The ’90s were back for a whole hour last night on Saturday Night Live — in a good way. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon for the first time since he was a cast member, the holiday-themed episode featured cameos from such legendary favorites as Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan, Tracy Morgan, and Tina Fey — not to mention an appearance by Jude Law just to keep things somewhat grounded in the present day. All in all, Fallon’s ease with the sketches and obvious, overwhelming glee to be back on the show made the evening a warm, fuzzy, holiday delight. Click through to watch our favorite (and least favorite) skits of the night, and let us know whether you were taken in by the magic of the moment or thought the whole thing was rather ho-ho-hum in the comments.
The Best:
Michael Bublé’s Christmas Duets
Like many of SNL‘s ensemble bring-’em-out skits, the impressions here ranged from spot-on to highly questionable, but overall, we still grinned all the way through. And Jay Pharoah’s Kanye West was priceless.
Weekend Update Joke-Off
We can’t deny it — of all the SNL cameos, these are two we’re suckers for. Though the actual jokes were mostly middling, we loved the idea, and the ladies really made the skit with weird buzzer noises and general awesomeness. We couldn’t help but thinking that Seth Meyers looked a little lightweight in all that company… but maybe he just hasn’t reached legend status yet.
In the Cage with Nicolas Cage
We always love Andy Samberg’s Nicolas Cage impression. This one was amazingly good.
Mirror Sketch
This sketch, a reprisal of one from a decade ago with Jimmy Fallon and Mick Jagger, started off really slow, but started to become hilarious around the time that Andy Samberg let Jimmy Fallon spit in his face. Mostly, it was fun to watch the two actors play off and imitate each other, not to mention idolize Justin Timberlake (Whom we will admit we missed. Those darn abs of his).
The Worst:
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
This was basically Jimmy Fallon doing so-so standup and the rest of the cast (and guests) making facial expressions. The facial expressions were funny sometimes, but the sketch was totally one-note and went on forever. If it had been a third as long, we probably would have at least given it a pass, but no such luck.
Half Jewish, Half Italian, Completely Neurotic
If Fred Armisen wants us to get behind this character, he has to make him at least a little bit likeable. As it stood, we just cringed all the way through this awkward performance art piece. The only thing that rang true was the fussing with the tape player — but even that was misplaced, reminding us more of our high school teachers and less of any one man show we’ve ever seen.
1920s Party
Another sketch that just went way too long banking on one middling joke, and one we’ve heard before, we wanted to be charmed by Fallon’s dancing counterpart to Wiig’s singer character, but it was just more of a lame thing.