Saturday Night Live: Austin Butler / Lizzo
December 19, 2022 9:24 PM - Season 48, Episode 9 - Subscribe
Second Christmas episode.
- Cold Open - Trump Christmas: James Austin Johnson, Mikey Day, Cecily Strong
- Monologue: Austin Butler
- The Phrase That Pays: James Austin Johnson, Heidi Gardner, Austin Butler, Punkie Johnson
- A Christmas Epiphany: Austin Butler, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, Andrew Dismukes, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman
- Marzipan: Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang, Austin Butler, Michael Longfellow
- Jewish Elvis: Cecily Strong, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, Austin Butler, Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang
- Lizzo - Break Up Twice
- Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
- Krampus: Bowen Yang
- Great Aunt Pat: Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day
- Cathy Anne: Cecily Strong
- White Elephant Party: James Austin Johnson, Heidi Gardner, Cecily Strong, Austin Butler, Devon Walker, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Dismukes, Mikey Day
- Merry Christmas from Jennifer Coolidge: Chloe Fineman, Michael Longfellow, Punkie Johnson
- Lizzo - Someday at Christmas
- Plirts: PDD, Austin Johnson
- Radio Shack: Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Austin Butler, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day
A pretty solid show. Though, I was sorely disappointed that WU didn’t do the “cold read what the other guy wrote for you” segment, which has been a tradition for the last show of the year and is usually drop-dead hilarious. I really look forward to that bit.
Speaking of WU, did Colin seem a bit disconnected to anyone else? It kind of seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else but there, to me.
Heidi’s Great Aunt Pat was pretty funny. Not sure how much of it was ad-libbed, especially the crotch grabbing.
Marzipan felt a lot like a rerun from 20 years ago. Funny, though.
So, is Cecily officially gone this time? I thought she said her goodbye a year ago, but was surprised to see her back in the cast this season.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:06 AM on December 20, 2022
Speaking of WU, did Colin seem a bit disconnected to anyone else? It kind of seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else but there, to me.
Heidi’s Great Aunt Pat was pretty funny. Not sure how much of it was ad-libbed, especially the crotch grabbing.
Marzipan felt a lot like a rerun from 20 years ago. Funny, though.
So, is Cecily officially gone this time? I thought she said her goodbye a year ago, but was surprised to see her back in the cast this season.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:06 AM on December 20, 2022
So, is Cecily officially gone this time? I thought she said her goodbye a year ago, but was surprised to see her back in the cast this season.
SNL announced her departure a couple of hours before the show.
I'm glad she got essentially her own goodbye episode instead of being lumped in with Kate, Aidy, and Pete last season. As much as I love those three (each a HOFer in their own right), Cecily is one of the very few cast members who were at Phil Hartman's level, holding together the Wacky Hijinks while still being able to raise her jinks as necessary.
posted by Etrigan at 5:52 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
SNL announced her departure a couple of hours before the show.
I'm glad she got essentially her own goodbye episode instead of being lumped in with Kate, Aidy, and Pete last season. As much as I love those three (each a HOFer in their own right), Cecily is one of the very few cast members who were at Phil Hartman's level, holding together the Wacky Hijinks while still being able to raise her jinks as necessary.
posted by Etrigan at 5:52 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
Cecily is one of the very few cast members who were at Phil Hartman's level, holding together the Wacky Hijinks while still being able to raise her jinks as necessary.
That's a really good comparison, and not one that I'd make lightly, as I generally consider Hartman to be the GOAT SNL cast member, but Strong deserves it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:44 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
That's a really good comparison, and not one that I'd make lightly, as I generally consider Hartman to be the GOAT SNL cast member, but Strong deserves it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:44 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
After the Trump cold open and that awful monologue, I wasn't expecting much. Fortunately it turned into a pretty solid show after that. I wasn't familiar with the host, I didn't see the Elvis movie, and if you had told me he was James Franco I might have believed you.
Lizzo's first performance was amazing. I didn't care for her second one, but I'm not a fan of Christmas music, especially the "one day all the children will live in peace and harmony" variety.
Sorry to see Cecily go but I hope she goes on to do great things. I agree with Etrigan that as much as I loved Kate and Andy, Cecily was a rock who could do just about anything. She will be missed.
