The “Elf On The Shelf” phenomenon gets the Saturday Night Live treatment in a sketch that sees Jason Momoa play Santa’s most despondent helper, but what's made him so sad? Over its 45 years on the air, SNL has produced some hilarious Christmas-themed sketches. One of the show’s most iconic festive skits aired in the 1980s and saw Eddie Murphy’s recurring Mister Robinson character - a parody of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood - dress as Santa and show viewers how to make a DIY Cabbage Patch doll. And who could forget “D**k In A Box” – the Emmy-winning ditty sung by Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake back in 2006 about how to give your significant other a surprise Christmas gift?
Even the most wholesome of Christmas traditions aren’t sacred on SNL. In the early 2000s, festive classic A Charlie Brown Christmas was parodied in a skit that saw the Peanuts gang use their Christmas tree makeover powers for questionable ends. A few years later, John Malkovich hosted a December episode of SNL and gave an annotated reading of “Twas The Night Before Christmas” replete with horrifying facts like how suicide rates soar during the festive period and how the Portuguese version of Santa has a habit of stealing children’s toes.
Back in 2018, the relatively recent “Elf On The Shelf” tradition was the subject of an SNL sketch during a December episode hosted by Jason Momoa. The skit saw the Aquaman star play an elf named Scrappy who – like The Elf On The Shelf book – reports back to Santa (pBeck Bennett) each year on how naughty or nice the child he’s been watching over has been. While his enthusiastic elf colleagues Dotty (Melissa Villaseñor) and Deedle Beep (Mikey Day) are happy to report their young charges are doing nice things like completing their chores and eating their vegetables, Scrappy isn’t so happy. Watch SNL’s “Elf On The Shelf” skit below to find out why.
Scrappy’s kid Marshall is at the awkward age of 13 and has just discovered a brand new “solo activity” that makes sitting on a shelf watching him all day rather uncomfortable, so the understandably despondent elf who repeatedly asks Santa if he can have a new kid. When Santa asks whether Marshall’s newfound hobby is naughty or nice, poor Scrappy is hard-pushed to give his boss a proper answer.
Things get even more awkward when the elves start listing what their kids want for Christmas. Deedle Beep’s kid wants a train set and Dotty’s wants a soccer ball, but Scrappy is reluctant to say until Santa checks his list and informs the elf he spelled “flashlight” wrong (hint: he didn’t). Eventually Santa Claus and Scrappy settle on gifting Marshall some soft socks, although the elf insists they won’t stay that way for long. While Saturday Night Live’s “Elf On The Shelf” sketch no doubt ruined the tradition for many a parent, it’s definitely one of the show’s funniest festive skits.