The final episode of Saturday Night Live in 2025 had generational talent on the stage in Studio 8H. Ariana Grande was back to host for the third time. Her musical guest was the legendary Cher, back on SNL after an absence of 38 years.
Cold Open
We got a holiday message from James Austin Johnson‘s Trump. In it, we learn Trump has a “mandatory daily cognitive test.”
The funniest joke was probably that the Kennedy Center will be renamed “Trump/Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, No Homo.”
JAJ is fast approaching Dana Carvey‘s run as George H.W. Bush, in regards to appearances on screen. It’s the seventh in the last eight episodes where JAJ has appeared as Mr. Trump. This was probably the best-written JAJ Trump segment of Season 51.
Monologue
A version of “All I Want for Christmas is You” with alternate lyrics lamenting how difficult it is to buy holiday gifts. Somehow, Grande does this song better than Mariah Carey ever did. Such an amazing voice.
Bowen Yang makes his final appearance in a monologue as he visits Ariana and adds his lyrics. What better way to mark his final episode than a sort-of suet with Ariana Grande.
We also see Kenan Thompson, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, JAJ, and Veronika Slowikowska make cameos during the song.
It’s impossible to not feel good seeing Ariana Grande on the stage at Studio 8H. She is confident, professional, and beautiful every time she appears on this show.
Final note for the haters: Ariana called this the “Christmas episode of SNL.” There is no war on Christmas. Never has been.
Ok, this is the final note: ironically, Ariana may have sang more in this episode than Cher did. If you watched the two Cher numbers, you know what I’m saying.
Elf on the Shelf Support Group
Andrew Dismukes is a psychologist working with a group of Elf on the Shelf elves, including Grande, Kam Patterson, Jeremy Culhane, Jane Wickline, Mikey Day, and Thompson.
The elves lament their lives, including a cat that chases Grande and has torn her in half.
This is one of the best sketches of the season: the costumes, hair, set design, props (is that a candy cane vape pen that Kenan is sucking on?), and special effects were wonderful. We also get solid writing.
Was there more AI-generated artwork at the beginning of this sketch? Probably not after the outrage last week. But who knows.
Home Alone sketch
This is a pretape with Grande as Kevin in Home Alone. Ashley Padiilla is excellent as Kevin’s mom. Much of the cast is here, notably Yang, Colin Jost, Dismukes, Culhane, Sherman, and Day.
As usual, Grande nails it here in a sketch where all of Kevin’s non-triggered booby traps victimize his family with gory, horrifying results…or do they?
Once again, a very good pretape in Season 51, where we have seen a number of excellent video segments. Padilla kills it in the Catherine O’Hara role. She is clearly at the head of the cast as an actor.
Dance 101 sketch
Grande and Hernandez as eccentric and overly-demonstrative dance instructors. Yang is know-it-all class member who sucks up to the instructors and cuts down the other members of the class.
Special mention of Culhane, who stood out among the ensemble, which also included JAJ, and Fineman.
Pretape: Celebrity Christmas Songs
Marcello Hernandez as Bruce Springsteen? Someone should have said no to that idea. We get several subpar or dreadful celeb impressions here, which instead of being funny, just points out how weak the impression chops are for the Season 51 cast members.
Ariana Grande is fantastic in her appearances as Katy Perry and herself. And JAJ continues to show he’s a strong multi-skilled performer who can sing. Overall: this pretape was chaotic.
Black Santa Courtroom sketch
At this point a Kenan Thompson-led sketch feels out of place on a show that’s quickly transforming into a new era.
Thompson is a defendant who sings his defense (“Do You believe in Love” in another nod to Cher) to the judge (Grande) and jury, insisting he is black Santa. Thompson just really feels like he’s phoning in his work after whatever it is, like 40 years on SNL. He gives us the same “smiley, jovial, side-eyed” character in every appearance he has in a sketch.
- Mikey Day shows off his sketch skills and reminds us how he’s really the only “grown up” man on the show who can pull off authoritative roles like lawyers, parents, and so on.
