Molly Kearney, Andrew Dismukes, Kenan Thompson, Michael Longfellow, Punkie Johnson
• Billie Eilish - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• Cinema Classics - Meet Me In St. Louis: Kenan Thompson, Chloe Troast, Kate McKinnon, James Austin Johnson
• Whiskers R We: Kate McKinnon, Billie Eilish

Cut for time: Paperless Post

posted by rhizome (8 comments total)

God I love Kate. So nice to see her come back, and bring Maya and Kristen as well!

A decent show but not a lot of standouts. I liked Pongo, and Whiskers of course. The Yankee Swap was also really good. Christmas Awards was good but could have been better.

Gifts From Mom hit a little too close to home. My mom has never once given me a gift without telling me I can return it if I don't like it as soon as she hands it to me.

Tampon Farm was amazing.

It seemed like a lot of the sketches were short or ended abruptly. I wonder if they wrote them that way or they cut them short for time.

I honestly think they went a little bit too far on WU. I get the premise that the jokes are going to be tasteless but... oh boy. I'm not sure they need to go THAT far.

I see a lot of musical guests on SNL and a lot of the time I know I'll never hear from them again. Lots of flashes in the pan come through that show. But I think this is Billie Eilish's third (?) time on the show and she is always delightful. I really hope she has a long, productive career and we're still seeing her on the show 20 years from now. Assuming the it's still on, of course.
posted by bondcliff at 7:17 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

Geez. I am just watching Billie Eilish do Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and I must agree, very delightful. So nice to be reminded there are GOOD role models in addition to all that other crap out there. Anyway, need to watch more of the show now, esp since it's Kate!
posted by Glinn at 8:06 AM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'm making my way through clips, and the WU joke swap was fine until the last, tasteless one about Coretta Scott King.

(I won't again repeat my thoughts in general on this WU team compared to others.)
posted by NorthernLite at 8:11 AM on December 17, 2023

The ABBA thing, I laughed so hard I fell off the bed. Same with Whiskers R We. I haven't watched everything yet, but it's such a delight to see Kate again. Was her NBC ID supposed to look exactly like Pete Davidson? Was that the joke?

And Billie Eilish singing my absolute favorite Christmas song, that was perfect! I'd love a whole collection of her doing standards.
posted by mochapickle at 9:24 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Dr. Hattie Davis is not a real person.

Sad, but true.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:41 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Whiskers R We: hilarious!
posted by billsaysthis at 10:02 PM on December 17, 2023

I was disappointed Eilish sang the Sinatra-fied version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, with the lyrics made all nicey-nice and fake-y. (It's supposed to be, "Someday soon we all will be together / If the fates allow / Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow." Fuck that "highest bough" mess!) Christmas needs melancholy songs about just getting by in the holiday season and trying to look on the bright side when everything looks bleak. Once you've heard the original version (CW: emotional gutpunch), the post-Sinatra, blanderized versions you hear at Starbucks just sound gross.

Also, the thing about Vincent Minnelli telling Margaret O'Brien her dog was dead to make her cry is just an urban legend. Knowing that made the whole bit land kind of weird. Still, I'm always glad to get a visit from Reese De'WHAT?!

I wasn't sure how to feel about Pongo. I guess he was supposed to be creepy but I kind of want a little Gumby-esque playdough dog monster that never dies.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:03 PM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]

This is probably the first SNL episode I've watched all of in ages. Usually I just pick and choose as to what sounds like the best sketches, but I felt like everything nailed it for me. Also Kate is my favorite SNL performer of all time and darned if I wasn't aww-ing at the cat sketch.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:06 AM on December 19, 2023 [1 favorite]