Saturday Night Live has featured a lot of impressions over the years. Very rarely does SNL get impersonated. However, it just happened, and it’s not what I expected. Just as I thought Elmo imitating Lorne Michaels was good, his Weekend Update bit with Cookie Monster might just take the cake.

While SNL has been on a brief break on the 2026 TV schedule, fans are still getting hit with content. Some of the cast met up with the Sesame Street gang, and it might just be my favorite crossover ever, as a few of the characters have been doing their own version of SNL to celebrate their friends. This includes Elmo and Cookie Monster’s take on Weekend Update. Or, should I say, Colin Toast and Michael Chelmo? And they definitely give Colin Jost and Michael Che a run for their money:

First off, I didn’t think I could love Elmo and Cookie Monster more than I already did, but they definitely made it possible. Secondly, I’m obsessed with their version of Weekend Update, and I love that Kenan Thompson and other SNL cast members played along. It might be hard to match Jost and Che, but Elmo and Cookie Monster have definitely done them proud. Che even commented on the post, saying that he “finally made it.”

The Muppets actually have a long history with Saturday Night Live. The long-running variety sketch series has featured Kermit, Big Bird, Fozzie, Gonzo, Animal, Count von Count, Bert & Ernie, Abby Cadabby, and yes, Elmo and Cookie Monster. I love the fact that even though SNL can certainly be NSFW, Sesame Street still has a place at Studio 8H, and it’s clear that SNL has a place on Sesame Street.

It’s not always kid-friendly when it comes to Sesame Street and SNL, though. Back in 2015, Taraji P. Henson hosted, and one of the sketches included an adult version of Sesame Street. Henson reprised her Empire role of Cookie Lyon, who ends up getting into a cookie disagreement with none other than Cookie Monster. Considering Cookie is known for causing conflict and stirring up trouble on Empire, her causing mischief on Sesame Street was fitting. Luckily, by the end of the segment, everyone was singing the Sesame Street theme song and getting along.

If a Sesame Street-esque Saturday Night Live is not enough to fill the SNL void, fans won’t have to wait too much longer. The series is officially back on Halloween night with Obsession breakout star Inde Navarrette hosting the latest episode of Season 52. Gracie Abrams will take the stage as musical guest for the second time.

Considering SNL’s previous Halloween sketches, there should be some fun ones planned for Saturday, and you can watch them at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC or with a Peacock subscription. In the meantime, I'll be thinking about Elmo and Cookie Monster coming for Jost and Che's day jobs.

When Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl, I know I was shocked to hear her embrace a cheeky and NSFW sense of humor in the song “Wood” that was akin to something Sabrina Carpenter would write. Now, the track about Travis Kelce’s manhood has shocked me again, because I never expected Colin Jost to have to try and explain why it is considered “innuendo-laden” to Michael Che. However, the Weekend Update anchors did just that, and it was as funny as it sounds.

This all happened while the comedians were trying to answer the $4,000 question on an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that aired on the 2026 TV schedule. They were specifically asked what the shortest song on The Life of a Showgirl was, and the hint stated that it was “ironically” “innuendo-laden.” The answer, which should be obvious to Swifties, is “Wood.” However, Jost and Che had to deliberate a bit about it, and of course, it was hilarious. Here’s how that back-and-forth went:

• Colin Jost: Well, let’s go through the length of each track. ‘Cruel Summer’ is 3:23, ‘Karma’ is 4:24, ‘Anti-Hero,’ of course.
• Michael Che: Innuendo?
• Colin Jost: So there’s one that’s why I was originally thinking that, which is A.
• Michael Che: ‘Wood’?
• Colin Jost: I don’t want to explain to you why.
• Michael Che: Oh!

While Jost didn’t want to elaborate on the lyrics of “Wood,” he did reference Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship and noted that the subject matter of the track is Kelce’s size. So, that’s where the irony comes in, as the comedian explained:

As he said that, Che responded with another “Oh!” of realization. He quickly told his co-anchor to lock it in and ended his comment with:

Che was clearly proud of his pun, as you can see below, and he looked to the audience for a laugh. I mean, how could you not crack up? The dad joke was sitting right there, and he delivered it masterfully.

Now, if you watch the episode with a Hulu subscription, you can see that this deliberation paid off, and they got the question right. Ultimately, they went out on the $500,000 question, and they walked away with $250,000.

Overall, this whole situation was just another example of how funny “Wood” is and how hilarious it is to watch people try to talk about it. I also found it amusing because “Wood” is actually the only track from The Life of a Showgirl among the comedians’ options for this question. Their other choices, “Cruel Summer,” “Karma,” and “Anti-Hero,” came from Lover and Midnights, respectively.

Even after explaining all that, I’m still in shock that I’ve now seen Che and Jost discussing the cheeky song that is “Wood.” I really never expected it to happen. But man, am I happy it did, and that they locked in the correct answer so they could earn more money and not go out on a question that had to do with a song about Travis Kelce’s…you know.

