Austin Butler's white elephant exchange doesn't go as planned in 'SNL' sketch

Imagine being lucky enough to find the perfect gift at the white elephant Christmas exchange and then someone steals it. That's totally bogus.
 By 
Chance Townsend
 on 
Austin Butler holding a grey catch-all ash tray
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The number one rule of any white elephant gift exchange: If you find a gift you like, don’t act like you like it or else it’s gone.

Saturday Night Live host Austin Butler learned this the hard way when he joins the cast for a white elephant Christmas exchange. The rules are simple: when it's your turn, you pick a surprise gift and the person after you can either pick another gift or steal yours. And it just so happens that Butler got the perfect gift this year, "a sweet ash tray."

It's the perfect gift he explains as its the catch-all he was looking for to dump all his miscellanous items in when he arrives home. "To whoever got this, thank you for real I'm going to cherish this forever," Butler says.

The problems begin when Cecily Strong, immediately following Butler's declaration of love for his new ash tray, decides to jokingly steal his gift and ruin Christmas. Butler then puts on a masterful performance of a man who's heart and soul has been ripped away from him.

"That's not fair, you shouldn't be able to do that," Butler says angrily. "That's like mean—that's mean as hell."

Topics SNL

Headshot of a Black man
Chance Townsend
Assistant Editor, General Assignments

Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and Mother Jones.

In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and greatly enjoys Detroit sports. If you have any tips or want to talk shop about the Lions, you can reach out to him on Bluesky @offbrandchance.bsky.social or by email at [email protected].


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