The final Saturday Night Live of 2025 kicks off with a national address from Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson). He warns Americans to be vigilant during the Christmas season, when “arctic immigrants are coming into our homes through our chimneys and stealing our milk and cookies”.
He then rambles about all the supposed achievements the administration has pulled off: renaming the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, No Homo; invading “Venezuelar” all by himself, “Metal Gear Solid-style”, the economy “getting closer to fine – Indigo Girls!”; and the upcoming Patriot Games (“They’re saying, Sir, you’re doing Hunger Games and you know how that book ends, which of course I don’t because BOOK!”).
With regards to the Epstein files, Trump acknowledges the massive number of redactions (“My second favorite R-word”) in today’s releases but doctors them to make it seem like “Trump didn’t do nothing bad”.
Johnson has found a way to keep his Trump characterization fresh by leaning into the president’s increasingly obvious cognitive decline. That said, for as enjoyable as this cold open is in and of itself, it’s disappointing that SNL didn’t hit Trump on his disgusting remarks about the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner. Granted, that doesn’t easily lend itself to comedy, and given Reiner’s history with the show – he hosted the third episode in 1975, being the first host to fully participate in sketches – it has to hit close to home; but regardless, it was a new low for Trump and avoiding any mention of it here feels like a cop out.
Ariana Grande returns for her third go-round as host. The Wicked for Good star quickly jumps into singer mode, performing a song about not knowing what to get people for Christmas, to the tune of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You. She’s joined by some of the cast – including her Wicked co-star Bowen Yang, who announced yesterday that he would be departing SNL after tonight’s episode – who take turns suggesting terrible gift ideas such as a Cameo from Glee star Matthew Morrison, women’s Crocs, a bottle of Kirkland shampoo, and funny socks for dudes with foot fetishes. Grande can certainly carry a tune, and this is more of an excuse to get her singing than delivering laughs.
We then head to the North Pole and drop in on an Elf on the Shelf support group. The silent helpers discuss the trauma they’ve experienced on the job, such as getting lost in the couch cushions, getting their asses ripped in half by household pets, being posed in sexually explicit positions, and watching elderly family members suffer stroke. The squeaky voice effects on display do a lot of the heavy lifting here, but Grande gets some solid laughs by crying gumdrop tears and lamenting her inability to die.
Next, Grande steps into Macaulay Culkin’s shoes as Kevin McCallister for the final scene of Home Alone. In this version of the film, Kevin forgets to disable several of his homemade booby traps, so when his family arrives unexpectedly, their warm-hearted reunion turns very bloody very fast, as one-by-one they get beheaded, impaled, engulfed by flames, and turned into slurry. For as fun as the gore is, the biggest guffaws come from seeing the diminutive Grande made into the spitting image of young Culkin, as well as Colin Jost turning up as big bully brother Buzz.
At a Dance 101 class, Grande and Marcello Hernández’s demanding instructors try to teach their students to express parts of themselves – their bathroom habits, their vaccination status, the humiliating way they have sex – through dance. Like the similar acting sketches of past episodes, it’s all too scattershot, although Grande and Hernández impressively cut a rug.
Peacock’s Random Duet Christmas Spectacular attempts to recreate the iconic 1977 clip of David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing Little Drummer Boy by teaming up other unlikely pairs, such as Katy Perry and Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Bad Bunny, Kate Bush and Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder and Benson Boone, Lil John and SNL’s Jane Wickline, Cameron Winter (singer of the indie-rock sensation Geese) and Boone again, and finally Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Grande has shown a proclivity for celebrity impersonations, so it’s surprising she only does two here – Perry and Dion – although she nails both. Meanwhile, Johnson is the standout, playing Dylan, Winter and Bocelli, the latter of which allows him to show off his own impressive pipes.
Kenan Thompson plays a white bearded defendant on trial for burglary. Representing himself, he pleads not guilty by way of being Black Santa Claus (which he argues via song, to the (auto)tune of Do You Believe in Love?). This half-formed sketch could have and should have been left on the cutting room floor.
The night’s musical guest is Cher, who performs a Christmas dance song. Far be it from me to criticize Cher of all people, but the copious amount of autotune and the hilarious obviousness of her lip synching combine to make this a trainwreck.
On Weekend Update, Michael Che brings on his 12-year-old nephew Tyson (Kam Patterson) to share his Christmas wish list. He addresses Santa Claus directly, telling him, “This year … I’m getting everything I want. Because on Christmas Day, I’m coming to your house, I’m gonna beat your ass and I’m gonna get what’s mine.” Patterson is very good at switching between fake precociousness and gangster amorality.
Then, it’s time for Che and Jost’s yearly holiday tradition of giving each other jokes to read, sight-unseen. This year, Che has completely screwed Jost over by tricking him into thinking they weren’t doing the bit only to spring it on him live. Jost is forced to deliver brutal bits about slavery, Catholic sex abuse, his wife Scarlett Johansson approaching menopause, and his plans to leave her for younger actor Jenna Ortega. Short, sweet and mean.
Yang makes his final appearance as a cast member at the Weekend Update desk, appearing alongside a returning Aidy Bryant as their old characters the Trend Forecasters. They reveal what is currently “In” – Bombas socks, “four married guys singing in harmony”, Rush Hour 4 (“Thanks Trump!”) – and what’s “Out” – mistletoe (“A plant that makes you kiss? There’s already one of those and it’s called marijuana!”), orange chicken (“When did orange chicken become Chinese? Yeah, it tastes pretty good, but we didn’t invent that!”), and of course, Michael Che.
On the Love Is Blind Reunion, Grande’s contestant finds herself paired up with “the literal Grinch” (Mikey Day, in full green costume). She initially rejects him, but four months later, they’re back together expecting (The Grinch – or Neil, as he’s now calling himself – is pregnant with a mini-version of himself). Widespread cultural nostalgia for the terrible Jim Carrey Grinch movie is at an all-high, and yet SNL still goes to this well too often, having just featured the character last week.
Grande, dressed as her viral eunuch character from her last time hosting, intros Cher for her second song, a lively cover of Run, Run Rudolph. She seems to actually be singing this time – or at least doing a much more convincing job of lip synching. Still, it feels like a missed opportunity not to have her duet with Grande.
In a clever meta bit, Yang bows out by playing a Delta Sky Club server finishing out his final shift. He fondly reminisces about his time on the job, singing Please Come Home for Christmas (alongside Grande and Cher), as a few of the cast members walk on to wish him goodbye. Yang fully breaks down into tears by the end.
Not to bahumbug this sincerely emotional send-off, but one wonders why Yang gets such a big, overly sentimental goodbye when other cast members rarely have. Granted, he is probably the closest thing to a star SNL has produced since Kate McKinnon (not the highest bar to meet), what with his popular podcast and small turns in the Wicked movies, and he has been part of the show for seven years (six as an onscreen talent), but watching this you’d think they were saying goodbye to Kenan. Yang’s absence will certainly be felt, but it won’t fundamentally change the dynamic of the show, and this all seems a bit much.
Ahead of the curtain call, we get a tribute card to the late, great Rob Reiner. And thus ends Saturday Night Live in 2025. As far as year-end episodes go, this one had a big show feel, what with its mega-star host, Yang’s sendoff, a returning cast member, and lots of musical numbers, including one that is likely to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. That may sound like a dig, but for an episode so grounded in musical theater and queer culture, some real-deal camp is fitting.