Saturday Night Live has been on the air for over 50 years, with Season 52 currently airing as part of the 2026 TV Schedule. The variety show has become a pseudo-college experience for its comedic cast, helping to launch the careers of decades of iconic comedians like John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey and, more recently, Kate McKinnon. As with most college experiences, leaving can be hard, and that’s true for most cast members of SNL, especially Amy Poehler.

Unlike college, though, there’s no set time on how long a comedian can stay on SNL. Some stars get fired for various reasons; others choose to leave because they’re ready to work on bigger projects, and some choose to stay as long as they can, like Kenan Thompson, who is currently the longest-running cast member in the history of the show. For Poehler, the choice to leave SNL was a touch more personal and definitely more bittersweet. In a recent sit-down with WSJ Magazine, Poehler opened up about how she knew the time was right to leave amid Season 34, saying:

Poehler appeared in a few episodes at the start of the 34th Season, anchoring Weekend Update with Seth Meyers and occasionally playing Hilary Clinton opposite Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin. She was absent from the Halloween show in 2008 because she had just given birth to her son, which Meyers announced to viewers as he anchored Update by himself. The Parks and Rec star returned for a string of December shows before announcing her departure from the show and the WU desk.

Saturday Night Live isn’t a show one stays away from if they loved their time there, though, and Poehler has been back several times despite becoming a bigger household name thanks to her Parks and Recreation role and, now, her popular podcast, Good Hang. While the comedian is very much still missed on the show, the notion of her being able to step away from it on her own terms to raise her kid is comforting.

And, though Poehler hasn’t been a full-time cast member in over two decades, her influence can still be felt on the show both on the Update desk and in the show’s regular sketches. The Baby Mama star also still finds ways to chop it up with both past and present stars on the long-running sketch comedy series. Most recently, she welcomed current SNL star Marcello Hernández on her podcast.

While there’s no word on whether Poehler will make an appearance or serve as a host for an upcoming SNL episode, it’s possible, especially considering her new show, Dig, is set to premiere on Peacock on November 23rd. So hosting the previously mentioned show would be a great way to promote it and soak in the vibes of her former workplace nearly two decades after her departure.

For now, fans can revisit Amy Poehler’s iconic Saturday Night Live tenure by streaming episodes with an active Peacock subscription.

It’s been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and, if that’s true, a lot of people seem to love Lorne Michaels. Over the years, the famed Saturday Night Live creator has been impersonated more than a few times, especially by those who know him personally. For instance, singer Ariana Grande even does a spot-on impression of Michaels. I’d say that now the singer has a little bit of competition in that regard, because Sesame Street’s Elmo also does a Michaels impression. And believe me when I say, it’s perfect.

Several SNL cast members – Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla and Kenan Thompson – recently teamed up with Sesame Street for a fun video. The clip shows the sketch comedy actors chopping it up with the likes of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby in what’s essentially a parody of the NBC show’s creative process. As a whole, it’s really well done, but it’s the moment that Elmo dons a suit and mimics Michaels during a discussion that really takes the cake. The video is on X and can be viewed below:

For years, I’ve found Elmo to be a funny character, and the furry, little monster has been part of some funny moments (like that viral beef with Rocco). Never in my wildest dreams, though, did I ever expect to hear the diminutive muppet do an impression of SNL’s creator. With that said, I absolutely love it and can’t stop watching the video clip. Also, current Elmo puppeteer Ryan Dillon deserves credit for his stellar voicework. It shouldn’t be understated just how much skill it takes to voice a character doing an impression of someone else.

I’m not the only person who’s taken by this impression of the occasionally sassy Lorne Michaels. A number of fans commented under the video, while others shared their responses by resharing a separate post with the impression on X:

• Elmo’s Lorne impression was really good! - @AFlockOf_Segels
• That Lorne impression has no right being so good. - @djghostmare
• Elmo doing an impression of Lorne Michaels is actually killing me so bad bc why is it good? - @wallowsgarden
• It’s all over. Lorne can never recover from this. NBC is finalizing negotiations with Tina Fey. - @redactedhills
• This is insane. I love it, get Elmo on hosting duty. - @John_Mike_
• Elmo I think is the most important and funniest person we have. - @vettealattee

The Michaels of it aside, the video is funny for a number of reasons, from the muppets’ misunderstanding of the term “sketches” to the reference to Elmo’s aforementioned beef with Rocco. Seeing Cookie Monster channel Chris Farley’s Matt Foley is also excellent, and I never would’ve expected Oscar the Grouch to get his own Debbie Downer moment. And how can I not mention Elmo channeling fan-favorite SNL character Domingo?

It’s never a bad moment whenever Elmo goes viral for one reason or another. Back in 2025, the beloved character went viral after admitting on social media that he was grouchy due to a lackluster naptime. This past summer, I was also enthused when the character sent his well wishes to both teams in the NBA Finals – the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. At this point, even when Elmo is hacked, it can still be turned into a truly wholesome moment.

