John Goodman brought mainstays from his comedic bag of tricks to this week’s Saturday Night Live: drag, yelling and good old blues.
The actor, who hosted for the 13th time, teamed up with Kenan Thompson for a soulful opening monologue song, “All I want for Christmas is Booty.”
Later, he played a woman suing her employer, claiming she was fired for being too hot. (She wasn’t.)
Goodman also teamed up with surprise guests (and Grudge Match costars) Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone to tell the story of “Three Wise Guys.” This camel-riding trio was on its way to bring gifts to the baby Jesus, but unlike the three wise men, these guys were from Jersey, wore tracks and made crass jokes.
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Stallone noted that he put shoes on his camel, saying “so when I look down, I don’t’ see any camel toe.” De Niro said of Joseph: “I heard the kid might not be his.”
Thompson showed up as Santa Claus during Weekend Update to address the stir Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly made when she insisted Santa is white. Santa came on SNL to reveal he is actually black.
“I’m more surprised people didn’t assume I was black. Have you ever known a white man to wear an all red suit?” he asked.
He also revealed Mrs. Claus was not black: “If Mrs. Clause was black, Santa would be living in Atlanta near her mama.”
Goodman brought more Christmas spirit with a black-and-white knockoff of It’s a Wonderful Life. Instead of a bell ringing when an angel gets its wings, this version featured a Christmas whistle. The problem? The whistle wouldn’t stop sounding, causing Goodman to get into a screaming match with his downstairs neighbor, who blamed the SNL host for the incessant whistling. He also had to admit to his family that he met an angel at a bar, causing them to lament that he was back to hitting the bottle.
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In it’s cold open, SNL mocked the phony sign language interpreter who gave bogus signs during President Obama‘s speech at Nelson Mandela‘s funeral. Thompson played the interpreter, who showed up at a White House press conference to cause trouble for Obama (Jay Pharoah).
Later, Pharoah unleashed a rap about budget shopping at H&M, with Goodman playing a shopper who needed six shirts and four pairs of pants for $60 dollars. It’s worth watching to see Goodman try to squeeze into H&M’s oh-so-small sizes.
Earlier this year, Weekend Update introduced us to Drunk Uncle’s (Bobby Moynihan) brother-in-law, Peter Drunklage (Peter Dinklage). This week, we got Drunk Uncle’s very own uncle, played by Goodman. He’s older, drunker, and more racist.
“Why is Santa so dumb,” He asked. “Because he’s North Polish.”
SNL is new next week with host Jimmy Fallon and musical guest Justin Timberlake.
Saturday Night Live airs at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
Email: Aaron.Couch@THR.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch
