Saturday Night Live Season 45 / Funny

Though this season was cut short due to public health concerns over the coronavirus, the 45th season still turned out laughs (even in the low-budget web video episodes they did called Saturday Night at Home)

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As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish:
- In the Inside The Beltway sketch, a stagehand is accidentally seen giving Aidy Bryant a costume change. This causes most of the cast to begin Corpsing. Even before that, it was still quiet funny thanks to Kenan's black newscasters political nihilism and his white anchors' toxic positivity.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift:
- A news cast sketch where the black newscasters (played by Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim, and including the weather man played by Chris Redd) and the white newscasters played by Waller Bridge and Alex Moffatt take turns trying to guess whether the person committing a crime or getting hurt in a news story is black or white (some ended up being surprises, like a black man getting busted for running a Ponzi scheme, a white woman fighting a nail salon clerk over using her welfare card to pay for a manicure, and a black man named LaQuan getting injured while on a rock-climbing hike in Utah).
David Harbour/Camila Cabello:
- Pretty much everything about "Grouch" — SNL's answer to Joker (2019).
  - Watching David Harbour slowly put green face paint and crawl into a trash can while ranting insanely about his lot in life over a dramatic orchestral version of the Sesame Street theme is something else entirely.
    Oscar: If everyone calls you trash... and everyone treats you like trash... why don't you just become trash?!
  - "Variety asks, "Did we really need a dark take on Oscar the Grouch?" "No," says the New York Times."
- In what kind of seems like a Deleted Scene from A Mighty Wind, a '60s folk trio plays a song whose sweet, gentle melody masks increasingly disturbing and depressing details about their lives.
- In a skit cut for time; A commercial advertising "Giuliani & Associates" with Kate McKinnion returning as Rudolph Giuliani and Beck Bennett and David Harbour (the Guest Host) as Giuliani's real-life Ukrainian goons, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman (respectively). It features such silliness as Russians/Ukrainians pretending to be Americans to give testimonials, the mangling of Giuliani's surname ('Googliani', 'Googoogaga'), baseball legend Bernie Williams (Keenan Thompson) almost getting roped in for an endorsement (but wisely ditching it), a reference to Peyronie's Disease ^noteA condition where the penis is crooked and the blatant implication that Parnas & Fruman are not real lawyers but merely thugs and likely not even human ^note.
  Giuliani: "Call Giuliani & Associates today!"
  Fruman: "And if you don't....I KEEL YOOOOOU!"
- One sketch features David Harbour and Kate McKinnon as two incredibly horny Italian grandparents who are being visited by their grandkids. The twist? Harbour plays the grandmother, whilst McKinnon plays the grandfather.
- "Dog Court with Judge Connie" starts off okay but then becomes uproariously funny as Judge Connie (Cecily Strong) tries to render a ruling while holding an unruly pug.
Chance the Rapper:
- Chance the Rapper's hapless reporter character returns, this time covering a League of Legends tournament where he's even more out of his depth. His barely concealed contempt and a bit of jealousy for everything he's seeing is juiced up by Bowen Yang's gormless champion who can barely even muster excitement for his legions of fangirls.
- EVERYTHING about "First Impressions Court with Judge Barry," from Kenan Thompson's powder-blue suit to Bowen Yang's exotic dancer to Jason Momoa's cameo appearance:
  Apollo Benz (played by Momoa): "Now listen, your Hombre. I see the way you're lookin' at me right now and I know what you're thinkin.'"
  Judge Barry (played by Chance the Rapper): "That you bang old ladies and then steal their money?"
  Benz: "That may be so, but I'm not just some dumb gigolo. I'm a certified paraplegi-legal, so I understand the law."
- The "Spooky Song" sketch. Chance's ghost character is reluctant to reveal the circumstances of his Undignified Death.
  Chance's Ghost: (in rhythm) We can skip me, Happy Halloweeeeen!
  Aidy's Ghost: No one is judging you.
  Chance's Ghost: Yes, you are! Just look at that owl! (Cut to an animatronic owl shaking its head in disapproval)
Kristen Stewart/Coldplay:
- In the pre-taped "Duolingo for Talking to Children" sketch has Stewart hilariously struggle to talk to children before using the app.
Harry Styles:
- The "That's The Game" short as a would-be drug lord's attempts to pull a coup on his parnter hit a tiny snag when his underlings realize this would-be "big shot" doesn't have the slightest idea how a major drug operation works.
- Another contender for showstopper of the week (complete with real life ramifications!) is the "Sara Lee Instagram" sketch, where Harry is the new hire brought in to man the offical Sara Lee Instagram account - which he promply fails to log out properly, resulting in several hilariously inappropriate comments under the Sara Lee name. It's pretty much Harry taking the piss with some of his pop music peers like Nick Jonas and Shaun Mendes.
