Who should host Saturday Night Live this season?
From Jennifer Coolidge to Matt Berry to Tom Cruise, here's our wish list of the stars we'd like to see live from New York
TV Features Saturday Night Live
Ahead of Saturday Night Live season 48, which kicks off on October 1, eight cast members left the show: Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Aristotle Athari, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor. So in what figures to be a season of change at the long-running sketch show, here’s hoping that extends to the hosts, another aspect of SNL that could some fresh blood. Miles Teller, Brendan Gleeson, and Megan Thee Stallion (pulling double duty as the week’s musical guest) are set to host the first three episodes this season, and they’re all solid choices who’ve never hosted the show before. But there are plenty of other celebrities who’d be perfect for the gig—for instance Dave Bautista proved his comedic chops in Guardians Of The Galaxy, Quinta Brunson just won an Emmy for comedy writing for Abbott Elementary and she has a sketch comedy background to boot, and Jennifer Coolidge has just never hosted, which is practically a crime. Here, then, are 10 more hosts we’d love to see fronting at SNL during season 48.
65 Comments
Jordan Peele, for that SNL-MadTV crossover event the world’s been waiting for.
Key already hosted.
Tatiana Maslany would be amazing Kristen Bell should host too
Solid recs all around. I might also suggest: Ben Affleck with musical guest J-Lo.
…does anyone care who hosts SNL? Has anyone cared in the past, like, 30 years? A celebrity will host an episode of SNL because they have a movie to promote and/or they were a former writer/cast member who has reached a sufficient level of fame and/or they’re Tom Hanks. It will be a pleasant surprise/mild disappointment depending on how (in)capable they are at reading cue cards on live TV. Next week, their performance will be forgotten. I mean, I know this is just another vapid make-work slideshow to toss on the pile, but…this seems particularly vapid and make-worky.
if this was rephrased “Who do you want to see host SNL?” under the AVQ&A feature would your panties still be in a wad?
Would it still be a vapid, make-work slide show? Then yes, dad, my panties would remain thoroughly wadded. The real question is: why are you so interested in people’s panties?
Are you not?
Touche.
I might suggest finding a different site then, because a generic “who do you want to host SNL” post that works as thread for the commentariat has been a function of this place long before kinja or AV Club began to suck, so it sounds like your panties are wadded up a lot. Very uncomfortable!PS if your issue is the slideshow just resize your browser window to < 1020px and it’s all on one page
Nah, they used to put much more effort into Q&A’s than [gestures vaguely] this. For one thing, they used to actually respond to reader-submitted questions (and they used to have a readership who cared enough to submit).
quinta brunson! yes! i would love for her to write a black lady sketch show sketch but only if she wants to write.tatiana maslany would be amazing. she started off in improv and does comedy so well. i would love an orphan black sketch but that’s too far behind now.michelle yeoh (promote eeaao for that best picture win)
jean smart (she’s jean smart)angela bassett (black panther)bette midler or kathy njimny (hocus pocus)
brendan fraser (the whale)janelle monae (knives out)jodie comer (nothing to promote but maybe they can do a sketch to redo the killing eve finale and turn it into a good one)
teyonah parris (the marvels)
Great idea – Monae as host/musician could Timberlake the shit out of it without even breathing hard.
The only thing that would keep Quinta Brunson away is that NBC doesn’t usually like to bring in stars of other network shows to host (only Jim Parsons, for example, hosted from Big Bang).
Rachel Bloom, assuming there wouldn’t be a conflict with her Hulu series. Ditto for Judy Greer (since…same series).Tatiana Maslany would be really fun.I don’t know what projects Jodie Comer has to promote, but I’d love to see her try full-on comedy post-Killing Eve.I will pretty much watch Ana de Armas in anything at this point, so I’d be more surprised if she didn’t end up hosting this season.Not sure if H. Jon Benjamin has enough prestige for SNL outside of his voice acting work, but that would be fun to watch.It was a real trip seeing Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm on GoT) playing a completely different character on the last series of Doctor Who, so I would be curious to see how he would do in sketch comedy….did Bob Odenkirk ever host during the Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul years? He’s a Ben Stiller show alum, so I know he can do sketch comedy. (Edit: Forgot Mr. Show….so even more sketch comedy in his background.)
I’m glad you caught yourself on Odenkirk. That’d be like remembering George Washington primarily for his service in the French and Indian War.
Never going to miss the opportunity to say Fuck Tom Cruise…he’s fully aware of the crimes his “church” commits. Yes, literal crimes hidden behind “religious freedom”
Pretty solid list though weirdly, I have no desire to see Tom Cruise on SNL. Setting aside that I generally like his movies and I am generally offput by his personal life, I just do not think he is a good fit for live sketch TV. He seems like he would either chew the scenery hard or fall back and let everyone else go nuts. Also, a big part of the host’s appeal to me is whether they seem like they are having fun and how well that projects. No episode is going to have 100% all time classic hilarious skits, so having a host that feels like they are having a good time and want the cast/audience to do the same goes a long way. Lizzo, Drake, Billie Eilish, Chance the Rapper, Dwayne Johnson, Oscar Isaacs… all those hosts could get through a clunker because they had solid energy. Tom Cruise, while talented, would just have a different vibe that I do not think would work.
Have you seen Tropic Thunder? Cruises character in that is hilarious and was mostly adlibbed. He might be able to pull it off.
Did his scenes with Bill Hader, too.
I can’t imagine his ad-libbed Grossman wasn’t the result of weeks, nay months, of ultra-focused prep, just as for all his M:I absurdities.
