With Christmas just a few days away, Jimmy Fallon decided to sit in front of the fireplace, and crack open A Visit From Saint Nicholas — better known as The Night Before Christmas. But, in true Late Night fashion, there was a twist. Instead of just a straight reading, Fallon decided to throw in some Mad Libs fun, having celebrities from Jesse Eisenberg to Martin Short fill in various words along the way.

This one doesn’t need too much background. On Friday’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Maya Rudolph and Jimmy Fallon sang a duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Fallon, however, thought they were going to sing, “The Chipmunk Song.” The result? A fun little intersection of the two classics.

The returning cast members and Betty White sing pretty on The Lawrence Welk Show, and try not to be repulsed by Kristen Wiig.

One of the best things about bringing back beloved SNL alums is the potential return of their beloved characters — and last night did not disappoint, unless you were hoping to see them all on air. Alas, some of the favorites were left on the cutting-room floor — but in this Internet era, all that means is that they go viral the next morning. Last night’s web-only classics featured the return of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph in “Bronx Beat” plus the much-beloved “Debbie Downer” — plus a riff on the bumbling Times Square Bomber. Those who watch SNL on Hulu probably won’t know the difference.

Tonight is Saturday Night Live’s second-last show of its 35th season, and also, hands down, its biggest: Newly-recelebrated old-school superstar Betty White is hosting what has become the Mother’s Day show featuring SNL’s history of funny, funny ladies, which means the return of some top alumnae like Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, and Molly Shannon. And of course Tina Fey. The “women aren’t funny” meme is pretty dead by now, killed by the relentless dominance of Fey in pretty much every comedic endeavor she tries, plus people like Poehler, and Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler, and Jenna Fischer, and Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, etc. etc. etc. — but the wildly-unequal ratio in the biz still lives on.

The rumors are true, and yes, Facebook had something to do with it. USA Today is reporting that Betty White will be hosting the May 8 broadcast of Saturday Night Live after refusing the spot for years. White, whose legendary status has persisted to a younger generation through her role in The Proposal, playing beer pong with Jimmy Fallon, and, yes, those Golden Girls reruns on Lifetime, became the center of a Facebook campaign to get her to host after the debut of her new Snickers ad during the Super Bowl. And Lorne Michaels couldn’t sound happier about it.

Funny Or Die has produced a video featuring a star-studded cast of actors who previously portrayed US Presidents on Saturday Night Live. Jim Carrey‘s turn as Ronald Reagan and Dana Carvey‘s George Bush recall a kinder, gentler, and perhaps funnier era of SNL political satire. The message behind the video? Promoting finance regulatory reform (and reminding viewers that much of the financial mess in which Obama finds himself, was inherited from previous administrations?)

Long before The Daily Show, long before The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live was making fun of the news in a way that no one had ever seen before.
In honor of the premiere of Season 35, we’ve pulled together 35 of SNL‘s choicest news anchor spoofs and Weekend Updates, from Baba Wawa to Fred Armisen‘s Joy Behar to the infamous Couric/Palin interview.