  Harry: I also posted to the Shaun Mendes Instagram with the caption "Check out this new special promotion!"
  Cecily: And what were you promoting...?
  Harry: ...Picture of my open throat.
  Cecily: Okay, second warning.
Will Ferrell/King Princess:
- We get an exercise in Does This Remind You of Anything? with a re-enactment of Pocahontas (Melissa) and John Smith (Beck) in the first ever Thanksgiving dinner, with her parents (Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen) and grandpa (Will), who's particularly sour about the "illegal settlers" coming into his country, and talks about building a "wall"...
  Pocahontas: Where are you even hearing all this, Grandpa?
  Grandpa: The fox!... He knows what's up!
- Kenan returns as Reese de'What, to present an alternate version of the And You Were There ending to The Wizard of Oz, which is really a merciless Deconstructive Parody^note - what if the Munchkins were also based on someone in Dorothy's life?
Jennifer Lopez/Da Baby:
- With Christmas around the corner, we get a sketch about carollers that turn out to be '90s hiphop-themed carollers, like something out of In Living Color! (also where J-Lo got her start incidentally). It looks at first to be carried entirely by J-Lo's singing, but in the end it's revealed that they have an accomplice (musical guest Dababy) clearing out the family's house all this time.
  "I'm like Robin Hood. I steal from the rich - bring it back to the hood."
- J. Lo sells hoop earrings at a mall kiosk with Melissa Villaseñor.
  "They'll turn your ears green, the color of money."
- A fake 1955 sketch, "What Do You Figure Is Going On In That House?" has Kate and Aidy as sisters vying for the affections of The Corporal - only for Jennifer to show up as their third sister who speaks like Marilyn Monroe. Luckily, they've convinced her she's actually ugly, but are desperate to keep her concealed.
  Kate: Maybe grunt a lot so he knows you're a toad.
  Lopez: Oh, good idea. Good idea. (Moans very suggestively)
  Aidy: No. No, men hate that - men hate that, and even I hate that, a little bit. (Kate laughs during her next line)
Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan:
- Scarlett's monologue is suddenly interrupted by Aidy Bryant turning into dust like the characters in Avengers: Infinity War. Alex Moffat, Beck Bennett, and Bowen Yang are next, with several of them providing some hilarious last words:
  Beck: Who's gonna play the dumb idiot?!
  Bowen: First Asian cast member and you guys are dusting me? Twitter is going to eat you alive!
  - The culprit behind the Snap? Pete Davidson, who had bought the Infinity Gauntlet online and sent everyone to NBC's upcoming streaming service Peacock, where "comedy starts here! [winks]".
- The Macy's fake commercial which ends up being a Deconstructive Parody on how tight, uncomfortable, and irritating children's winter clothes can be for parents and kids alike. For anyone who's a parent or had to deal with it themselves as children, this will either make you laugh or may you cringe (or both). One part of the skit involves a couple getting into a fight over the husband's inability to put their daughter's snow boots on her. While the adults yell at each other, you can see the little girl who plays the daughter laughing at the scene unfolding.
Eddie Murphy/Lizzo:
- Eddie Murphy returns to guest host the Christmas show — his first hosting gig/appearance in a regular episode in 35 years — and proves that he's still as hilarious as he was back when he was the show's only star in the show's shaky years in the early 80s. This episode earned him an Emmy for Best Male Guest Appearance on a Variety or Talk Show.
- A monologue joke that references both his having sired ten children over the decades and his old rivalry with Bill Cosby, who ended up spectacularly undermined by later revelations: "Who's 'America's Dad' now?"
  - Near the end of the monologue, when Eddie has been joined by Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle onstage, Beck Bennett tries coming onstage to share how Eddie has inspired him, only for him to get immediately yanked off by Kenan Thompson:
  Kenan: Sorry about that, fellas. Please continue.
  Chris: Man, who the- who the hell was that?!
  Tracy: (guessing) Joe Piscopo.
- Mr. Robinson's still living in Brooklyn despite gentrification leaving him the only black guy in his neighborhood. He's managed it thanks to today's word, boys and girls: squatter's rights. He's also able to scare off a couple of his neighbors looking for their delivered package by accusing them of being racist, only to then turn around and enjoy his brand new 72" flat screen TV.
- The Holiday Baking Championship features a series of Call Backs to the previous year's baking contest parody; Heidi's Frosty the Snowman cake is flawless but ignored by the judges, Kyle openly admits that the towers of his Cinderella castle cake are intentionally phallic, Cecily's Elsa cake is deformed and tastes like garlic because she blacked out at one point and started cooking pasta, and Eddie's contestant's Epic Fail is a demonically-possessed Sonic the Hedgehog cake (voiced, as in the previous sketch, by Kenan) complete with human teeth! (Genius Bonus: The human teeth might have been inspired by the controversy over the original character design for the live action/CGI movie.) By the end of the skit, it's even on fire but the baker still thinks they (he and the sentient cake) have a shot at winning.
