SNL Scorecard: Kate McKinnon / Billie Eilish
Merry Christmas, SNL and/or Couch fans! Somehow, someway, we have just about reached the end of 2023, and that means Saturday Night Live has tied a bow on their calendar year. The show actually did so one week ago, by bringing back an extremely familiar face for a very unfamiliar purpose: Kate McKinnon, cast member from Seasons 38-47 of the show, played host for the first time since departing at the tail-end of the season in 2022.
The 'Christmas episode' of SNL has traditionally been a major one, with some combination of a big-name host, SNL veterans returning, cameos from A-list celebrities, an A-list musical guest, and/or high energy and enthusiasm from the audience. In that regard, the 2023 edition was no different! McKinnon was a beloved figure on this program, and her return was always going to bring a good amount of buzz, and throw in some guest appearances from a couple fellow beloved former cast members and the return of one of the biggest pop stars in the world as musical guest, and naturally the energy levels from the audience and cast alike were high all night.
Unfortunately, the quality of the episode overall was not able to match expectations nor justify the hype. It was not without its highlights; as you'll see below, its highs were among some of the best of the year in their respective category. But it was a reversion to the norm from much of this season thus far: an inconsistent night, with some real standouts, but a couple duds and overall a takeaway of "this was decent, but had the potential to be so much better."
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 8th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"Abba Christmas": 9/10
There are plenty of instances where you can tell the writers go, "Idk, let's just let our host be wild and wacky with these guests!" and it doesn't really work. Not the case this time- letting Kate, Bowen, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph just be themselves and do hilarious ABBA impressions while almost certainly trying to get each other to break led to magical results; truly some of the most fun I've had with any sketch this whole year.
The Good
“Monologue": 7.5/10
McKinnon, of course, was no stranger to the SNL stage, but actually helming the monologue (as opposed to doing a brief 'walk-on') was new territory for her, and I think I even detected some nerves, a truly rare sighting! But she did so well just being her naturally hilarious, zany self. I was a little bit confused by the guest appearances from Wiig and Rudolph since they didn't overlap with Kate at all as cast members-- and similarly, was a bit confused why they kept appearing throughout the episode --but I did at least enjoy the symmetry between this and that same trio being part of Wiig's own monologue in 2020.
“Pongo": 7/10
Give Sarah Sherman her Oscar already! The even-wilder twist at the end threatened to ruin what was already a wild sketch, but Sherman's full commitment to the zany (per usual), and the straightforward delivery of the cast members playing her family made it enjoyable to the end.
"Weekend Update": 6.5/10
Weekend Update, while still almost always being a reliable source for laughs, has been a little more inconsistent than usual this season, and that bore out here, as the last Update of the year unfortunately featured a pretty subpar performance from the co-anchors. Thankfully, it was far from a dud thanks to an energetic appearance by Ego Nwodim's "Rich Auntie," and especially the very welcome return of Che and Jost's 'joke swap.'
"Christmas Awards Cold Open": 6.5/10
“It’s amazing what can happen when they don’t do a political cold open,” remarked my brother. “Best cold open of the year!” responded my sister in the affirmative. (I wasn’t actually quite as high on it as either of them were, I thought the jokes ran dry fairly quickly.) But, I completely agree that I will always enjoy seeing a change of pace from the mundane political news story cold opens, and this was at least enjoyable from beginning to end.
“Yankee Swap": 6/10
“Gifts From Mom": 6/10
I'm lumping the two of these sketches together; not, as you might expect, because both have to do with Christmas gifting at a holiday get-togther. The central premise of each is actually quite different. But rather, because I had an identical reaction to each: they were funny sketches, that at their best produced some of my loudest laughs of the night. But neither really realized its full potential, and went on a bit too long (or maybe just didn't change direction enough) for it to be truly memorable.
"Whiskers R We": 6/10
Kate McKinnon had so many iconic characters and sketches in her time at SNL..."Whiskers R We" was not one of them, and thus, I was very confused why this was one they brought back. That said, she always seemed to have an enormous amount of fun playing it, and that was no different here. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, but she and Billie Eilish clearly were enjoying themselves immensely, and played off each other well.
The... Less-Good
“Tampon Farm": 5.5/10
I saw this particular sketch referenced online before I had a chance to watch the episode, and assumed I'd love it, and once I saw the setup, that belief was only further cemented. But then the song just didn't really go anywhere. Maybe there's a parody I'm missing? But if not, the joke just seemed to be that this indie folk group was singing about the life cycle of a tampon. I still enjoyed it more than not, but I didn't love it, and I wanted to love it.
“North Pole News: Killer Whale Attack": 5/10
This was also a repeat sketch, but not one that was a 'Kate McKinnon sketch' previously, which makes its inclusion surprising. I loved the previous iteration with Eddie Murphy four years ago, but in large part because it was the perfect bizarre 10-to-1 sketch, which makes this one's placement as the first post-monologue sketch of the night pretty baffling. This wasn't bad, but a very strange choice all around.
"Cinema Classics": 4/10
Remember how earlier in this piece I mentioned there are plenty of instances where you can tell the writers go, "Idk, let's just let our host be wild and wacky!" and it doesn't really work? Yeah...
Musical Performances
Billie Eilish: 7.5/10
Billie Eilish, like the night's host, was no stranger to Studio 8H, marking her third appearance as musical guest. In fact, the last time she was on the show she had actually pulled double duty as host, almost exactly two years ago. Given the starlet's global fame, and how well her musical performances on previous appearances had gone, she was an exciting returnee. That said, in a rarity for someone of her stature, it was a bit of a surprising choice: Eilish has been abnormally out of the public eye for the last year-plus, and her song "What Was I Made For" for the Barbie movie is the only new music the artist has dropped since summer 2021.
Still, it was a welcome return for Billie and her brother and collaborator Finneas, who led off with that very track from Barbie. It's a beautiful track-- in my opinion the frontrunner for the Best Original Song Oscar race --and it played against a beautiful tribute behind them, a 'home video' montage of the women involved in the episode reminiscent of a similar montage in the movie. Her vocals felt a little more stretched than usual, though, and her breathing pattern a little heavy, to an extent that my sister and I both wondered aloud if she was sick. The second performance, a cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" was also beautifully done, though, and she sounded much more her usual self. By the own lofty standards she has set with her previous appearances, I doubt this will go down as her most memorable musical appearance, but Billie Eilish's worst is most people's best.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.38 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.27)
Heading into the holiday break, here's where the episodes of the season 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.:
Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo - 7.41
Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters - 6.82
Timothée Chalamet/boygenius - 6.54
Bad Bunny - 6.54 (tiebreaker goes to the Timothée Chalamet episode for having a higher 'Comedy Only' score)
Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish - 6.38
Emma Stone/Noah Kahan - 6.21
Jason Momoa/Tate McRae - 6.00
Pete Davidson/Ice Spice - 5.75
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