Loved the Jennifer Coolidge impression.
Plirts was great. I love those guys.
posted by bondcliff at 6:46 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Lizzo's first performance was amazing. I didn't care for her second one, but I'm not a fan of Christmas music, especially the "one day all the children will live in peace and harmony" variety.
Sorry to see Cecily go but I hope she goes on to do great things. I agree with Etrigan that as much as I loved Kate and Andy, Cecily was a rock who could do just about anything. She will be missed.
Loved the Jennifer Coolidge impression.
Plirts was great. I love those guys.
posted by bondcliff at 6:46 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
if you had told me he was James Franco I might have believed you.
Cary Elwes from the front, Val Kilmer from the side.
posted by Etrigan at 7:04 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
Cary Elwes from the front, Val Kilmer from the side.
posted by Etrigan at 7:04 AM on December 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
I thought this was a really good episode. Johnson does a good Trump and it's far better than Baldwin but I'm just so tired of seeing or hearing anything about him. I wish they would stop. I thought the monologue was good. It seemed sincere and was not overly long. I also had no idea who Austin Butler is and it was a decent introduction.
The Phrase That Pays was a great premise well done and they actually ended it without dragging on forever which is far too common on SNL. It's a 1 or 1.5 joke premise that just doesn't work if it's 8 minutes long.
I really like Heidi Gardner but Great Aunt Pat didn't work for me. It was fun to get one more Cathy Anne, but my vote would have been The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With.
The PDD guys are really hit or miss for me, more often miss, but Plirts and the one last week were both great.
I thought Radio Shack was an excellent ending. It felt like the same 'we're hanging this loosely on a premise but that's not really what it is and then it'll just devolve into the actual people' thing as when Cecily did Tammy the Trucker and Goober the Clown on WU. It seemed to fit Cecily's (and Keenan's) comedy very well and it was a fitting sendoff.
I'm sad to see Cecily go. She's been my favorite cast member for a long time. I did really like Schmigadoon and I think there's a second season coming so I'm hopeful we'll get to see more of her elsewhere very soon.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
The Phrase That Pays was a great premise well done and they actually ended it without dragging on forever which is far too common on SNL. It's a 1 or 1.5 joke premise that just doesn't work if it's 8 minutes long.
I really like Heidi Gardner but Great Aunt Pat didn't work for me. It was fun to get one more Cathy Anne, but my vote would have been The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With.
The PDD guys are really hit or miss for me, more often miss, but Plirts and the one last week were both great.
I thought Radio Shack was an excellent ending. It felt like the same 'we're hanging this loosely on a premise but that's not really what it is and then it'll just devolve into the actual people' thing as when Cecily did Tammy the Trucker and Goober the Clown on WU. It seemed to fit Cecily's (and Keenan's) comedy very well and it was a fitting sendoff.
I'm sad to see Cecily go. She's been my favorite cast member for a long time. I did really like Schmigadoon and I think there's a second season coming so I'm hopeful we'll get to see more of her elsewhere very soon.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
My overall feeling about the season was there were some really great premises but they consistently had no real ending for the sketches. No real narratives. Maybe it's a generational thing and this younger cast is used to 30 second videos on socials and just don't feel obligated to write a whole sketch. Just make a joke and run.
posted by Stanczyk at 9:04 AM on December 20, 2022
posted by Stanczyk at 9:04 AM on December 20, 2022
it's a generational thing and this younger cast is used to 30 second videos on socials and just don't feel obligated to write a whole sketch. Just make a joke and run.
Make it more like Laugh-In. I'm not even kidding. It seems like live sketch comedy is just not a part of today's Zeitgeist. Knowing SNL, they'll stick to the exact same formula for a couple more decades until live sketch comedy once again becomes part of the Zeitgeist.
posted by SoberHighland at 11:08 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Make it more like Laugh-In. I'm not even kidding. It seems like live sketch comedy is just not a part of today's Zeitgeist. Knowing SNL, they'll stick to the exact same formula for a couple more decades until live sketch comedy once again becomes part of the Zeitgeist.
posted by SoberHighland at 11:08 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
I did really like Schmigadoon and I think there's a second season coming so I'm hopeful we'll get to see more of her elsewhere very soon.
