SNL Scorecard: Ariana Grande / Cher

Happy Holidays, SNL fans!

One week ago, Saturday Night Live aired its last episode of 2025, the annually-anticipated 'Christmas episode.' Between missing it live for holiday travel, and celebrations itself, this scorecard is coming later than usual, but rest assured, I did in fact watch the episode, hosted by one Ariana Grande.

It's been a funny old season for the show, what with coming off the celebratory fanfare of last season's 50th anniversary, and an abnormal amount of turnover in the cast and behind-the-scenes crew. As you might anticipate given that context, it took SNL some time to really get going this season, even as big names and repeat hosts stopped by Studio 8H. But it did really feel like somewhere in the October-to-Thanksgiving stretch, the new pieces started to gel and the show hit a little bit of a stride...only to then lose momentum again amidst the holiday season. I was hoping the host of both 2024's best sketch and one of SNL50's strongest episodes might help the program end 2025 on an excitingly strong note, especially given last week's news that beloved cast member (and dear friend of the host) Bowen Yang would be departing after this episode. But, despite Ariana Grande once again proving a game and multitalented player, it continued on from what has been the trend for most episodes of late: generally very fun, but hardly memorable.

All in all, I can’t help but feel pretty similarly about this one to how I felt after the last SNL episode that aired immediately before a break for the holidays, Glen Powell’s show: a perfectly fine— and definitely fun —episode that had more good than bad! But considering the potential with this host and the energy in the audience, a bit of a disappointment that suggests the intergenerational cast and writing staff still haven’t achieved synergy and are probably ready for a little time off.

One note in case you forgot- I know my rankings can seem a little arbitrary, and truthfully there have been times where even I will look back at scorecards and think "Now, why did I rate (x) an 8.5, if (x) from this other episode was only a 7...?". So, both to hopefully clear up my scoring system for any curious readers, but also really to help keep myself consistent, here is the rubric to reference:

10/10: Perfect, no notes

8-9.5/10: Very funny-to-hilarious, definite rewatch

6-7.5/10: Pretty funny-to-funny, but won't necessarily be a rewatch

4-5.5/10: Not BAD, but not particularly funny or memorable

1-3.5/10: Terrible/poor taste, to simply bad/unfunny

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 9th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Dancing 101": 7.5/10

There were a few sketches that were all clearly better than the rest, but no single one that was a clear standout, so in the event of a three-sketch tie, I'm going with the live sketch. I always love a live sketch that works simply because it's silly and everyone's having fun with it. Ariana and each cast member involved all made me laugh out loud at least once, and hers and Marcello's comedic chemistry with each other was undeniable.

The Good

“Home Alone": 7.5/10

Many people are saying this just reheated Farewell Mr. Bunting’s nachos. But hey, if you have a chance to do a Christmas-themed homage to a perfect sketch, and you can cast Ashley Padilla and Colin Jost perfectly, I say go for it. This worked nearly as effectively as its spiritual forefather did.

“Random Duet Christmas Spectacular": 7.5/10

This is the kind of sketch that SNL does so well, especially with multiple cast members (and a host) who are gifted impressionists. My two small gripes: one, I never really understand why they just have the pop stars sing their own songs with swapped-out lyrics in these types of sketches (the magic of the Michael Bublé one, the best one ever of these, was that it was the various "celebrities" doing their own take on known Christmas classics); and two, and more importantly, James Austin Johnson's brilliant Bob Dylan AND Andrea Bocelli deserved much more screen time. But yeah, this was a banger.

“Weekend Update": 7/10

Coming off the worst Update in some time, the anchors did a good job ending 2025 on a stronger note. There were a couple real winners in the opening slew of jokes, and of course, the always-anticipated joke swap. My brother and I agreed this seemed to be the first joke swap in which it genuinely seemed like Colin Jost didn’t know what was coming, which lended both to the enjoyment but also cringe factor of it all. Elsewhere, a the return of Kam Patterson in a pretty funny cameo, and I did not see Aidy Bryant and the Trend Forecasters coming back for Bowen’s last show, but was so delighted to see their return. We didn’t get nearly enough of these characters.

"Elf on the Shelf Support Group": 7/10

I love an original Christmas sketch! This was a similar setup to many a 'Christmas elves'-related sketch from years past, but the idea of a support group for a Christmas toy was very funny. Not the strongest bit start to finish, but a lot of great lines in there.

"Black Santa": 6.5/10

I love how, in year 20+ of his tenure on the show, Kenan Thompson still has the ability to make a sketch work that would be a disaster if anyone else tried. This bit was pretty dumb, but the sketch itself was so much fun, pretty much just because HE was having so much fun, and the energy that came when the audience got involved was infectious.

“Trump Christmas Address Cold Open": 6/10

As I said just last week, the writing staff seem to have no idea how to make the horrifying reality funny (or any less crazy), so they'll just let 'Trump' get on stage and make people laugh with James Austin Johnson's always-hilarious Trump. Even with the spot on impression, the humor in this one took a little while to get going, but it ended strong. As is often the case these days, there was so much political insanity to capture in one week, and JAJ does an admirable job at encompassing as much of the lunacy as he can.

“Delta Lounge": 6/10

It's tough to know how to grade this one, as it pretty much existed solely as a mechanism for Bowen Yang's goodbye to the show. As a sketch, was it memorable in the least? No. As an emotional farewell for a beloved cast member, was it a good mixture of sweet and occasionally very humorous? Yes.

“Monologue": 6/10

No surprise here that Ariana, one of the most gifted vocalists out there, once again busted out a musical monologue. The premise for the song was funny, it was a nice Christmas monologue, and I enjoyed the moment Bowen got from the audience. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect something a little more memorable from the return host.

The... Less-Good

“Love Is Blind Reunion": 3.5/10

The only sketch of the night that just didn't work at all. It felt like they just wanted to get extra use out of Mikey Day’s Grinch suit from last week. Had some funny moments, but very forgettable overall.

Musical Performances

Cher: 6.5/10

For a while, I assumed the jokes about Cher being musical guest solely because it would make Bowen Yang happy were....well, just that, jokes. After all, does an outgoing cast member really have the power to dictate to Lorne Michaels their preferred host/musical guest duo? But upon seeing her performances and realizing that she was not there promoting any new music in the least, I have to say, it does seem wholly possible that her appearance was simply a treat for the outgoing Bowen Yang. I'm not sure what other reason there would be, given that she's not releasing any new tracks, not a big name in the current market, and not synonymous with Christmas.

That said, it's Cher! Performing on live TV in the year 2025! That's fun! "DJ Play a Christmas Song" is apparently not a new song, but it IS a banger. Cher was 150% lip-syncing, but hey, the song was catchy and the dancers were into it, she was sporting a sassy blonde wig... it's Christmas! We're all having fun! Her cover of "Run Run Rudolph" did in fact seem to be performed live, and with great energy and gusto as well. A perfectly fine, perfectly fun appearance from the pop icon.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.54 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.55)

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Heading into the holidays, here’s where the episodes stand-- keep in mind the episode's overall score factors in the musical performance, so what I considered the funniest isn't necessarily the top-rated overall, etc.:

1. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile - 7.05

2. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon - 6.87

3. Sabrina Carpenter - 6.58

4. Ariana Grande/Cher - 6.54

5. Nikki Glaser/sombr - 6.50

6. Amy Poehler/Role Model - 6.25

7. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen - 6.15

8. Glen Powell/Olivia Dean - 6.00

9. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat - 5.91