Saturday Night Live rings in the holiday season with three new shows, beginning December 5.

Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively and Rihanna will both appearing “Live From New York” for the first time next weekend. Twilight star Taylor Lautner will make his hosting debut Dec. 12, with musical guest the Grammy Award-winning band Bon Jovi. James Franco returns to SNL to host for the second time with musical guest Muse on Dec. 19

This weekend’s show opened with a parody of Obama’s news conference with China’s president that included one-liners about the administration’s spending on economic stimulus, health care reform, bailouts, Cash for Clunkers, and the nation’s $800 billion debt to China.

Michaela Watkins may be gone, but Saturday Night Live’s fourth-hour spoof of The TODAY Show’s Hoda and Kathie Lee lives on. Series newcomer Jenny Slate took over as Hoda Kotb on this weekend’s January Jones-hosted edition of the long-running sketch comedy show.

The Colombian with the most famous hips in music celebrated the release of her new album, She Wolf, at a Rolling Stone party in New York Monday and couldn’t stop laughing after Access Hollywood played her the clip of Taylor impersonating the Latin pop tart’s signature moves for SNL’s “Bunny Business” skit.

“That’s crazy,” Shakira said. “I feel flattered. I love Taylor,” the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer added. “I think she’s awesome. She’s beautiful and a great talent and that is just really, really funny.”

“If you’re wondering if I might be dating the werewolf from ‘Twilight’ I’m not going to comment on that in my monologue,” Swift sang, before mouthing “Hi Taylor,” and blowing Lautner, 17, a kiss.

“You might be expecting me to say something bad about Kanye [West]. But there’s nothing more to say because everything’s okay…I’ve got security lining the stage,” the songstress teased.

And poor Joe Jonas really got an earful: “You might think I’d bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone, but I’m not gonna mention him in my monologue,” Taylor continued. “Joe, I’m doing real well—tonight I’m hosting SNL!”

In a promo that began airing Tuesday, the global music sensation and SNL cast member Bill Hader poke fun at the notorious incident and controversial rap star Kanye West. Taylor announces she will be on the sketch show this weekend while Hader stands by her side on the phone. He gets off his cell and says, “Whoops, Kanye West just called. He thinks Beyoncé should host instead.”

Taylor Swift host Saturday Night Live Nov. 7.

Yeah, that’s a great plan — give ole Motormouth yet another opportunity to upstage this poor chile.

Taylor Swift will host SNL for the first time on Nov. 7.

“I’ve been thinking about skit ideas for a long time,” Taylor told The Associated Press. “There are definitely some hilarious things that have happened to me over the past couple of months that I think will be pretty substantial skits.”
The starlet called the chance to host the series — now in its 35th season — “mind-blowing” and says it’s been difficult to keep the appearance under wraps since producers asked her during the summer. She adds, “I love being around people who I feel have a different kind of creative genius. And the funny genius is definitely a fascinating one to be around.”

Last month, Kanye West famously hijacked Taylor’s Best Female Video acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards, by grabbing the microphone and declaring Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” one of the “best videos of all time.” The incident will also likely inspire a few epic parodies during Taylor’s SNL gig. But we wonder who will play Kanye?

SNL’s “Dominican Lou” writes: “I had my finger on the pulse of urban comedy, but when I brought my act to SNL, those motherf***** just felt bad for me…..None of the cast I came up with saw this future for me. No, sir. All I have to say about that is, where’s Chris Kattan now? Where’s Cheri Oteri now? That bitch can’t even get arrested.”

Hammond, who memorably impersonated President Bill Clinton, Sean Connery, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and dozens of others on the long-running sketch series, tells GossipCop.com that “retired from the show last year.”
The 53-year-old no longer appears in the show’s opening credits, but will continue to appear on the show on “a case-by-case basis.”

Darrell Hammond joined Saturday Night Live in 1994 and is the show’s longest-running cast member.