December 6, 2014

December 6, 2014  Season 40 episode
Episode	774
Season Episode	8
Host	James Franco
Musical Guest(s)	Nicki Minaj
Song(s) performed by  Musical Guest(s)	"Bed of Lies" "Only"/"All Things Go"

Previous Episode November 22, 2014

Next Episode December 13, 2014

The 8th episode of Season 40 and the 774th episode of Saturday Night Live premiered on December 6, 2014, hosted by actor James Franco, with musical guest Nicki Minaj, a rapper, singer, and songwriter. This is James Franco's 3rd time as host and Nicki Minaj's 2nd musical guest appearance and her first time in over 3 years was made on SNL.

James Franco previously hosted SNL on the following dates: On September 20, 2008, the second episode of SNL's 34th Season, with musical guests Kings of Leon, and on December 19, 2009, the tenth episode and the Christmas show of SNL's 35th Season, with musical guests Muse.

Nicki Minaj previously made her musical guest debut on January 29, 2011, the thirteenth episode of SNL's 36th season, hosted by actor Jesse Eisenberg.

James Franco's goodnight speech is "My Thanks to Nicki Minaj and Skylar Grey, (Cheers and applause), My Boy Seth Rogen, New Friends and Old Friends in the Cast and Crew, (laughing) Like Steve Higgins and Lorne, Thank You". (Cheers and applause again)

Cast

Main Players

• Vanessa Bayer
• Aidy Bryant
• Taran Killam
• Kate McKinnon
• Bobby Moynihan
• Jay Pharoah
• Cecily Strong
• Kenan Thompson

Featured Players

• Beck Bennett
• Michael Che
• Pete Davidson
• Leslie Jones
• Colin Jost
• Kyle Mooney
• Sasheer Zamata

Cameos by Seth Rogen and Mike O'Brien.
Musical cameo appearance by Skylar Grey.

Sketches and Musical Performances

 Cold Open   Sketch   Pre-recorded   Weekend Update   Music Performance   Other 

Title	Image	Summary
Politics Nation Cold Opening		Al Sharpton (Kenan Thompson) experiences his usual teleprompter flubs during an episode of his show "Politics Nation". With Jay Pharoah and Bobby Moynihan.
Monologue by James Franco		Actor James Franco, returning to host SNL for the third time, and he discusses the recent Sony hacking with guest star Seth Rogen.
Peter Pan Live		Tonkerbell (Aidy Bryant) appears on NBC's "Peter Pan Live". With Cecily Strong as Allison Williams, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, and Beck Bennett as the children, James Franco as Christopher Walken, Taran Killam and Kenan Thompson as pirates, and Bobby Moynihan as the bat from "Fern Gully".
The Force Awakens		Commercial for the new movie in the Star Wars franchise, where the actors from the original series are struggling to keep up. With Bobby Moynihan as Carrie Fisher, Taran Killam as Harrison Ford, Jay Pharoah as John Boyega, Beck Bennett as Mark Hamill, Kenan Thompson as Billy Dee Williams, Leslie Jones as Lando's wife. Moynihan's performance as Fisher trended on Facebook for several days following the episode.
Jingle Ballerz		A hip-hop Christmas show. With Pete Davidson as KaTyler Smith, Sasheer Zamata as Rihanna, Taran Killam as Eminem, James Franco, Kenan Thompson as Rick Ross, Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj as Beyonce, and Jay Pharoah as Kanye West.
A Mike O'Brien Picture: Grow a Guy		Mike O'Brien's pre-taped short "Grow a Guy". Stars O'Brien with Vanessa Bayer, Beck Bennett, Pete Davidson, Sasheer Zamata, and James Franco.
Troll Bridge		A couple (Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney) are stopped by a troll (James Franco) and his roommate Cathy Ann (Cecily Strong). Strong spelled out the word "c-nt" twice as "C-U-N-Thursday"; neither instance was shown in the closed captioning. First appearance of Cathy Ann.
Nicki Minaj performed "Bed of Lies" with Skylar Grey
Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che		With guests, Anthony Crispino (Bobby Moynihan), Leslie Jones, and Kim Kardashian (Nicki Minaj).
Overly Full Brain		Pete Davidson's brain becomes too full, requiring his neurons to delete some of his memories. With James Franco, Cecily Strong, Taran Killam, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Jay Pharoah, Nicki Minaj, Bobby Moynihan, Beck Bennett, Kate McKinnon, and Vanessa Bayer. Taran Killam pulls off a mid-sketch wardrobe change, appearing twice as different characters.
Kid Mayor Recall		James Franco is Tad Rankin, a man who lost a mayoral race to a child candidate, and now wants to see the child recalled. He breaks character mid-sketch.
Nicki Minaj performed a medley of "Only"/"All Things Go"
Sunseeker Yachts		Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong return as porn stars turned commercial actresses, filming a commercial for yachts. With James Franco and Seth Rogen.
Goodnights and Closing Credits		James Franco thanked Nicki Minaj, Skylar Grey, Seth Rogen, the cast and crew, Steve Higgins, and Lorne Michaels.

Trivia

• James Franco also becomes a third-time SNL host.
• James Franco's hosting gig this weekend puts SNL Season 40 in the running for the longest streak of back-to-back episodes with multi-time hosts.

Preceded by: November 22, 2014

Saturday Night Live episode

Followed by: December 13, 2014