Saturday Night Live took a different approach its cold open on the night after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in newtown, Connecticut.
Instead of starting witha topical joke, the show kicked off with a touching performance of "Silent Night", as sung by the New York City Children's Chorus, to paytribute to those lose and affected by the tragedy.
Singing by candlelight, the choir performed in red robes, and delivered the |Live, from New York, it's Saturday night" line together, just before the opening credits. Martin short, this week's host, did not addres the shooting or the cold open, an instead performed a comedic, comeo-filled monologue--as one would expect from the show's holiday episode.
The rest of the show carried on as usual, with suprise appearances by Samuel L. Jackson, Tina fey, Jimmy Fallon and kristen Wiig, and musical performances by Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and krist Novoselic. The choir later joined Paul McCartney onstage for a rendition of 'Wonderful Chistmastime'