Cecily Strong says goodbye to SNL on the holiday episode

Saturday’s opening graphic once again featured James Austin Johnson’s view of Donald Trump, this time promoting his digital trading cards. Photographed in the same art style as the real trading cards Trump announced last week, the parody NFTs feature (“the fifties” as Trump-Johnson dubbed them) scenes with the former president melting President Biden’s ice cream with laser eyes and with Trump on the cover of a romance novel.

“Trump cards each $99. Seems like a lot. It looks like a scam, and in many ways it is.”

The dirty doesn’t stop there. He then welcomes “the least embarrassing third child”, Donald Trump Jr. (Mickey Day), and his sweetly defiant fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle (Strong), to put out their Christmas disc, “Now That’s What Nobody Calls Music”. Guilfoyle belts (shouts?) that those listening will “sleep in heavenly peace,” before Trump bumps them offstage.

Saturday’s Weekend Update also highlighted Trump’s NFT launch: “Near-total maniac Donald Trump has released a batch of digital NFT trading cards depicting him in various outfits including cowboys, superheroes, and most impressively, the man who never Dodge the draft,” said co-host Colin Jost. “Update.”

With the NFT market plummeting, Jost also questioned the timing of this release. “It’s a funny move to get into NFTs after the whole market crashed. It’s like getting into Kanye now.”

Strong, who briefly co-hosted Weekend Update during the 2013-2014 season, returns as crime commentator Kathy Ann. Donning a Santa hat for the occasional scalping incident, Kathy Ann announced her departure: “The truth is, I’m here to say goodbye.”

Her criminal confession to “modernization” landed her in prison. Cathy Ann said she wasn’t afraid to take the time, as she had “friends on the inside, and they seem fine”, and a photo of former cast members Bryant and McKinnon dressed in prison clothes also appeared on screen.

Strong leaves behind several memorable “modernization” archetypes, including “the girl you wish you hadn’t struck up a conversation with at a party” and “a one-dimensional female character from a male-driven comic.”

Musical numbers were a theme throughout Saturday’s episode, as host Austin Butler starred in the Golden Globe-nominated film “Elvis.” In a sketch about the Jewish Elvis, Butler gets the chance to be a fan girl for the Elders, along with Strong and Ego Nodeem. The crew swooned and applauded when Elvis’ Sarah Sherman commented on Elvis’ hit songs, asking, “Who are these wise men? Why are they so wise?” during a performance of “I Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

As a final farewell to a tearful Strong, the cast, led by Butler, sing a customized version of “Blue Christmas”. As fake snow falls, they sing: “You’ll be alright, every Saturday night, but we’ll all have a blue-and-blue-blue-blue Christmas.”