SNL wrapped up its last show of the year with "Manchester By The Sea" star Casey Affleck. So how would SNL end a politically wild 1st half? onto the review.
Donald Trump Christmas Cold Open: Alec Baldwin returned portraying Trump (without any mocking tweets from Trump himself this week). He goes on to meet Putin (Beck Bennett) coming down the chimney. SNL really hit on the ongoing Russian hacking story this week. Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson then shows up (John Goodman) to show off his special handshake with Putin. It seems like SNL is going with the view that Trump is the last in line to fully grasp anything (at least when it comes to his team around him). Should be interesting to see how this develops in the 2nd half of the season. (7.4)
Monologue: Affleck got a little advice from Bladwin and Goodman on how to host a show. And Casey made it known that he would not sing for this Christmas show monologue. All in all, this was a surprisingly decent monologue, considering some of Affleck's late night appearances. His sort of dry delivery worked. (7.0)
Dunkin Donits (ad): This ad portraying a "real Bostonian" played by Affleck was so on the money. Yeah, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not over the top like those sketches with Jimmy Fallon/Rachel Dratch back in the day. (8.6)
Robot Presentation: They seem to really want to make these "humanoid robot" sketches become a thing. Isn't happening yet. (5.9)
Jingle Barack (short): There was a lot happening here, and it was all brilliant. Played off like a early 90s rap music video, Kenan and Chance The Rapper celebrate the last Christmas with Obama as president. Even "Jesus" (Affleck) was getting down with it. Leslie Jones had her own special section with appreciation for Biden. There was just some great writing here. (9.0)
Christmas Miracle: Another one of these Kate McKinnon/Cecily Strong sketches where Ms. Rafferty (McKinnon) shares a slightly different experience than the others. This time around, there was just something missing. (6.0)
(Chance The Rapper): (8.4)
Weekend Update: Jost and Che pretty much were laser focused on Trump and the transition this week, with some good lines by Jost on Russia.
The only update guests were "Putin best friends", played by Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen. (7.2)
New York Now: (5.5)
Hillary Actually (short): A parody of Love Actually, Hillary tries to sway an elector with a last minute plea, via cue cards. In the moment this was pretty creative, and hit the nail on the head with some of the worrying concerns with a Trump presidency. (9.2)
However, it seems a bit odd to still be doing Hillary Clinton sketches at this point in the game, a month past the election now. Maybe SNL did have a "Clinton problem", as an article from "The Ringer" pointed out.
(Chance The Rapper): (7.5)
Mrs. Claus & the Elves: A return of this recurring sketch, where a bunch of elves seem to really be into punishment. I'll admit, for some reason I chuckled a bit at this one. (6.9)
Christmas Bar: (7.6)
Casey Affleck didn't seem fully present in this show, but I guess that's to be expected for a Christmas show, where you usually do see some guest appearances. With such a wild and hectic schedule, I imagine the writers could use a good holiday break. Overall this was a really decent show, where the taped material out shined the live sketches. (7.40)
Dave Chappelle: 8.83
Tom Hanks: 8.03
Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74
Emma Stone: 7.56
Casey Affleck: 7.40
Margot Robbie: 7.38
John Cena: 7.19
Kristen Wiig: 7.09
Emily Blunt: 7.07
Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60
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