Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: christmas, saturday night live, snl

A Saturday Night Live Christmas Preview: Our Fav SNL Sketch & More

In honor of NBC's A Saturday Night Live Christmas, we share our favorite SNL holiday sketch and four Cut For Time Christmas-themed sketches.

With this being the final week for NBC's Saturday Night Live before it heads into its midseason winter's nap, we've got a double dose of SNL goodness coming our way. This weekend, host Martin Short (Hulu's Only Murders in the Building) and musical guest Hozier will be sending us off into the holidays – but before that happens, we get to look back on 50 seasons of Christmas-themed sketches. In honor of A Saturday Night Live Christmas (running from 9 pm to 11 pm ET), we have a look back at what still stands as our favorite Christmas-related SNL sketch – made even more appropriate considering Dana Carvey's presence this season (that's a ten-ton hint). In addition, we've included a look at four Cut For Time sketches that fit with the festivities.

A Saturday Night Live Christmas: Our Top All-Time Holiday Sketch

SNL S12E08 (December 20, 1986) was hosted by William Shatner with musical guest Lone Justice – but it was Carvey's portrayal of Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey in a never-before-seen "lost ending" to It's a Wonderful Life that was the highlight of the show and of the long-running sketch comedy/music series' nearly 50-season run when it comes to holiday sketches. Why? Because it feeds into what's at the core of my dislike of the holiday classic.

George Bailey is just too damn decent to have to put up with all of the unnecessary drama he faces in Bedford Falls. And while it's easy to paint Old Man Potter (played by Jon Lovitz in the sketch) as the villain, it's pretty much the entire town that continually screws over & disrespects the dude. That's why I don't get caught up in the feels at the end when the town "comes to his rescue"; that was the least they could do for him after he surrendered his dreams to keep that town afloat. But in the famous sketch, we get a chance (a 'timeline variant," if you will) to see how things might've turned out had George Bailey finally had enough and gone looking for revenge…

SNL Cut For Time: Christmas Edition

In "Christmas at Nana's" (Season 41, 2015), two siblings (Kyle Mooney and Amy Poehler) are forced to resolve their differences before they can spend time with Grandma. In "Holiday Gig" (Season 45, 2019), A band's (Eddie Murphy, Kenan Thompson, and Kyle Mooney) holiday performance is interrupted by internal squabbling. In "Christmas Romance" (Season 40, 2014), a man (Pete Davidson) declares his love for Amy Adams – and other things – when he shows up at her house with cue cards. In "Renaldo and Alexi," two Manhattan doormen (Bill Hader and Fred Armisen) from overseas enjoy telling popular Christmas stories to the tenants of their building.

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