The final Saturday Night Live of the year was a star-studded affair - Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson and Alec Baldwin joined guest host Martin Short, and Eagles rocker Joe Walsh performed with Sir Paul McCartney.

The former Beatles star also recreated his collaboration with the existing members of Nirvana, which he debuted at 12-12-12 The Concert for Sandy Relief. The new song Cut Me Some Slack features on the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's new documentary about California recording mecca Sound City Studios.

The host and musical guest also teamed up to perform as Caleb & Monty, a duo auditioning for an amateur revue.

McCartney ended the skit by playing his beloved festive tune Wonderful Christmastime, backed by New York City Children's Chorus choir, which opened the Saturday Night Live festive special by performing Silent Night.

The moving rendition of the carol replaced the series' traditional comedy monologue and was dedicated to the 20 students and the staff killed in the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday (14Dec12).

But the festive episode wasn't without controversy - Jackson accidentally swore during one skit, prompting castmember Kenan Thompson to quip, "Come on, Sam... that costs us money."

The Pulp Fiction star later took to his Twitter.com page to deny saying "f**k", although he admitted using the word "bulls**t".

He tweeted, "I only said FUH not F&*K! K was sposed (supposed) to cut off da BULL%^&T (sic), blew it!!"