‘SNL’ Recap: Only Comedy In The Building With Steve Martin, Martin Short And Friends

We’re in the final weeks of 2022, and all through 30 Rock, creatures were stirring because Steve Martin and Martin Short were in the building, guest-hosting Saturday Night Live as a duo! It’s an early Christmas miracle!

What’s The Deal For The SNL Cold Open For Last Night (12/10/22)?

Did the live studio audience applaud so wildly because they love Bowen Yang, Cecily Strong and Kenan Thompson so much, or because they simply realized this week’s episode wouldn’t open on a tired topical political talking point that none of the audience members paid attention to this week? We may never know. What we do know is that it’s almost Christmas, which means we can block out whatever concerns we may have about ourselves or the news and put it all off to deal with again come January. Right? Maybe singing it will do the trick!

How Did The SNL Guest Hosts Steve Martin and Martin Short Do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEBX9JYco-4

Two of Lorne Michaels’ Three Amigos, Steve Martin and Martin Short have been old reliables for Lorne and SNL, even if Martin’s got Short by a mile in terms of guest-hosting appearances (16 to 3). They’ve become even chummier as a comedy duo in recent years, not only by touring and releasing a Netflix special together, but also co-starring in Only Murders in the Building. Their chemistry allows them to upstage and degrade each other for comic effect, and sometimes they’ll even both humble themselves, such as when Short declared in the monologue that they’re kind of like estranged British royals Harry and Meghan: “No one’s rooting for us, but you’ll tune in to watch anyway.”

Of course, lots of us still root for these guys. Even if they’re now old enough to be grandparents to some of the current cast members. Which comes in handy for a recurring PBS science for kids show sketch, this time pairing our hosts as Dr. Science and Mr. Science, getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of curiosity from their junior volunteer students (Cecily Strong, Mikey Day).

They play minor parts in a new “please don’t destroy” video, which finds another Martin (Herlihy) perpetually startled by how easily people enter the picture.

But neither this nor “The Holiday Train” sketch (which finds Cecily joining Steve/Martin/Short in a silly but cute fairy tale about a dream of seeing the snow in Buffalo) reach quite the same comedic heights as when the writers let our hosts play faster and looser, as they did in a live mall Santa sketch as well as a pre-taped parody of “A Christmas Carol.”

They even give Short’s elf two different names, Sprinkles and Pringles, and at multiple points in the sketch, it feels like it could go off the rails in a classic Carol Burnett Show kind of way. As if Marty Short’s elf were a nod to the late Tim Conway’s Dorf.

Then things go to bloody Hell for Martin’s Scrooge Christmas morning, as tossing coins from his bedroom window quickly become deadly weapons, blinding the poor orphan (Sarah Sherman) and even worse for some of the other townsfolk.

Short also starred in a late sketch as a TV talk-show host, Minky Carmichael, telling women how to treat their men back in 1992 (complete with an Arsenio-looking set), only to find himself outed by one of his former dates (Cecily) in the audience.

But they really saved the best surprises for last this episode.

How Relevant Was The Musical Guest Brandi Carlile?

Brandi Carlile returned for her second appearance on the show, with her newest album, “In These Silent Days,” up for seven Grammy awards. And yet her first song went back catalog! “The Story” dates back to her 2007 album, and you might recognize it if you’re an avid watcher of Grey’s Anatomy. Carlile did play a more recent track (with influences from Joni Mitchell) for her second song, “You and Me on the Rock.”

Which Sketch Will We Be Sharing: “Father of the Bride Part 8”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90q_kPxrMU

Usually the final sketch of the night is reserved for the weirdest ideas, but the weirdest thing about this week’s finale was how loaded it was with instant nostalgia and stunt casting! Obviously it’s easy to parody Father of the Bride when you’ve got the titular father and the wedding planner from the 1991 film already on board for “Part 8,” which finds the daughter (Heidi Gardner) three decades and seven divorces later hoping her dad will spring for one more mega marriage ceremony. Chloe Fineman gets to show off her Diane Keaton impersonation. And Steve Higgins in a voiceover rationalizes Marty Short’s continued nonsense accent as Franck the wedding planner. Sure, we’d seen Selena Gomez earlier cameo during the monologue, but it was still a nice touch to have her playing herself as the potential wedding singer. And then who shows up but Kieran Culkin, who played son Matty in the 1991 film!

Who Stopped By Weekend Update?

Two visitations this week. Neither seemed to be asking to become recurring bits.

First up, holiday shopper Mary Anne Louise Fischer (Ego) has tips for surviving the season. Wear a neck brace. Go to JCPenney if you’re low on blood sugar. And it helps to be Black. Why?! Because a white woman would go viral trying to follow any of these suggestions.

Then came Kurt and Deb (Mikey and Chloe) as a married couple from Wyoming offering tips on how to keep the romantic flame hot. Sometimes you’re sitting around throwing impersonations back and forth and realize it’d be funny if someone got horny from hearing them, right? That’s essentially the pitch here, with Chloe voicing Drew Barrymore, Anna Delvey, Meryl Streep, and just to jostle Colin Jost, Scarlett Johansson; Mikey’s voices were more cartoonish, literally: Stewie from Family Guy, Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.

What Sketch Filled The “10-to-1” Slot?

The “Father of the Bride, Part 8” sketch aired at 12:54 a.m. Eastern. See above for why it’s so shareable.

Who Was The Episode’s MVP?

Pretty tricky to name anyone from the cast as an MVP when you’ve got Steve Martin and Martin Short right there, deservedly dominating the spotlight. But there’s a reason Cecily Strong keeps coming back to SNL, and it’s not because she’s waiting for those Verizon Wireless checks to clear. Nope, it’s because perhaps she alone in this current cast has the chops and the chutzpah to carry the frame with them.

Next week, it’s Austin Butler hot off of playing Elvis on the big screen, with Lizzo announced as a replacement for Yeah Yeah Yeahs. As the band themselves explained overnight:

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.