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SNL's Unhinged ABBA Christmas Sketch Reunites Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph
It was a reunion of SNL icons on Kate McKinnon's December 16 episode, with Bowen Yang joining Wiig and Rudolph in the dream-team Christmas sketch.
If we had just one Saturday Night Live-related Christmas wish prior to Kate McKinnon's December 16 episode, it would've been for more sketches featuring the dream team that is McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph. That wish come true during SNL's 2023 Christmas episode, with Wiig and Rudolph joining McKinnon's monologue and co-starring in the "Tampon Farm" music video. And, serving pure joy, McKinnon, Wiig, and Rudolph were also joined by current cast member Bowen Yang to play Swedish pop supergroup ABBA touting their fictional Christmas album. It's worth about seven watches for Rudolph's facial expressions alone.
Clad in festively garish 1970s-era garb, Yang, Wiig, McKinnon, and Rudolph disco danced in unison as they performed tunes that were suspiciously similar to "Dancing Queen" in both sound and theme.
"Santa Claus, your life's a dream / You're at the dance, you're 17," the foursome sang. "Coming down the chimney straight to the dance floor / You're 13 plus four!"
ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" also got a Christmas makeover, with "Who's That Baby? It's the Baby Jesus."
"That's right—the characters are mostly on the dance floor, and they're all 17," James Austin Johnson's announcer character noted.
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McKinnon, Wiig, Rudolph, and Yang sing ABBA Christmas songs
The former and current SNL stars also busted out some hilariously deranged takes on a Swedish accent before Wiig and Rudolph tried their best not to break into laughter. Smooshing their faces and hair together in ABBA's "signature 'standing close facing different directions" move, at one point Rudolph was straight singing into Wiig's wig.
The final faux-ABBA number is, as Johnson's character explains, a result of the band's sole instance of unfortunate Swedish-to-English translation.
"Barbecue / Made it for Christmas from kangaroo," they sing, to the tune of "Waterloo."
All in all, the four comedians letting loose in the same frame was more fun than a midnight Mamma Mia! screening, tapping that classic Wiig-and-Rudolph magic. Watch the "Abba Christmas" sketch above.
