Has Martin Short Officially Become ‘SNL’s Christmas Guy?
Jolly old elf Martin Short is making it official — by joining Saturday Night Live’s Five-Timers Club on December 21st, he’s also cementing his status as the show’s all-time Christmas Guy. Along with the season’s opener and final show, the holiday episode is generally reserved for SNL all-stars. This is Short’s second shot at the Christmas show, following his first in 2012, but he also co-hosted the December 10th episode in 2022 with Steve Martin. That show was packed with holiday sketches, including a twisted take on A Christmas Carol.
Only three other people have hosted as many as two Christmas episodes, according to Late Nighter. First was Candice Bergen in 1975 and 1976, the show’s first two seasons. The man who ruined Christmas, Jimmy Fallon, hit the holiday double in 2011 and 2013. Technically, Eddie Murphy is the all-time champ by hosting the Christmas show in 1982, 1984 and 2019 although that record comes with a frosty asterisk — he was still a cast member in ‘82, a last-minute fill-in for the extremely hungover Nick Nolte.
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But Short earns the yuletide crown, with all five of his hosting appearances (he also headlined in 1986 and 1996) coming in the month of December. That’s why many of Short’s memorable SNL sketches are holiday-themed. He partnered with Sir Paul McCartney in 2012 as Caleb and Monty, two aspiring musicians auditioning to headline a Christmas pageant.
He parlayed his elfin features into an out-of-character bit as Santa’s bitchiest helper.
Bonus cheer: Short was also a mainstay on SCTV holiday shows, including his classic Ed Grimley special, The Fella Who Couldn’t Wait For Christmas.
Maybe Lorne Michaels has anointed Short as the SNL Christmas Guy because that’s also who he is in real life. According to his autobiography, I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, Short has been throwing star-studded holiday parties for decades. Each year, he begins the celebration with a song that gives you an idea of the impressive guests guzzling eggnog at the Short house:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Tom Hanks is a-tuning
While Nancy is crooning
Arianna Huffington IS HERE!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap, happiest season of all
Now the party’s just startin’
’Cause here comes Steve Martin
He’ll juggle a ball!
It’s the hap, happiest season of all
They’ll be no hymns or pews here
There’s just showbiz Jews here
My agent’s dead drunk in the john
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
Are doing the hustle
“Aren’t you glad that we made Captain Ron?”
He planned a version of this parody for his 2012 hosting stint, which included a backstage interlude where he came upon Michaels and Tina Fey. Short held up mistletoe, misdirecting the audience into thinking he’d steal a kiss from Fey. Instead, he gave Lorne a gentle peck — at least during dress rehearsal. During the live show, “I totally surprised him, dipping him in my arms and planting a wet smacker right on his lips,” Short bragged. “Whether or not there was a hint of tongue involved shall remain entirely between Lorne and me.”