In his 2011 autobiography "God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F*cked: Tales of Stand-Up, Saturday Night Live, and Other Mind-Altering Mayhem", Darrell Hammond mentions that he was slated to appear in a fantastic cold open, but unfortunately for him, host Helen Hunt wanted to open the show singing Christmas carols.
Following this show, NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer removed Norm MacDonald as Update anchor and James Downey as head writer of the segment. Both of them were informed of their dismissal on the day Chris Farley died, December 18, 1997.