December 17, 2023

“SNL” Icon Kate McKinnon Returned to Host the Show—And Sing Christmas Carols

“I’ve never been myself in a monologue before,” McKinnon joked. “I usually played the role of freak next to hot person.” 

Kate McKinnon (center) returned to Saturday Night Live to host the show for the first time on December 16, 2023NBC

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Former Saturday Night Live cast member Kate McKinnon returned to host the show—for the first time ever—on Saturday night. 

“I’ve never been myself in a monologue before,” McKinnon said in her opening. “I usually played the role of freak next to hot person.” 

Before the rest of the show got underway, McKinnon sang (altered) Christmas carols about going “home for Christmas” and joked about returning to her former workplace, even flashing her original (and, by her own admission, awkward) NBC ID badge from her first days on SNL, back in 2012. Her former cast mates Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig also made surprise appearances during her monologue. 

McKinnon starred in a spate of mostly holiday-themed skits playing typically awkward characters, including a self-loathing mother handing out Christmas gifts to her kids, one-quarter of ABBA (along with Wiig, Rudolph and current SNL cast member Bowen Yang), and a candy-vomiting Scottish Christmas elf. Musical guest Billie Eilish performed her song “What Was I Made For?” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” 

McKinnon starred on the show for a decade before departing last spring with a wave of others, including Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney. Towards the end of her tenure, she portrayed various characters within the Trump administration, including Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani, and Kellyanne Conway.

Check out her monologue from last night below: 

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