From all reports, Apple dragging its feet until June to renew it is why Cecily agreed to come back for (part of) this season — she had a gap in her schedule between Search for Signs and whenever Schmigadoon might fire up again, and on the off chance that Apple killed it (and no one else picked it up), she’d just carry on through the season.
posted by Etrigan at 11:52 AM on December 20, 2022
From all reports, Apple dragging its feet until June to renew it is why Cecily agreed to come back for (part of) this season — she had a gap in her schedule between Search for Signs and whenever Schmigadoon might fire up again, and on the off chance that Apple killed it (and no one else picked it up), she’d just carry on through the season.
posted by Etrigan at 11:52 AM on December 20, 2022
I thought Schmigadoon2 was already filmed. (Sidebar: Are streaming series taking ever longer between seasons?)
Anyway, as a fan of SNL before we called it by an acronym, before it even had the *Live* in its name, I too put Cecily in the very top couple of all-time favorites.
I've gone through a long spell of not watching it live and/or all the way through, but for her I made an exception. (Except I flipped away from the cold open, because we are years beyond treating this guy like he's just a subject for tepid satire.)
They missed the chance to do the bit where Cecily and a male guest star play a couple obsessed with a musical no one's ever heard of. I'm a music theater fan, and she's got the singing chops, as does that guy, of course.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:13 PM on December 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Anyway, as a fan of SNL before we called it by an acronym, before it even had the *Live* in its name, I too put Cecily in the very top couple of all-time favorites.
I've gone through a long spell of not watching it live and/or all the way through, but for her I made an exception. (Except I flipped away from the cold open, because we are years beyond treating this guy like he's just a subject for tepid satire.)
They missed the chance to do the bit where Cecily and a male guest star play a couple obsessed with a musical no one's ever heard of. I'm a music theater fan, and she's got the singing chops, as does that guy, of course.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:13 PM on December 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh, I meant to add, I thought maybe she did another partial season for contractual reasons. E.g., She's missed parts of other seasons, and this stint fulfilled X number of episodes remaining on a contract.
Whatever the reason, it was good she had her own goodbye episode. (And she'd be an effin legend just for the Judge what's her name in a tank of wine bit.)
posted by NorthernLite at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Whatever the reason, it was good she had her own goodbye episode. (And she'd be an effin legend just for the Judge what's her name in a tank of wine bit.)
posted by NorthernLite at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
If we're just reminiscing about Strong now, this is pretty timely.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:05 PM on December 22, 2022
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:05 PM on December 22, 2022
(And she'd be an effin legend just for the Judge what's her name in a tank of wine bit.)
It was absolute perfection. Here it is again.
Michael totally loses it every time Colin gets doused. And IMO I think that was her real goodbye -- this season she's just been the retired pro shooting hoops for fun with the kids.
posted by mochapickle at 5:49 PM on December 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
It was absolute perfection. Here it is again.
Michael totally loses it every time Colin gets doused. And IMO I think that was her real goodbye -- this season she's just been the retired pro shooting hoops for fun with the kids.
posted by mochapickle at 5:49 PM on December 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm sure I must have heard it before, but this is the first year that I actually noticed the song Someday at Christmas, and I think of all of the "The world is terrible but maybe someday it won't be and also it's Christmas" songs, it's well ahead of the pack.
posted by ckape at 11:51 AM on December 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 11:51 AM on December 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
> id Colin seem a bit disconnected to anyone else?
I had seen clips but only just watched the whole show this morning. I think Colin was just really affected by Cecily leaving.
posted by Horselover Fat at 10:08 AM on December 31, 2022
I had seen clips but only just watched the whole show this morning. I think Colin was just really affected by Cecily leaving.
posted by Horselover Fat at 10:08 AM on December 31, 2022
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- A Christmas Epiphany was awesome and beautifully done. Best I've seen from SNL in a long time.
- Plirts was (typical PDD) hilarious.
- White Elephant Party: I thought this didn't go far ENOUGH because I've seen professional adults at an office party nearly come to actual blows because, and I'm not kidding, someone stole their "white elephant" toy fire truck. A couple of people left the party early over it.
posted by mmoncur at 11:13 PM on December 19, 2022 [2 favorites]