‘SNL’ Charlie Brown Sketch Sees Martin Short Take Over As Pageant Director

In this week’s edition about Saturday Night Live, Martin Short tried his hand in directing a Charlie Brown Christmas Pageant.

“You’re watching Freeform’s 25 Days of Christmas,” the sketch begins. “We now return to the animated classics, A Charlie Brown Christmas.“

We cut into it Charlie Brown The kids danced to the iconic “Linus and Lucy” theme song before the start of practice, when Martin Short walked in and yelled, “Stop dancing!”

“Um, who are you?” asks the woman played by Chloe Fineman.

“I’m Drake Tuttle, a local theater legend,” was the short answer. “Your principal hired me to direct your pageant.”

“But Charlie Brown is our director,” says the character of Ashley Padilla.

“And I’m sorry to say he’s dead,” Tuttle said.

This stuns the kids, but Tuttle continues, “To me. He died for me… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have paused after ‘death.’ It’s my fault.”

The director then introduces his choreographer, Le’Stat, played by Bowen Yang, who insists that he is a genius.

“Okay, first up, some housekeeping,” said Tuttle after some back and forth with Le’Stat. “There will be no little kids acting in this pageant, just good acting.”

Next, Le’Stat asks the kids to audition their hip hop dance skills for him, only for them to dance like before, and every time. Charlie Brown the character has been dancing the whole time.

Tuttle has several interactions with Pig-Pen (Mikey Day) – though he still refers to him as “pig pen.” He also expresses his tolerance for children on the spectrum after joining the boy in the red shirt who loves his blanket (Marcello Hernandez). And the sketch ends with Kenan Thompson’s Snoopy, who when asked if he’s a boy’s dog or a girl’s, asks, “Snoopy looks like an ab*tch to you?”

Lodge hosted tonight, with Hozier as the musical guest.