So Maybe Don’t Surprise the Wife With a Lexus for Christmas, SNL Suggests

Lexus, just like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, or Infiniti, has been running Christmas ads for years. They’re usually centered around the Lexus December to Remember Sales Event and materialize in those silly-looking, fake-perfect ads about a man gifting a brand new Lexus to the unsuspecting wife. It’s got a giant red bow as it sits in the fake-snow covered driveway and everything.

No one expects TV ads (or scripted content, in general) to have much footing in everyday reality, but these fresh Lexus ads are ridiculous for a variety of reasons – all of them perfectly highlighted in the latest Saturday Night Live sketch "A Christmas to Remember." In the year 2020, when the entire world has come to a near-complete halt, and people have just started experiencing serious financial issues, buying an expensive new car as a gift without consulting your significant other seems like the height of stupid decisions.

The SNL skit makes a very good point of that, in the show's typical over-the-top manner. Heidi Gardner plays the wife, Beck Bennett is the seemingly generous husband and weekly guest Timothy Chalamet is their son. The video starts off perfectly, with the three siting in their perfectly designed living room, next to their perfect Christmas tree, in their perfect designer clothes (which probably have a high percentage of virgin wool or cashmere content).

As they’re almost done with opening their presents, Bennett presents Gardner with a box with a Lexus key and, predictably, walks her and Chalamet outside, where the white SUV is parked in the driveway. The initial surprise gives in to shock and then blistering anger, as the wife realizes the husband, who has been out of a job for more than a year, thought getting a new expensive car was a good Christmas surprise, without having a single clue about what financing is. He even borrowed money from the neighbor to secure the first payment, which he hilariously assumes is also the last.

While SNL humor is an acquired taste, to put it mildly, this sketch is able to perfectly sum up everything that’s wrong with this type of Christmas ads. Not only do they assume making a significant purchase without consulting the other family members is a sound idea and emphasizes the lack of financial education that actually leads to such terrible decisions in real life, but it also speaks indirectly to how borderline controlling such a move is. What if she doesn’t like the options, or the color, or even the make of the car? What if she doesn’t even want a car?

Now, unless you’re a millionaire who can afford to make this type of spur-of-the-moment gift to someone you know for a fact wants this exact car you’re about to finance, here’s how this scenario usually translates into interpersonal hell being unleashed in the driveway.