The candle’s flame flickered and danced, representing loss and sadness, reflection and hope. Children began singing “Silent Night.”
That’s how this weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” began. You can wipe your eyes. It’s OK to cry, especially after these past few days, after a gunman took 20 young lives inside a Connecticut elementary school.
But a little laughing is OK, too, and Martin Short provided a powerful reprieve by anchoring a star-studded episode that showcased Paul McCartney’s musicality – as well as Samuel L. Jackson’s potty mouth.
The episode’s tone shifted during Short’s monologue, when he sang about holiday hanky-panky with the help of fellow SNL alum and “Late Night with David Letterman” mainstay Paul Shaffer on the piano.
Short posed and shifted atop the piano, realizing the piano draping act didn’t translate so well for a male performer.
“How does a man sit on a piano, I wonder?” he asked.
Short took his singing through the Rockefeller Center hallways, encountering a cavalcade of celebrities – Kristen Wiig with her stubby hand! Jimmy Fallon! Tom Hanks! Samuel L. Jackson! Tina Fey! Show creator Lorne Michaels!
Short held a mistletoe sprig for Fey then misdirected, planting a full kiss on Michaels’ lips. Lorne just sorta stood there. Smirked. What can you do but laugh when Martin Short gives you a smooch?
The cameos continued in the episode’s first skit, “The Tony Bennett Show,” starring Alec Baldwin. Short appeared as Tony’s hug-happy brother Jerry.
The Bennett brothers discussed their slick dress – “That suit is so sharp, it must have been made with Ginsu knives,” Tony said – as well as trouser billiards, which requires no substantial explanation.
Cast member Jay Pharoah appeared as Kanye West, wearing the ridiculous leather leggings and skirt get-up that Kanye rocked at this past week’s 12-12-12 Sandy concert.
The “brothers” asked Kanye to hold a box of Dulcolax, the constipation drug, and then the Bennetts discussed bathroom matters while Pharoah’s Kanye became increasingly agitated, confused and concerned.
Eventually the Bennetts suggested that Kanye’s girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, could use the Dulcolax.
“What a bunch of lucky suppositories,” Jerry Bennett said.
“Too blue Jerry, too blue,” Tony quipped. “Mop that up.”
Toilet humor carried a Britain-themed skit showing a consultant (Short) discussing suitable terms for … eh-hem … with the Royal family’s gynecologist (cast member Bill Hader). Short and Hader struggled to keep straight faces while considering “Her Downton Abbey” or “Chunnel.” The name “Dame Judy Dench” may never sound the same again.
The laughs continued with a commercial for “You’re a Rat Bastard, Charlie Brown,” a mock Broadway show starring Al Pacino (Hader), of all people.
Martin Short’s Larry David impression was so close, you second-guessed whether it was actually David himself, screaming bleeped obscenities for the crowd.
And then there was Charlie, still trying to kick Lucy’s football, but of course she pulled it away – again – and it was so much greater with “Al Pacino” slipping on the ground and trying to limp it off.
Ooo-wee! Kenan Thompson dusted off his singing for a holiday version of “What’s Up With That,” a skit overshadowed by Jackson’s viral-worthy antics.
Did Samuel L. drop the F-bomb? Did he stop himself? It’s one of those questions that will linger for years, like the whispered message in “Lost in Translation.” Thompson tried to appease the censors, saying, “C’mon Sam, that costs money.”
Jackson later addressed the topic on Twitter, writing “I only said FUH … K was sposed to cut off da BULLS—, blew it!!”
Eh-hem.
The second half of the episode was dominated by McCartney, with the Beatles and Wings legend shining on “Cut Me Some Slack” alongside Nirvana performers Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. The triumvirate also performed the song together during the Sandy Relief concert.
The song is eclectic and edgy, just what you would expect from a McCartney-Nirvana partnership. Even at 70, McCartney can still rock.
He can still warm the heart, too. Sir Paul and Short appeared together during the episode’s final skit, which involved a music tryout for a small-town performance.
McCartney’s character, Monty, was relegated to triangle duty by his overbearing partner, Caleb.
“You don’t want to hear Monty sing,” Caleb said. “I have the million-dollar voice … you don’t.”
But when Caleb’s singing failed to appease the judges, Monty the triangle-player asked if he could sing.
Sure, the judges said.
So the backing wall broke away and Sir Paul McCartney took off his vest, strapped on his guitar and started singing “Wonderful Christmastime.”
The New York City Children’s Chorus – the group singing at the beginning of the episode – re-emerged to help McCartney, and the choir sang its song, Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong. The children bounced and beamed the way children should at holiday time, a reminder of innocence – that which was robbed by Connecticut gunfire, but that which still remains, the childhood smiles meaning so much right now.