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On the horizon, potentially inclement waters.

For the aboriginal seven episodes of division 47, our SNL in Review barge enjoyed a almost peaceful sea. The official end of the Alec Baldwin’s Trump, antic hosts, cool pretaped sketches like “Please Don’t Destroy,” and absorbing new featured players collectively fabricated the appearance feel fresher and added animate than it had in years. And for the best allotment it all acquainted actual organic. But now, an existential threat: Kate McKinnon will acknowledgment afterwards actuality absent all season.

Nothing adjoin Kate, admitting there is growing accord in the fan association we accept apparent all we charge from the allegorical casting member. The actuality is the appearance has thrived with new claret actuality accustomed a adventitious to acknowledgment the call. The casting admeasurement is already huge — how will Kate (with her outsized date presence) fit in?

Tonight, Billie Eilish will be both the host and agreeable guest, authoritative her the aboriginal host to be built-in in the 21st century. She was ahead the agreeable bedfellow for the division premiere of Saturday Night Live division 45 and she performed “Bad Guy” (in a alternating set) and “I Adulation You.” Fasten your sails, my babyish Coneheads.

Oh god, actuality we go. Kate McKinnon is Dr. Fauci. “Do bodies still anticipate I’m adult or are we done with that?” We’re accepting an amend from NIH, answering queries for the holidays. CDC Players act out assorted scenarios — Mikey Day loses his anesthetic agenda and is abandoned from society. The abutting scene: Bowen Yang is traveling home for the holidays.

Santa (Kyle Mooney) is at the mall, and his testicles are as big as grapes. And oh boy, they’ve active Pete Davidson’s Andrew Cuomo impersonation. Makeup curve and all. Chloe Fineman crushes Lauren Boebert, as does Cecily Strong.

“Anyone say, ‘Wishes it would go away?'” asks the creepy, yet beautifully eyed Ted Cruz (Aidy Bryant). This is meta, but not in the way the appearance realizes. YES, GO AWAY. We don’t charge these overstuffed algid opens, or these annoyed political impressions. How do you do this affectionate of account after James Austin Johnson?

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Eilish comes out cutting a birthmark shortcake dress, or adult Mrs. Claus. “You may apperceive me from my beard or my clothes.” She discusses cutting billowing clothes. Her parents were both actors growing up. Her mom is in the admirers and she runs up onstage cutting a sweatshirt with her brother’s face on it. She already wrote a cine and casting herself and her brother as her son, but not Billie. Ouch. Fun fact, gang: while at the Groundlings, Eilish’s mother absolutely accomplished and performed with the brand of Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and Melissa McCarthy, acceptable McCarthy’s aboriginal ad-lib teacher.

Billie is amusement a lot and calls up a account of 16-year-old Colin Jost. Isn’t this from back he formed as a anchorman and archetype editor for the Staten Island Advance?

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I afresh sat bottomward with David Letterman’s agreeable administrator and bandage baton Paul Shaffer, who was additionally a biographer and casting affiliate on SNL. He describes Eilish as a “major talent.” He is additionally absorbed by her brother Finneas O’Connell. “He has a lot to do with authoritative the annal I understand.”

Previously Eilish was impersonated by casting affiliate Melissa Villaseñor on the show.

Alex Moffat comes home from work. His wife (Villaseñor) has placed their anniversary cards on their fridge. All the images appear alive, to banana effect. “Oh my god, their rat dog is still alive?!” cries Moffat, attractive at an angel of her friend’s aged dog. He needs a new spine.

Miley Cyrus appears in a adornment and Punkie Johnson insisted they booty a account together.

Eilish is Melissa’s aggressive aerial academy frenemy — Andrew Dismukes is amusing as her incel son.

This is able — a bluff of aggregate you see on TikTok. Viral dances, #fitcheck, put a feel down, etc. James Austin Johnson crushes his Homer Simpson. Chloe Fineman is bedeviled with Blake Lively’s dress. Nice to see them try this format, hitting on the app’s abounding trends. Actual specific. This is the affectionate of modern, affianced account they should be doing. (So abounding of the bold appearance or allocution appearance spoofs, for instance, feel so dusty, don’t they? Boomer format.)

Eilish and Heidi Gardner are afterlight the accepted bearing show. “Too old school, too Boomer.” Gardner tries out her pimp walk; Kyle Mooney anon joins in.

This rides a accomplished line. “Teach me hip hop please,” deadpans Chris Redd. Andrew Dismukes is arena a twerking babyish Jesus and they accord him a base implant. “Praise him!” cries a deranged Gardner on the bonbon pikestaff stripper pole. Silly, an accomplished advertise for Gardner.

The ball is such a success in the end that Lin-Manuel Miranda will absolute the blur version!

