"COVID came early"
While it's not the way in which Paul Rudd imagined, the actor entered the hallowed halls of the "Five-Timers Club" on Saturday Night Live.
There, to award him with his lovely robe was none other than Tom Hanks alongside Tina Fey and Keenan Thompson. Martin Short and Steve Martin were also present over video call to honour Rudd in a comedic bit.
It was announced that, because of the rapid spread of Omicron, most of the cast and crew were sent home early. So, the finale of the season, which was seen as an overall return to form, was slightly disappointing. It consisted of skits filmed earlier in the week, alongside older favourites.
The finale was a strong enough finish to the season, but it's unfortunate Rudd wasn't able to perform in front of a live-audience. Some of the stand-out skits from the night included a fairly sombre one involving Pete Davidson playing himself from 2058.
There was also a strange Christmas song sang by Rudd called 'The Christmas Socks', a commercial for Home Goods and a stripped down version of the Weekend Update.
Some old classics revisited were Andy Samberg's and Justin Timberlake's festive banger 'Dick in a Box' from 2009. Santa and his Elves from 2015 with Thompson and Bobby Moynihan also featured. Rudd introduced Steve Martin's Holiday Wish, a skit he memorized for his high school speech class.
Rudd finished off proceedings with a slightly-altered quote from 'Forrest Gump': "Life is like a big, weird chocolate bar. Sometimes it’s delicious, other time it got that orange cream filling in it and it’s like, OK, it’s not what I would have chosen, but it’s better than nothing."
Not a bad way to sum up the series finale to a very strange year indeed.