Martin Short hosts Cameo Packed ‘SNL’ with Hozier

Martin Short returned to Saturday Night Live to join the five-hour club with musical guest Hozier. The holiday episode was a star-studded affair with the most cameos in an already cameo-heavy season.

A cast member from 1984 to 1985, Short hosted his first episode in December 1986 — or rather, co-hosted it, sharing the episode with fellow amigos Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. He returned as a solo host in December 1996, December 2012, and most recently December 2022. He has also appeared in 11 episodes in cameo roles (the most recent being Kristen Wiig’s April 6, 2024 episode).

Short was joined by Hozier for the second time as the musical guest. The Irish singer first guested on an episode hosted by Bill Hader in 2012.

If there was a theme to the night, it would have been cameos and recurring sketches. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but prepare for a lot of pauses for clapping and rooms that feel familiar.

Cold open

This week’s Cold Open was a self-indulgent cameo fest. This usually happens when someone joins “the five timers club” (also known as hosts who have hosted the show five times.) Short is joined by Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Scarlett Johansson, Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, Paul Rudd, Jimmy Fallon (who is not five o’clock), John Mulaney and of course Alec Baldwin. Fight SNL nerds might find it funny, and there are some good jokes in it, but it feels more like an excuse for claps and ‘woos’ than a real skit. It is also long. Maybe it should be with all these people.

Monologue

With so many stand-ups this season, it felt fresh and fun to have a musical monologue. It also feels right for a Christmas episode. There are even more cameos in this monologue from Fallon and Lorne Michaels. Short really sells this song about needing medication to get through the holidays. It’s big and silly and perfect for the holiday show.

Parking space replacement

This sketch follows Short and Mikey Day as they use hand signals to fight over a parking spot. This is a follow-up to a 2023 sketch with Day and Quinta Brunson. This version doesn’t go anywhere the original didn’t. Although this sketch didn’t need to be redone, if anyone had to, it’s good that it was Short. He really engages and the cameo from McCarthy was hilarious.

An Act of Kindness

In this pre-recorded skit, Heidi Gardner gets more than she bargained for after she helps a homeless man during the holidays. While this sketch’s jab is fun, it doesn’t quite make up for this sketch feeling like it’s going down.

Christmas Airport Parade

Here’s another recurring, cameo-filled skit. The sketch follows Bowen Yang and Ego Nwodim as TSA agents/parade announcers in a busy Christmas airport. Rudd stops as himself, but the best cameo in this skit is Tom Hanks as Captain Sully. He steals this sketch. However, that’s another sketch premise that was done recently (Jason Mamoa did a Thanksgiving version last year).

Weekend update

While Yang as the New Jersey Drone is hilarious, most people will be watching this week’s weekend update for the annual Joke Swap between Colin Jost and Michael Che, where the hosts try to make each other look bad by writing corny jokes for each other to read.

The joke swap is always good for viral moments and this year’s was no different. Che gets Colin to tell a racist joke (like every year), but he ups the ante by making jokes about Jost’s family while his wife, Johansson, is in the studio. Cutting her reactions really works. Jost has Che tell a rape joke that works less well when he opened Update with another rape joke on his own, making it seem less like a “thing he was made to do” and something he just do. If there was a Joke Swap winner, it would definitely be Che.

Sábado Gigante Christmas special

It’s another recurring skit filled with cameos. Marcello Hernández returns as Sábado Gigante host Don Francisco. He played the veteran Univision host earlier this season with Nate Bargatze. This iteration doesn’t change the sketch play or add much other than cameos from Rudd and Dana Carvey. However, notably absent, Kort.

While this sketch doesn’t do anything new, this reviewer was such a fan of the original Sábado Gigante sketch that it still felt funny (even if it wasn’t inventive). Maybe just watch the first one again – it’s so, so good.

Hozier

Hozier first performed his song “Too cute.While that performance was beautiful, if you want to see a performance, do his second song: a cover of The Pogues’ “The Fairytale of New York.” It was such a good choice by Hozier and his version is achingly wonderful. The Irish folk song was written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan. With MacGowan’s death last year, the performance feels particularly special.

Peanuts Christmas

Charlie Brown is replaced as the director of the Christmas Pageant by two sleazy community theater gays played by Yang and Short. This sketch is cute, funny and really made of the visual gags of having adults dance like Peanuts characters.

Bonus- Cut for Time: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

This sketch is wild. In it, the Grinch accidentally kills several Whos. However, they are avenged by Lucy Liu Who, in her iconic Kill Bill Vol. 1 costume. It feels weird that this sketch was cut, especially with such a big cameo. But in an episode saturated with cameos, it was perhaps inevitable that one would be cut.

While no more guests have been announced for Season 50, it will return in the new year, and so will this recap.