31 Day SNL Challenge: The Episode That Got You Hooked

I'll be honest. Before this episode, I was more of a casual observer of Saturday Night Live. I'd seen the most popular clips and sketches, of course. I only knew the name Lorne Michaels, not anything about him. I was more familiar with Eddie Murphy's work in Trading Places and Shrek than I was with him on Saturday Night Live. But I always enjoyed watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I was a big Jimmy fan (which, I will admit stemmed from a Christmas musical performance he did with the Muppets back in 2009) so I decided to check out this episode. Fortunately, the episode was wall-to-wall amazingly golden and I was immediately hooked forever. Now, I have consumed SNL as a huge part of me and it's all thanks to this episode, hosted by Jimmy Fallon with musical guest, Justin Timberlake on December 20th, 2013 as a part of season thirty-nine. The installment started off by bringing us down to Wrappinville, then Jimmy crushed it in the monologue with a little special guest named Paul McCartney. But when Celebrity Family Feud was enacted, I knew something special was happening. Justin played Jimmy and made him break! Taran did an amazing Ashton Kutcher! Brooks Wheelan was there! Then, Lil' Baby Aidy made her debut in the music video sketch known as Twin Bed. That digital video gave us the ladies of SNL and Jimmy dancing in front of their awkward childhood photos and the line, "Can't fully undress, in case your parents come through. Just shirt, no pants, like Winnie the Pooh." After Twin Bed, Jimmy and Justin broke out their recurring duo as a part of The Barry Gibb Talk Show, complete with a cameo from the actual Barry effin' Gibb! Speaking of JT, he absolutely crushed the musical performances and his laser-room Only When I Walk Away is one of my all-time favorite SNL musical performances. Weekend Update gave us an amazing Billie Jean King impression and a discussion between Jimmy and then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about their changes in life. Jimmy gushed to Seth about passing the Late Night baton and all was right. Waking Up with Kimye was what it always was, but then the Now That's What I Call Christmas parody brought the episode right back. The impressions of Pitbull, Billie Joe Armstrong, DMX, and Alanis Morissette make me laugh every time I see them. The sketch parodying A Christmas Carol was a festive delight and then the episode ended with an all-time favorite sketch of mine, the ever sweet Baby It's Cold Outside with Jimmy and Cecily Strong. After this episode concluded, I became an SNL-er for life.