SNL riffs on ‘A Christmas Carol’ & Apple Pay in bloody holiday skit

SNL’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ featuring Apple Pay

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Saturday’s broadcast of “SNL” included a lengthy sketch featuring joint hosts show alumni Steve Martin and Martin Short, performing part of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol.” As you would expect from an SNL skit, the affair turns into a farce very quickly.

Taking place after the visits by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, Short’s Scrooge wakes up a changed man, before rushing to the window to ask an orphan what day it was. Following the traditional portrayal of the story, Scrooge is told it’s Christmas day, then he asks the orphan to buy food on his behalf.

At this point, the scene departs wildly from the source material, as Scrooge’s attempt to toss a coin at the orphan ends up with it embedded in their eye. Subsequent throws cause further gruesome and bloody injuries, even with the character’s best intention to avoid any potential injury.

Co-host Martin joins in as the Ghost of Christmas Present, causing further injury. After seeing the rising anger from the crowd, suggests that Scrooge should lawyer up.

After an inevitable final batch of injuries, the skit delivers the punchline. The Apple Pay logo is shown on a black background with a voice-over and the subtitle “Never use coins again.”

Apple Cash, part of Apple Pay, does allow users to send and receive funds to other people via Messages, as well as to conduct typical Apple Pay transactions. At no point are coins involved.

A small contingent of AppleInsider’s editorial team does warn that the SNL skit features a particularly bad English accent, which some may find annoying.

While not exactly the way SNL depicts the story, Apple TV+ does offer its own musical variant, the Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrel-fronted “Spirited,” which is available to stream now.