Reese Witherspoon And More Are Set To Host Saturday Night Live

Season 40 has been one for the ages for Saturday Night Live. Not only did it earn the mostly hilarious retrospective SNL 40, but this season has seen some of the biggest stars of the big and small screen stop by for hosting duties, such as Dwayne Johnson, Chris Pratt and J.K. Simmons. To be expected, the show is closing the season out with three major stars, including Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Louis C.K, and each will be teamed up with mega-popular musical guests.

Witherspoon will take over hosting duties on May 9 as part of the promotional campaign for her new comedy Hot Pursuit, co-starring Sophia Vergara. This will be her second time front-and-center on SNL, as she also hosted a 2001 episode around the time Legally Blonde hit theaters. The musical guest for this episode will be Florence + the Machine, who will be making their third SNL appearance to promote their upcoming album How Big How Blue How Beautiful, which comes out on June 2.

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A week earlier, on May 2, Scarlett Johansson will be taking over the host spot to promote a little movie you may or may not have heard of called Avengers: Age of Ultron. (One has to wonder if there will be anyone not in theaters watching it when Saturday Night Live is airing that weekend.) This will be Scar-Jo’s fourth time hosting, with previous gigs in 2006, 2007 and 2010. Joining her as musical guest will be Wiz Khalifa in his first appearance on SNL, and he’ll presumably be performing his hit song “See You Again,” which appears in Furious 7.

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Rounding the season out is stand-up comic superstar Louis C.K., who will take over the May 16 season finale, which will hit right at the tail end of Louie’s Season 5. Not only has C.K. hosted the show twice before in 2012 and 2014, but he received Emmy nominations for both of those appearances. And he’ll also presumably be promoting his latest special Louis C.K. Live at the Comedy Store, which will premiere on FX on May 28, and is currently available for purchase on his website. The musical guest that night will be the headline-making Rhianna, who has a new single out called “Bitch Better Have My Money,” as well as a leading role in DreamWorks Animation’s recent hit Home.

Which of these Saturday Night Live episodes are you looking forward to the most?

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.