Tom Cruise is a control freak. It’s hard to imagine he could just let that go for SNL.
The assumption has always been that Cruise has been approached numerous times but won’t do it because he’s dyslexic and concerned about reading off the cue cards.
On the one hand, Cruise showed the ability to have fun in Tropic Thunder. On the other hand, not sure how he’d do with live tv.
He would do amazing, because he’s basically a machine. Program what you need into him and there you go.
Leo DiCaprio and Steve Harrington
Grover
Cookie Monster is overdue and you know it
I suggest: Sonequa Martin-Green. Anson Mount. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome hosting together. Bonus AV Club scorching take: Tim Robinson is not funny. Nor is his sketch “comedy.”
Shatner and Patrick Stewart are the only cast members of a Trek show to ever host SNL, so it’s not like there’s a habit of the lead of every Trek show hosting.
Avery Brooks hosting in the 90s would have been epic. Avery Brooks hosting now would probably just be really uncomfortable. Guy’s weird.
Weird that Bakula didn’t even host during Quantum Leap or NCIS:NOLA.
I’ve only ever liked Bakula in Quantum Leap. Hated Captain Fuckface Archer and never watched NCIS:NOLA because does anyone?
My parents, who are huge fans of Quantum Leap and white people in their 60s, watch NCIS: NOLA.
I support your scorching take. I won’t say I *didn’t* laugh at any of the sketches I saw from the first few episodes of the Netflix show. But they were mild at best and I find him and his show exceedingly try-hard and off-putting. There’s a fair bit of contemporary “anti-comedy” comedy that I just don’t dig.
I haven’t watched SNL in years, so its hard to care, but Tom Cruise is a great choice. I hate all the Scientology shit, but he’s a great actor and the comedy chops are there. For example, his role in Tropic Thunder, hot damn.
Matt Berry would be SO much fun.
For sure..and he has awesome writing chops, consider he created and wrote a few shows. He would be the kick in the ass SNL needs right now, not Meghan Thee Stallion..
I would like to see Nicole Beyer, who is part of NBC’s galaxy of stars as the lead in Grand Crew.She’s really funny.
Three words:Nicolas.Goddamn.Cage.(And no Samberg crutch.)
I only got one: Billy Porter.
Host or musical guest or both. There’s never enough BP around.
If you’re determined to pull the first host of the season from Tom Gun: Maverick, why not do the obvious choice and bring back in Jon Hamm, who can also promote the new Fletch movie? Who out there is saying, “I don’t normally watch Saturday Night Live, but gosh darn it, if Miles Teller is hosting, COUNT ME IN”?
I just want one sketch to get interrupted by a furious guest star JK Simmons throwing a cymbal at his head.
It’s not like I don’t think Jon Hamm should be in everything, but they’re never going to top Hamm and Bublé, so it’s almost like why bother.
Christopher WalkenHe’s always a safe bet and he’s actually in a current, buzzworthy show.
Ron DeSantis.What could possibly go wrong?
Lindsay Lohan to mark her acting return and so she finally joins the 5 Timers club, would love to see what special guests would be on her episode too so many options!
I was going to say Frank Stallone
Norm McDonald approves…
Actresses would be nice. Last season they didn’t have a single actress host until after the new year, it was really bizarre (they did have two whole women host in that stretch but one was a pop star and the other was one of those famous-for-fame people), and it seems they’re starting off similarly this year too.
Dave Chappelle
most obvious choice is Hacks star & SNL Legacy Hannah Einbinder!
I don’t know about hosting, but after the hype for the biopic I would love to see Weird Al at least get a musical guest spot.
I actually love all of these suggestions! No further comment.
Can’t seem to think outside of superhero/sci-fi but:Timothy Olyphant, Tom Hiddleston, Jameela Jamil, Krysten RitterAdam ScottAndrew Garfield, Allison Brie, Mike Coulter, Katja Herbers … heck, anyone on the cast from Evil: Andrea Martin, Aasif Mandavi, Michael Emerson, Christine Lahti (she might have hosted in the 90’s)Steve Martin & Martin Short are basically a comedy duo now like Abbott & Costello … they should host under the condition that they don’t do any recurring characters from decades past. Or come out in the monologue dressed as Ed Grimley & Georg Festrunk – but refuse to go into character.
what is the deal with this site’s obsession with SNL? i thought with perkins gone we might get a break from endless SNL posts but no dice
You forgot the most obvious choice – CAROL BURNET!! She’s stated publicly for years that she’d love to, but has never been asked. And now there’s a petition going around to get her on. Betty White killed it & so would Carol. This omission by Lorne is practically criminal!
How about Jameela fucking Jamil?!
Weird Al.(Actually Quinta Brunson and Tim Robinson are great choices. But THEN do Weird Al.)
Some interesting choices – I’m a little surprised that they didn’t snatch up Kathryn Hahn last season. I AM encouraged by their choice of Brendan Gleeson – it must be exciting for the writers to deal with someone who isn’t The Interchangeable Actor Of The Moment. And it was always great when they regularly brought in the likes of John Goodman and John Lithgow (who haven’t hosted in YEARS), and I think Gleeson falls into that category. (And where’s Walken?)
Matt Berry definitely needs to host. Just make him permanent host for the season to save SNL! A perfect sketch for him would be to recreate Master Thespian and bring back Jon Lovitz in a cameo..A Clem Fandango sketch could be awesome as well. Halloween time would have been perfect for WWDITS type sketches..Berry would be a perfect host to recreate alot of old school sketches from SNL’s heyday. He is a natural resource that needs to be enjoyed before the eventual fame curse strikes him..