  Eddie: Get back here, you coward! WE CAN STILL WIN THIS SHIT!
- Buckwheat is alive and well and appearing on The Masked Singer (as "Corn on the Cob"). Plus, he's updated his setlist to include everything from "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" to "Single Ladies". Even the phonetic title chyrons return! And while he stumbles with "Feliz Navidad", he absolutely nails "prospero año y felizidad", the lyric everyone else gets wrong.
- The concluding Twisted Christmas skit, as Murphy's furious elf tells a tale of a global warming-induced polar bear rampage at Santa's workshop. "#SantaKnew!"
  Eddie: Let me break it down for you! I'll tell ya'll how bad it is! (grabs another elf (Chloe Fineman)) This white, teenaged elf girl ran ran straight up to me, a black elf wearing sweatpants, and asked me to keep her safe. That's how bad it is!
  Chloe: (traumatized) My friends are still in there!
  Eddie: Girl, they DEAD!
- This week's "Weekend Update" featured Colin and Michael's annual tradition of writing jokes for the other that they don't read until airtime. The last one Michael wrote was so outrageous Colin couldn't even get through it:
  Colin: It says "Okay, timeout. I refuse to read this last joke. Not because it's racist but because there's a black man holding my cue card. I can't work like this so, 'Merry Christmas' homeboy you're fired."
  Michael: [mock outrage] You fired a man on Christmas, Colin!
  - Said joke was about the movie Harriet (a Harriet Tubman biopic) being released to theaters...and being captured and returned to its owner!
  - Weekend Update also featured the triumphant return of Gumby, dammit! For over three minutes Gumby rants about the show while Michael and Colin try, fail, and then just give up trying to keep a straight face. Even Eddie Murphy cracked up at one point!
Adam Driver/Halsey:
- Adam Driver takes over as the beleaguered host of the "Science Room", where he is slowly but surely aggravated by his moronic on-screen students Loni and Josh. Of course, he doesn't do a Precision F-Strike like Sam Rockwell from before, but by the end, he just gives up and mentions he's going to "yell the C-word into [his] shirt."
  - What happens when Driver asks "What comes first in the Science Room?"
  Loni (Cecily Strong): Uh, the guy?
  Driver: (confused) The guy?
  Loni: My-my older sister said the guy, like, always...comes first.
  Driver: (beat, realizing to his horror what she's really talking about) Oh, my God no! No, that's not what that means! The-the guy does not come first here!
  Josh (Mikey Day): The girl comes first?
  Loni: No, my sister said the girl never comes.
  Driver: It's "safety"! Safety comes first! (beat) That was an awful conversation we just had!
  - Leading to this exchange after multiple guesses.
    Driver: If I stick a needle in the F-ing balloon, it will... what?
    Josh: Come first? (Driver pops the balloon, then fastballs the tape dispenser into the back shelf, knocking aside bottles)
- Driver plays a Small Name, Big Ego Medieval Times employee (specifically the Red and Yellow Knight) who goes off script using what he's learned from his community college acting class, including employing some period-specific racial epithets:
  Squire (Bowen): (holding a custom made combo of a battle axe, spiked gauntlets, and morning star) The Red and Yellow Knight has this which he brought from home.
  Red and Yellow Knight: The Mongolian speaks the truth.
  Squire: ...NO! (storms off)
  [later]
  Green Knight (Chris): Y-you're not gonna hit me with that thing, right?
  Red and Yellow Knight: Fear not. I have no quarrel with the Blackamoor.
  Green Knight: Blackamoor?! Nuh uh, that's strike two bitch!
- A spoof of Cheer has every cheerleader suffer an injury that hampers their chances of going to the national finals. Bowen Yang takes the cake when he's carried in with both legs in casts:
  "Nothing's broken but nothing's connected, either."
JJ Watt/Luke Combs:
- Robbie is a hysterical parody of Rudy where a player, played by JJ Watt, points out how insane the other players are being by allowing the titular character to take their places on the field in a playoff game. A sentiment also expressed by the janitor (played by Kenan Thompson) who points out that, in spite of Robbie's determination, he utterly lacks the physicality and talent that are necessary to play Division-1 College Football.
  Janitor: Unfortunately, passion don't mean nothin' at this level. This is D1, son, and you just too tiny! You're gon' get your ass stomped! Pancaked, son!
- The Madden 21 sketch has Watt as himself recording his lines for the new Madden video game. The lines he's given depict him in an unflattering way, complete with lines of him making fun of a boy in a wheelchair, much to Watt's dismay. At the end of the sketch, he's shown his (malformed) character sprite.