- This felt like a sketch that was pared down between dress rehearsal and the live show. It was also clearly designed to allow the studio to be prepped for Cher’s first number, and give most of the cast a breather.
- Kam Patterson as the bailiff shows clearly how little the writers are thinking of his role on the show.
Cher #1
What can you say about Cher, a 79-year old pop culture icon who still manages to look sexy while being a pro behind the microphone? This first number was a Christmas tune with minimal choreography from the star herself, but she was surrounded by dancers and admirers. Top notch, and a great holiday song to keep the vibe of the show strong. It’s not apparent if Cher was lip-synching. I assume no, given the hatred for that. But since, she is clearly using autotune (and basically invented it), who cares? Legends do what legends gonna do.
Weekend Update
The time on Weekend Update for Episode 9 of Season 51 was 15 minutes.
Bowen Yang & Aidy Bryant as the trend forecasters
We expected to see Yang behind the desk in some form for his final show. Viewers were not disappointed. Yang welcomed back former cast member Aidy Bryant to discuss the things that will be trendy in 2026, in a bit the two of them have done before.
Kam Patterson as Che’s nephew
Patterson performs as “Tyson”, Michael Che‘s 12-year old nephew. We get three transitions from an innocent kid who wants a present from Santa, to a violent, foul-mouthed young black child who is threatening Santa.
This felt like a device to allow Patterson to say “bitch” about a dozen times. He was clearly trying to channel Eddie Murphy‘s tough guy persona, but instead it came across as angry black man.
The most memorable part of this bit was when Che said, perhaps fully aware of how true it is: “I work here, kinda.”
Joke Swap
If I could somehow get back all of the minutes spent watching this dreadfully self-indulgent segment over the years, I would be so happy. From the Jimmy Fallon-like “aren’t we hilarious” laughter from Che and Jost, to the fake responses to the jokes, which they claim they never saw, this bit should have been put to sleep a long, long time ago.
Sketch: Love is Blind Reunion
Dismukes and Fineman host a Love Is Blind reunion, which parodies the dating show genre.
Keeping with the holiday theme, flashbacks to the Love Is Blind season show Grande meeting her partner, who turns out to the the Grinch. Day plays a penis-less Grinch, the second week in a row he’s played the mean, green character.
We see the reunion, where Grande’s character is now crazy in love with the Grinch (who prefers to be called “Neal”), who explodes onto the stage wearing a leather jacket. We learn that the Grinch is pregnant, and we get to see a sonogram of the little Grinch.
This was a one-note sketch, and after we get that one note (surprise, your new love is the Grinch!), it just meanders to a slow, laugh-less finish.
Cher #2
Grande introduced Cher as her medieval character from her second hosting appearance. Nice call-back.
This time we get “Run, Run Rudolph” from Cher. Despite a slight audio problem that kept her vocals a bit buried by the music, this was a memorable, albeit unspectacular SNL musical performance.
MUSIC GRADE FOR EPISODE: B+
10-to-1 Sketch: Delta Lounge
Bowen Yang as an airport employee performing his last shift on his last day on the job.
In a rarity for SNL, we get an official sendoff in this sketch, as Yang sings “Please Come Home for Christmas” to celebrate his final sketch and appearance on the show. It turns out to be a duet with Grande, who plays his wife in the sketch.
Kenan Thompson comes into the sketch as a character getting ready for a flight, but he ends up saying goodbye to Yang, who acknowledges him by his real name. Cher appears as Bowen’s “boss.”
“The people that like me are my kind of people,” Yang says, in a wink to the fact that he was considered a polarizing cast member.
Cher says, “Everyone thought you were a little too gay. But you were perfect for me.”
Episode Grade: B
Other than the Glen Powell episode, this was the most enjoyable watch of Season 51 thus far.
One final note: we got a tribute to Rob Reiner on the screen before the goodbyes. Reiner hosted the third-ever episode of SNL.
