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Christmas in New England

Saturday Night LiveSNL
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.

The setup

Kevin Nealon fondly recalls the storybook Connecticut Christmases of his childhood, and every cozy memory turns out to be a small domestic disaster.

Community rating

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The premise

Here’s the bit.

Introduced by the announcer as a guest sharing his holiday memories, Kevin Nealon leans on a decorated mantel and paints a warm picture of Christmas Eve in his picturesque Connecticut hometown. The nostalgia keeps curdling: the town's charming gift shop is an easy break-in while the owner is home, the red and blue lights around his family house belong to police cars hauling his father away, the gingerbread smells awful, the cozy fire is his sister's bed, and the hot chocolate is scraped off the stove. Tucked in hours early on Christmas Eve, he sneaks his father's whiskey and ends the night sick, sighing that he misses it all, before closing with his idea of the most important thing about the holidays.

The funny people

Meet the cast. 1

Say it with us

Highly quotable.

You get a little closer, you realize those are police cars taking your father away for shoplifting.

It's cozy inside, though. Little fire going. No fireplace, just a little fire.

We forget the most important thing, and that's to save your receipts.

Behind the scenes

The people who made it.

A little extra

Notes from the archive.

SNL Archives lists this segment as "Christmas Memories," and the Classic SNL Review credits Kevin Nealon as its writer. It aired in the December 20, 1986 episode hosted by William Shatner, with musical guest Lone Justice.

ScriptEnglish · 46 turns

Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.

  1. 00:01

    With the Christmas season upon us, we all have fond memories. Here with us now to share some of his is Kevin Nealon.

  2. 00:10

    Himself

    I grew up in a little storybook town in Connecticut, which was great, especially during the holidays.

  3. 00:16

    Himself

    Christmas Eve, you're walking through the town square, everything's decorated, snow is crunching under your feet,

  4. 00:22

    Himself

    Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas music.

  5. 00:26

    Himself

    Can you picture that?

  6. 00:28

    Himself

    Ah, it's a nice feeling.

  7. 00:29

    Himself

    I miss it.

  8. 00:32

    Himself

    Cute little gift shop over here. It's all decorated.

  9. 00:35

    Himself

    The owner's home with his family, right?

  10. 00:37

    Himself

    So you break in, you take whatever you want.

  11. 00:41

    Himself

    Doesn't matter. It's the holidays, you know?

  12. 00:43

    Himself

    You see your house way down the street, you could just about make it out.

  13. 00:47

    Himself

    That's your house, okay.

  14. 00:49

    Himself

    It's all decorated, little red and blue lights all around it.

  15. 00:53

    Himself

    You get a little closer, you realize those are police cars

  16. 00:55

    Himself

    taking your father away for shoplifting.

  17. 00:59

    Himself

    But it doesn't matter. It's the holidays, you know?

  18. 01:01

    Himself

    it's just a nice feeling over the river and through the woods that's the way my

  19. 01:06

    Himself

    grandmother used to drive

  20. 01:07

    Himself

    and you get home yeah you get up on a porch and you smell those fresh

  21. 01:14

    Himself

    gingerbread men and they stink cuz your mother can't bake for nothing you know

  22. 01:19

    Himself

    it's cozy inside though little fire going no fireplace just a little fire

  23. 01:26

    Himself

    your sister was smoking in bed so you put her out there's hot chocolate on the

  24. 01:32

    Himself

    the stove not in a pot just dried up on the stove so you scrape it off you put it in a pot and you

  25. 01:39

    Himself

    heat it up a couple marshmallows pour it into your favorite mug you sit back and you drink it

  26. 01:46

    Himself

    and you burn the hell out of the roof of your mouth and for the next few days you're playing

  27. 01:50

    Himself

    with a little piece of skin with your tongue huh oh i missed that there's a fruitcake on the table

  28. 01:59

    Himself

    his name's Steven and

  29. 02:03

    Himself

    And he's excited. Everybody's excited,

  30. 02:05

    Himself

    because it's the holidays, you know?

  31. 02:06

    Himself

    And you want to go to bed, because you want to wake up

  32. 02:08

    Himself

    and open up those presents.

  33. 02:09

    Himself

    So you climb into your pajamas, you crawl into bed,

  34. 02:11

    Himself

    and you're all snug, and you can't sleep, right?

  35. 02:14

    Himself

    Because it's only about 3 in the afternoon.

  36. 02:17

    Himself

    So you get up.

  37. 02:18

    Himself

    You sneak some of your father's whiskey.

  38. 02:21

    Himself

    You drink it, and now you get visions

  39. 02:23

    Himself

    of sugar plums dancing in your head.

  40. 02:26

    Himself

    You go back to bed,

  41. 02:27

    Himself

    and the room starts spinning around

  42. 02:29

    Himself

    like crazy.

  43. 02:29

    Himself

    crazy and you start throwing up on our sheets and everything. Oh, I miss that. But you know

  44. 02:37

    Himself

    something? We forget the most important thing about Christmas because, you know, we get hung

  45. 02:42

    Himself

    up and shopping and visiting relatives and, you know, eating and everything. We forget the most

  46. 02:46

    Himself

    important thing and that's to save your receipts. Have a Merry Christmas.

The rabbit hole continues

One more couldn’t hurt.

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