RuPaul/Justin Bieber:
- Pete Davidson's slacker Chad is chosen by RuPaul to be the next big thing in drag. Hilarious in that Chad just rolls with everything, from make-up to performance.
- In the "Reading" sketch, RuPaul is invited to a library to read some books to s group of children. He gives the kids reading glasses and then "reads the books to filth" with confidence and wit. Such lines include
  RuPaul: (To Harriet the Spy): Girl bye! Next.
  (to The Very Hungry Caterpillar) This girl is shaped like a BMW: Body Made Wrong.
  (to Corduroy) Girl, you ain't Boho, you Broho. Be gone!
John Mulaney/David Byrne: Mulaney returns for the 3rd time: In the follow up to “Diner Lobster” and “Bodega Bathroom”, Pete is again the customer buying something dubious, in this case, the ready-to-eat sushi at the convenience store in LaGuardia airport. They start off parodying The Phantom of the Opera with Kenan as a masked bird with one arm in a sling, who's mistaken for a pigeon at first but is actually one of the geese that hit Captain Sully's plane. It ends with them crossing some new lines, with special guest Jake Gyllenhaal as a pervert who wears pajamas so TSA agents can grope him (and singing a song about it to the tune of Wicked's "Defying Gravity") and Bowen Yang as an Asian traveler who's being profiled because of the coronavirus epidemic singing about being profiled to the tune of "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors.
"Profiled Asian/No, I was not in Parasite!"
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry returns with "Say, Those Two Don't Seem To Like Each Other", a 1955 movie where the sisters are now vying for the affection of The Admiral - except their brother (Mulaney) is stealing the show after having returned from the Pacific theater.
- Weekend Update addresses the rising Coronavirus spread with Michael Che pessimistic and wonders if this is how he'll be remembered. He then removes his tie, puts on a snapback, and begins drinking whiskey. He then proceeds to spend the rest of the Update segment Playing Drunk.
Daniel Craig/The Weeknd:
- The Cold Open is The Ingraham Angle, with Kate as Laura Ingraham again, who mentions that they've secured Elizabeth Warren for a special guest. While you're left wondering how they'll pull that off (since Kate usually plays Warren), there's a surprise guest of sorts, Darrel Hammond (who's technically still on the show, only now he's the announcer because Don Pardo died) as Chris Matthews after his abrupt departure of his own show, who somehow thinks he's still the host of this one. Turns out the Warren they were touting is the real Elizabeth Warren - which segues into a beautiful Bait-and-Switch when Warren giving a reply keeps the camera on her long enough for Kate to dress up as Warren anyway, joining the real one on stage.
- Daniel's monologue is actually combined with a digital short, a "deleted scene" from the upcoming No Time to Die^note with Chloe Fineman as Ana de Armas who leads Bond into the casino... which is actually closer to what Vegas casinos are really like, complete with drunk and rowdy gamblers^note and the typically stoic Bond becoming one of them (even going so far as to order a vodka Redbull in a pint instead of his trademark martini).
- The Sands of Modesto, a soap opera that extensively had to be restaged due to concerns over people catching the Coronavirus, only to immediately end after one of the actresses sneezes. Becomes somewhat Harsher in Hindsight when news hit that SNL's 45th season was going to be cut short due to health concerns over the coronavirus and the rest of the season was replaced with the SNL Stay at Home episodes (though the show is back in the studio for its 46th season, albeit with some safety precautions done to make sure the coronavirus doesn't spread).
- “Overnight Salad”’s absolutely ridiculous ingredients.^note She even threw in quarters!
SNL At Home:
- The Bartenson's Grocery Store descriptions of the "items that are extremely in stock".
- The "Eleanor's House" sketch parodies shows like Doc McStuffins and Blue's Clues in the darkest way possible. Due to the pandemic, the titular Eleanor (Aidy Bryant) can't have people over for her birthday, so she dreams one up, complete with imaginary guests. One of them is Richard Carson (Kyle Mooney), who, along with his possibly drunk wife Colleen (Heidi Gardner) wreck her party with their "Michigan friends". It takes the police arresting Richard Carson and telling Eleanor to get her life together that the party ends.
  - Even funnier, the comments for the YouTube video got disabled because YouTube accidentally thought it was a real kids cartoon.
- In the Animal Crossing: New Horizons sketch, Mikey Day and Melissa Villaseñor FaceTime the game, and Melissa somehow found a "Mean Mode"; the villagers insult Melissa (with Tom Nook he hopes saying she gets COVID), denies her travel to Mikey's island, renames her island "Dog Crap City" and her character is eventually killed, with the villagers celebrating her death.

Funny / Saturday Night Live Season 45

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