Santa Baby

Doug (Ryan Gosling) and Gina (Vanessa Bayer) are a new-to-town couple attending a neighborhood Christmas party at a beautiful home. When they arrive, they bring cookies specifically for Santa, insisting he doesn't drink alcohol because "he's gotta drive the sleigh." As the party progresses, the couple becomes increasingly and disturbingly excited about meeting Santa, with Doug growing more intense, aggressive, and violent in his demands to meet "the real Santa." Their romantic obsession with Santa Claus makes all the other guests extremely uncomfortable. The sketch escalates as Doug's behavior becomes more menacing and unhinged, creating a darkly comedic contrast between the festive holiday setting and the couple's disturbing fixation.

Pre-taped/digital short format. Duration: 301 seconds (5 minutes). Writers: Jeremy Beiler and Vanessa Bayer. Ryan Gosling heavily improvised throughout the sketch, particularly the yelling scenes. Vanessa Bayer later confirmed she didn't know Gosling would start yelling during filming. The sketch became famous for Gosling's unhinged performance and the uncomfortable escalation of what starts as an awkward social situation. Considered one of the best SNL Christmas sketches. The dark tone and Tarantino-esque dance sequence set this apart from typical SNL holiday sketches. YouTube video has 12.6M+ views and 166K+ likes. This was Ryan Gosling's first time hosting SNL (he has hosted three times total as of 2025). Director Greta Gerwig cited Gosling's SNL appearances, including his comedic timing in sketches like this, as inspiration for casting him as Ken in the 2023 Barbie movie. This sketch aired in the same episode as another SNL classic, "Close Encounter" (the alien abduction sketch with Kate McKinnon).