The quirky ex–forged member got here again to the sketch present, solely to vanish into it.
When Kate McKinnon departed the Saturday Evening Stay stage in Might 2022, together with a slew of others together with Pete Davidson and Aidy Bryant, the clock instantly started counting all the way down to her return. Davidson had the glory of being the primary amongst that departing cohort to host, earlier this season, however McKinnon received her probability final night time, closing out the 12 months with SNL’s annual Christmas episode. As she found, it’s one factor to steal the scene and fairly one other to steer the present.
“I’ve at all times felt extra comfy in a bizarre costume,” she admitted in her opening monologue, referring to the numerous oddball personalities she performed on SNL. Since leaving, she jokingly confessed, she’s been struggling to determine who she is other than these roles, quipping, “I’ve been making an attempt to assemble a human persona.” (Her spin as Bizarre Barbie within the blockbuster Barbie movie maybe sophisticated that effort.) Certainly, McKinnon’s flip—properly earned after 11 seasons that made her one of many present’s longest-running feminine forged members, and simply one in all its hottest—revealed the disparity between the highlight of internet hosting and the camouflage of ensemble comedy. McKinnon didn’t appear completely comfy breaking away from the unity of the forged to assertively declare the viewers’s consideration. It made for an evening that was much less a victory lap than a reminder of the delights of collaborative dwell efficiency.
Maybe to melt the duty of internet hosting, the SNL alums Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig joined McKinnon on the finish of her monologue to sing a model of “I’ll Be Dwelling for Christmas,” its lyrics altered to specific the enjoyment of coming again to 30 Rock. But, reasonably than confine their shock look to that sentimental second, they returned twice extra: for the filmed music video “Tampon Farm,” and the night time’s standout scene, “ABBA Christmas.” The duo’s ongoing presence diverted consideration away from McKinnon and at one level nearly stole the present.
On “Tampon Farm,” an Indigo Women–esque tackle a bunch of girls who develop and harvest tampons, McKinnon adroitly took on the position of the sexually charged lead singer and detailed the varied ladies of the titular farm, which included Rudolph, Wiig, and the previous SNL author and comic Paula Pell. Nevertheless it was on “ABBA Christmas,” a pretend advert for the Swedish supergroup’s Christmas album, the place the goofy mayhem that Rudolph and Wiig are so adept at instigating reached pitch perfection. Throughout one observe teaser, the foursome depicting ABBA (McKinnon, Rudolph, Wiig, and Bowen Yang) broke into pairs and parodied the “standing shut, dealing with totally different instructions” pictures stitched all through the band’s music movies. Whereas McKinnon and Yang held tight to their placement, Rudolph and Wiig pushed the vanity additional, till at one level their mouths smushed collectively as they sang. That alternative made them break and in flip almost cracked the forged member James Austin Johnson because the skilled announcer. It was a revelrous second, and one McKinnon couldn’t match when it comes to spontaneity or vitality.
Wiig notably didn’t seem within the night time’s one nod to McKinnon’s catalog of recurring characters, “Whiskers R We,” regardless that she’d performed so years in the past. Within the bit, McKinnon performs Barbara DeDrew, an worker at an area cat-adoption company who movies its promo spots with winking sexual overtones, and is often joined by a rotating co-host. Final night time, the musical visitor, Billie Eilish, portrayed DeDrew’s new intern (and potential daughter) Pawbry Hepburn, delivering showstopper traces like “A cat is a canine that’s a bitch.” The 2 collectively exuded a vigorous heat, paying homage to Eilish’s time internet hosting SNL’s Christmas episode two years in the past, when she partnered a few instances with McKinnon.
Though internet hosting may’ve appeared a really perfect alternative to spotlight McKinnon’s trademark weirdness, it actually solely appeared in a broadcast-news spoof from the North Pole, the place a pod of killer whales has damaged by means of the ice and eaten a bunch of elves. Taking part in a survivor of the assault, McKinnon saved bobbing out and in of the dwell shot to query Santa’s response to the tragedy. Her wacky conspiratorial interruptions, delivered in a thick Scottish accent, injected the acquainted remote-location setup with unexpectedly screwy touches (together with wielding a harpoon in self-defense) that heightened the comedic chaos of the fictional catastrophe.
SNL as a substitute principally gave McKinnon host-type characters, those who’ve to steer the sketch and don’t at all times get a chance to interrupt free from that stricture. She gamely leaned into them, turning a self-deprecating mom who apologizes for her Christmas presents as her youngsters open them into a seething ball of self-hatred. These bits didn’t take full benefit of her abilities, however then, McKinnon appeared completely content material to maintain herself hidden among the many forged. There’s one thing candy about her impulse to share the highlight with everybody else onstage—if solely it didn’t come at the price of the eccentricities which have made her so charming to observe.
