I Wish It Was Christmas Today

In this musical sketch, four Saturday Night Live cast members deliver an endearingly lo-fi performance of an original holiday song. Horatio Sanz plays a tiny backpacker guitar while singing, Jimmy Fallon plays an electronic keyboard, Chris Kattan holds the keyboard while doing his signature rhythmic head movements, and Tracy Morgan wordlessly dances alongside them with a straight face and light jogging-style moves. The quartet, all dressed in matching maroon sweaters, perform the simple yet irresistibly catchy tune "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" with minimal lyrics and maximum charm. The sketch's innocent simplicity and the cast's visible enjoyment made it an instant hit that was repeated just one week later and became a beloved SNL holiday tradition.

Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon came up with the song late one night at SNL when they were short on ideas, pairing a small backpacking guitar Fallon had received for Christmas with his keyboard; Fallon credits Sanz with writing the lyrics. The four performers returned with it one week later, on December 16, 2000, and later versions adapted it for other occasions, including a Memorial Day edition in May 2001. Julian Casablancas of The Strokes recorded a cover released in 2009 as an iTunes/Amazon bonus track for his solo album Phrazes for the Young, and Cheap Trick covered it on their 2017 album Christmas Christmas.