Five of Saturday Night Live’s best Christmas sketches
By Matt Moore
NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls, Season 24 (1998)
Who could have guessed that the host who played Pete Schweddy would go on to win an Emmy for playing the president of the United States for Saturday Night Live? That goes to show you how unpredictible the world of Saturday Night Live and the world itself really are, apparently.
Long before he was the commander-in-chief, Alec Baldwin was a guest on the “Delicious Dish,” the NPR show hosted by Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon. The “Delicious Dish” bit was a recurring sketch that featured odd guests but nobody was quite as memorable as Baldwin’s Pete Schweddy.
The sketch isn’t exactly the most sophisticated or high-brow humor in the history of Saturday Night Live but that doesn’t mean it isn’t any less hilarious. These jokes may seem mild and common for an audience in 2018 but remember that this sketch is now 20 years old.
Even before his Trump impersonation took off (and possibly got run into the ground) Baldwin was one of the best hosts in the history of the show. He’s one of a handful of hosts that probably could make it as a full time cast member. It’s clear that Saturday Night Live cannot resist Pete Schweddy himself.