Martin Short returned to Saturday Night Live Join the Five Timers Club with musical guest Hozier. The holiday episode was a star-studded affair with the most guest appearances of an already guest appearance-laden season.

Short was a cast member from 1984 to 1985 and hosted his first episode in December 1986 – or rather, he co-hosted, as he shared the episode with his friends Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. He returned as a solo presenter in December 1996, December 2012 and most recently in December 2022. He also appeared in cameo roles in 11 episodes (the last being Kristen Wiig’s April 6, 2024 episode).

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

If there had been a theme for the evening, it would have been cameo appearances and recurring sketches. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but be prepared for lots of pauses with claps and premises that feel familiar.

Opened cold

This week’s cold open was a self-indulgent cameo-fest. This usually happens when someone joins the “five timer club” (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 and Jimmy Fallon (who is not a Five-Timer), John Mulaney and of course Alec Baldwin. Gigantic SNL Nerds might find this funny, and there are some great jokes in there, but it feels more like an excuse to gossip and “promote” than a real sketch. It’s also long. Maybe it has to be with all these people.

monologue

With so much stand-up this season, doing a musical monologue felt fresh and fun. It also feels right for a Christmas episode. There are more guest appearances from Fallon and Lorne Michaels in this monologue. Short really sells this song about the need for medication to get through the holidays. It’s big and silly and perfect for the Christmas show.

Argument in the parking lot

In this sketch, Short and Mikey Day argue over a parking space using hand signals. This is a sequel to a 2023 sketch starring Day and Quinta Brunson. This version doesn’t go anywhere the original didn’t go. Even though this sketch didn’t need to be redone, it would be good that it was short if someone did. He’s really committed and McCarthy’s cameo was fun.

An act of kindness

In this pre-recorded sketch, Heidi Gardner gets more than she bargained for after helping a homeless man during the holidays. While the poignancy of this sketch is funny, it doesn’t completely make up for the feeling of the sketch being downbeat.

Christmas airport parade

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

Weekend update

While Yang is hilarious as a New Jersey drone, most will be watching this week’s Weekend Update on the annual joke swap between Colin Jost and Michael Che, in which the hosts try to make each other look bad by saying things that are inappropriate for each other Write jokes, read them.

Joke swapping is always good for viral moments, and this year was no different. Che gets Colin to tell a racist joke (like he does every year), but he ups the ante by making jokes about Jost’s family while his wife Johansson is in the studio. Listening to their reactions really works. Jost has Che tell a rape joke, which works less well considering he opened “Update” with a different rape joke of his own accord, which makes it seem like it’s not something “he was made to do” so much as something he just does. If there was a joke swap winner, it would certainly be Che.

Sábado Gigante Christmas offer

It’s another recurring, cameo-filled sketch. Marcello Hernández returns as Sábado Gigante host Don Francisco. Earlier this season, he played veteran Univision anchor alongside Nate Bargatze. This iteration doesn’t change the sketch game and doesn’t add much other than cameo appearances from Rudd and Dana Carvey. However, Short was particularly missing.

While this sketch doesn’t bring anything new, this reviewer was such a fan of Sábado Gigante’s original sketch that it was still fun (if not imaginative). Maybe just watch the first sketch again – it’s so, so good.

Hozier

Hozier sang his song “Too Sweet” for the first time. While that performance was beautiful, when you watch one performance, it’s his second song: a cover of The Pogues’ “The Fairytale of New York.” It was a great choice by Hozier and his version is simply wonderful. The Irish folk-style song was written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan. The performance feels particularly special after MacGowan’s death last year.

Peanuts Christmas

Charlie Brown is replaced as director of the Christmas pageant by two community theater mean gays, played by Yang and Short. This skit is cute, funny, and really comes from the visual gags of adults dancing like Peanuts characters.

Bonus – Pastime: 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 legendary Kill Bill Vol. 1 costume. It feels strange that this sketch was cut, especially with such a big cameo. However, in an episode full of cameos, it was perhaps inevitable that one would be cut.

While no additional guests have been announced for season 50, it will return in the new year, as will this recap.