SNL Scorecard: Billie Eilish

After a three-week break, Saturday Night Live returned last night! It's hard to believe, but it was the show's penultimate episode of 2021, and not surprisingly, they brought out the big guns, enlisting teen megastar Billie Eilish to pull double duty as host and musical guest.

Eilish appeared as a musical guest in the Season 45 premiere, but had never performed hosting duties, making this the thirteenth consecutive episode (spanning back to the last five of Season 46) with a first-time host. I'm too lazy to do an Internet deep-dive, but that has to be a show record, and the eight straight first-timers to open the season is particularly incredible. Anyways, I'll be curious to see what the ratings are like for this one, because I imagine Billie's massive fanbase resulted in a lot of eyeballs, but I also imagine there were many usual SNL viewers (like me) who tuned in out of curiosity about how the atypical pop star would do as host. I'm a big fan of Billie's music, and as such have seen enough of her interviews and behind-the-scenes content to know she's a naturally funny person, but I didn't really know how her personality and brand of humor would translate to this particular show and format. She's not a multi-hyphenate like a Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande, in other words.

Sure enough, she seemed a little out of her element in the sketch format, and perhaps relatedly, it was an up-and-down episode as a whole. However, she turned in one of the best musical performances of the season, and thanks in no small part to the much welcome return of veteran player Kate McKinnon, a couple of the sketches were also among the best of the season; in other words, while not the most consistent, this episode was anything but forgettable.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 8th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Lonely Christmas Ad": 8.5/10

Just absolute pre-taped brilliance. The reveal of Kate McKinnon’s seemingly harmless, lonely old lady actually being sinister was worth the buildup, and the jokes stayed funny from there on out, even when I was worried it might run dry. One of the best of the season thus far.

The Good

“Kyle's Holiday": 8/10

This was just a vintage, quintessential ‘Kyle’ sketch. If you generally think him funny, you will have loved this one, if you don’t, you probably just found it random or stupid. Fortunately, I happen to be in the camp that finds Kyle Mooney hilarious, and accordingly, I was laughing my butt off from start to finish.

“Hotel Ad": 7.5/10

You know this about me by now- there’s nothing I love more on SNL than a really good 10-to-1 sketch. And boy, was this good. A hilariously scathing takedown of the exact kind of hotel you probably have stayed at before, and played by a delightfully weird Kate McKinnon, who no, has not lost a step in her long absence. Billie didn’t get the deadpan delivery quite right, but that was offset by the fact that Kate was actively trying to make her laugh at different points.

"TikTok": 7/10

This was a sketch definitely pandering to its audience. When a pop star whose meteoric rise was largely fueled by her popularity on TikTok is hosting the show, it’s a safe bet that this sort of humor (more of an in-the-know recreation of TikTok than a mockery of it) will go over well. But in addition to strategic value, it was also just straight up funny, and yes, a spot-on impression.

"Weekend Update": 6.5/10

It’s gotten to the point now where I routinely expect Weekend Update to be great, which is credit to Michael Che and Colin Jost, who I really like as a team. But it also does make weeks like this one, where they were just okay, feel more disappointing as a result. The co-anchors seemed a little off their game, but the segment as a whole was helped by a solid (and rare) appearance from Punkie Johnson— good night for her! —and the beautiful chaos of Andrew Dismukes’ appearance with a dog.

“Santa Song": 6.5/10

Weirdly enough, this was pretty much the only sketch of the night that centered around the host, and so not surprisingly, it was one that made use of her vocal chops. It was yet another one that felt like it could have been funnier than it actually was; I almost never say this, but I wish it would have gone out longer. It felt like there wasn’t enough time for it to really hit its stride. But even with that in mind, there were plenty of highlights.

"Christmas Cards": 6/10

This was in a similar vein of both the recurring “Posters” bit with Emma Stone and the Christmas Ornaments sketch with Matt Damon a couple years ago; i.e. ‘if miscellaneous house decorations could tell the whole story.’ I enjoyed this, but it did leave me feeling like more could have been done with this premise, which is a really solid one. Special shout-outs go to the new players Class of 2020, though! Nobody made me laugh harder in this one than Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson.

“Monologue": 6/10

As mentioned in the introduction, I was most curious to see whether Billie, who really is naturally funny as a person, would be comfortable in this sort of role and format. But, is probably one of the most daunting parts of the episode for the host, she did great in the monologue! In terms of the jokes, it was just okay, but she seemed exceedingly comfortable onstage and did a good job blending the funny, the personal, and the thoughtful.

“Fauci Holiday Message Cold Open": 6/10

It wasn’t the most memorable cold open— in fact, it wasn’t even as good as the last time they did this very idea. Most of the jokes seemed a little too half-baked to land. But! There were plenty of great individual moments; I never tire of Aidy Bryant’s Ted Cruz nor Cecily Strong’s Marjorie Taylor Greene. And it was so, so good to see Kate McKinnon make her return. I enjoyed the subtle shoutout when she kicked off the sketch by saying “I’m baaaack!” but in character as Dr. Fauci.

"Hip-Hop Nativity": 5/10

Man, this one had so much promise when Heidi Gardner— who does fully unhinged better than anyone else on this cast —came out bellowing in a Southern accent to do a “pimp walk” and Billie could barely keep it together. But then it just never really amounted to much more than a joke about how nobody really understood hip-hop. Still more good than bad, I’d say, but the audience couldn’t match the cast’s energy level.

Musical Performances

Billie Eilish: 9/10

If Billie Eilish seemed a little out of her element as host, she was fully in her element for the musical performances. For a singer who made her love of family and Christmas known in the monologue, and famously recorded her debut album in her bedroom, it was no surprise that the set design on each song made it appear as if she was singing in her own home. It was a very cool-- and effective --touch.

And yet, that was far from the most impressive thing from her set. She absolutely killed her first performance of Happier Than Ever's title track and best-charting single, and considering how often the unforgiving studio stage overwhelms would-be high-energy performances, that's no small feat. Then, just like her musical appearance in 2019, she followed a blowout performance of her lead single with a stripped-down, quiet second song, backed only by her brother Finneas on acoustic guitar. Though a completely different tone and energy level from “Happier Than Ever,” new single “Male Fantasy” was also an inch-perfect performance, the two siblings’ vocals playing off each other beautifully.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.95 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.75)