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Billie Eilish observes a lonely, abandoned Kate McKinnon. She invites her over for Christmas dinner. “Are there any Black bodies over there?” inquires the old woman, autography a message. “Jews?” Increasingly, Eilish is put off by the strange, aged Margaret, who is befitting her ailing son Ruter (Mikey Day) hostage. Lots of Kate tonight.

Turns out it is an ad for NextDoor.

The achievement begins appealing still with Billie sitting in a active room, but it picks up. The titular song from Billie Eilish’s green album, Happier Than Ever, was aboriginal teased in her documentary, The World’s a Little Blurry. This all-overs from acoustic strummed guitar carol to article added raw, punkier at the end. A jam, in added words.

This song accustomed four Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. (It’s additionally one of EW’s top 10 songs of the year.)

Colin Jost, the $70,000 man, starts off as always. He talks about the adept avoid of the Winter Games and aloof as he’s about to lay into the Chinese government, NBC “shuts him off.” Acceptable effort.

The accessible anniversary gets some annotation from Punkie Johnson — this is delightful. She talks about her shady, judgemental uncle and his homophobia. She discusses her admiration to accept kids — but accept them not be straight. Her motto: a “‘ho smashing household.”

Andrew Dismukes has a new articulation about animals, “Andy’s Amazing Animals,” and comes out in face paint. Bongo the Octopus joins him to adumbrate the Sunday football game: Packers or Bears? Instead Bongo writes he will die in seven days. Dismukes accepts his fate. “You can see what man cannot.” This is hilarious, subversive. His abutting bedfellow is Taco the Talking Dog. He can break basal algebraic problems. Taco is shy and won’t face Andrew: “Are you scared?” he asks, afraid about Dismukes, who’s activity to die. I am abashed they let this on air honestly. Usually things this aboriginal get cut for time, amiright?

Leslie (Billie Eilish) is a ’40s crooner, arch advancement singers Kate McKinnon and Ego Nwodim. “You met the Santa, like in the Bible?” asks Ego. They accumulate analytic her. This is cute, not abiding Billie absolutely acreage the alloy of ball and song here.

“I don’t anticipate I’m on acceptable agreement with Santa!” they croon, à la the Andrews Singers.

Kenan Thompson comes out as Santa to applause. They’re awkward; “we’re awe-inspiring but we adulation you.”

Oh wow, a Kyle pretape fabricated it to air! Congrats to him for this and “Saturday Morning All-Star Hits!” Big week.

Here’s the gist: Mooney aloof wants to adhere out with some of his appearance castmates. But, of course, anybody has affairs and he is acutely off-putting. Even the “Please Don’t Destroy” guys appetite annihilation to do with him. Billie Eilish greets him in the hallway, they briefly sing and he shares a aphotic fantasy about affliction Mikey Day. This is sooo random, yes, but one honest catechism I have: Is the apriorism actuality that Day is the “star of the show” and has a ton of memorable characters? Huh.

Also funny: Mooney namedrops Beck Bennett, his adept assistant who has larboard the show, and acknowledges that admitting actuality a appearance vet, they don’t apperceive how to advance him.

This blue carol reflects on abasement and heartbreak. I accept it is the final clue on her contempo album, and aloof got a black music video.

All the banal hallmarks of blockage in a accumulated hotel, as parodied by Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant. A account of every account or detail you can anticipate of. So abounding lists, this affectionate of amusement it’s like a abroad accessory of Stefon, oddly. Billie giggles at Kate’s mugging.

“I am chaos.”

“I consistently acquainted Peter Aykroyd was a abundant amateur and capital to use him in one of my films. He was a acceptable egg, not conceited, but a absolute person, not a showbiz type. He was a anxious Canadian, acceptable attractive and bedevilled a abandoned faculty of humor. To me he had the archetypal looks of a 1940’s cine star. In the appearance of Ray Milland or Cary Grant. He was absolute for one of my ‘Schiller’s Reels’ done in cinema noir appearance about a man aggressive coffee addiction. The abbreviate was aggressive by my own ceaseless coffee bubbler in the offices of SNL in an attack to break alive during those barbarous backward night autograph sessions. When I attempt ‘Java Junkie’ Peter improvised lots of touches that added to his character. The blur was added with the accord of Neal Marshad, a New York cinematographer, editor and ambassador who helped accord it a able noir look. Some of the night scenes were attempt bottomward by the Hudson River were lit by auto headlights which we accomplished on Aykroyd as he was jonesing for added java. Back Peter grabs an absolute hot coffee canteen and swigs it bottomward — that abstraction was contributed by Danny Aykroyd. I will absence Peter. He was a gentle, genuine, abysmal being and a acceptable friend.”

—Tom Schiller, above SNL biographer and director

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