That Show – Bill Murray and a Very Dark Christmas

Nick revisits what may be the strangest and darkest Christmas episode Saturday Night Live ever put on the air, when Bill Murray returned to host on December 12, 1981. What should have been a holiday show quickly turned unsettling, starting with a deeply odd monologue featuring a silent Santa, followed by sketches that veered from uncomfortable to outright disturbing. There was a fake tampon commercial led by Father Guido Sarducci, played by Don Novello, a tasteless designer jeans bit, and an offbeat musical performance by the Yale Whiffenpoofs. Things took a sharp turn when Sarducci returned with Murray to share predictions for 1982, including World War III and nuclear annihilation. Almost immediately after, the show was interrupted by a real NBC news bulletin announcing that Russia had invaded Poland. What followed was one of the most surreal moments in the show’s history, a bleak, apocalyptic sketch about global destruction written by Michael O’Donoghue, which ended up being his final contribution before he was fired that same night. [Ep 162]