To put it mildly, Elmo is a muppet of many talents (and Ryan Dillon is very skilled as well). What I need now, of course, is an SNL sketch in which Elmo does his impression in Lorne Michaels’ presence. I can even begin to imagine what kind of dry-witted response the TV exec would have. For now, though, know that Sesame Street airs on Netflix and PBS Kids stations, while new episodes of Saturday Night Live air at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC amid the 2026 TV schedule.

Saturday Night Live UK has been earning quite a bit of buzz amid the 2026 TV schedule, and that’s arguably in large part due to the show not pulling punches. That’s proven to be true regarding a wide range of topics and was notably the case last week when it borrowed James Austin Johnson’s President Trump for a sketch. The British Royal Family has also been lampooned and joked about on the sketch series and, during this latest episode, it delivered brutal barbs regarding accusations swirling around Meghan Markle’s father.

This past week, it was reported that Thomas Markle was under investigation for alleged child pornography possession. Those alleged items were reportedly found by Thomas Markle Jr. at his father’s home in Cebu, Philippines. Since then, Meghan released a statement in which she expressed her distress over the news. The topic was broached during Weekend Update (as shared to X), with co-hosts Paddy Young and Ania Magliano both making jokes about it. Young was the first to share remarks, as he said:

Young wasn’t done making remarks either. He then followed up his initial jab with a comment more specifically pointed at Markle Sr.:

Magliano rounded out the topic by shifting the focus back to the Duchess of Sussex specifically. In doing so, the comedian also took a shot at the Royal Family as a whole:

That comment from Magliano was seemingly a reference to the legal issues that have befallen the former Prince Andrew in recent years. A longtime friend of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew was accused of sex-trafficking in 2014 and settled a lawsuit pertaining to the case in 2022. Andrew would later be arrested in early 2026 after the release of the Epstein Files due to suspicion of misconduct in public office before being released under investigation.

SNL UK has made fun of the Royal Family on multiple occasions just in the past month or so. Early in September, the show spoofed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s return to the UK with a sketch that chided them for apparently spending all of their Netflix money. And just a week later, the show revived Jack Shep’s Princess Diana impression to roast King Charles. So, needless to say, the sketch comedy series doesn’t seem to have any issue coming for the family.

What’s been particularly interesting to see during SNL UK’s second series is how the show has managed to connect with international audiences. Some may argue that the show isn’t all that American-feeling, but the series has seemingly drawn positive responses from fans in the States as evidenced by social media. And, of course, given the North American population’s knowledge of the Royal Family, it tracks that such content would draw attention to those here in the U.S.

As for the royals’ take on the latest jokes made at their expense on Saturday Night Live UK, that’s unclear. What I can’t help but wonder now, however, is how the show might continue to chide the family when it returns from hiatus in 2027. In the meantime, though, fans check out the American iteration of SNL, which returns for a Halloween episode on NBC on October 31. Inde Navarrette will be hosting alongside music guest Gracie Abrams.

When it comes to Saturday Night Live, one of the sad inevitabilities of the show is that cast members eventually leave or are fired. The latter happened on a significant scale in 2025, as Heidi Gardner was let go alongside other cast members like Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim. Over the years, series alums have shared varied thoughts on being cut from the series. Such a dismissal can be painful for some, but at least one SNL veteran found that it ultimately brought upon a sense of relief.

Chloe Troast was fired from SNL in 2024 after having appeared as a cast member during the show’s 49th season. Since then, the comedic actress has continued to navigate Hollywood, though she still has vivid thoughts on having been shown the door by NBC’s iconic sketch comedy series. On the But Also Podcast, Troast recently discussed a myriad of topics, including Saturday Night Live. She mentioned having had a fun experience on the show but, apparently, one thing vastly “changed” the way she viewed the vibe at Studio 8H:

Personally, I had no idea about the “hold” that series EP Lorne Michaels and co. can put on a star between deciding whether or not to pick them up for another season. I can understand how that would be nerve-wracking in some sense. When Troast initially spoke out about her termination in 2024, she made jokes but also got real about the specific experience of being let go from SNL. While speaking on the podcast (which is on YouTube), Troast opened up about the sense of peace she felt after learning her professional fate:

It’s interesting to hear the various takes on what it’s like to be fired from the show. Last year, Devon Walker discussed his exit and opined that he was ultimately ready to leave as well. Meanwhile, Michael Longfellow’s firing was a bit awkward for him due to the public nature of the news. Chloe Troast alluded to that level of public knowledge during her own interview, though she also made note of the support she received after her time on the show came to an end:

SNL stars do indeed seem supportive whenever someone leaves the show intentionally or involuntarily. For instance, it’s hard to forget when Yang paid tribute to Gardner and more after they were let go over a year ago. Losing a job is rarely ever easy, though it’s comforting to hear Chloe Troast talk about getting her peace of mind when leaving the hallowed halls of 30 Rock.

Check out new episodes of Saturday Night Live when they air at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC amid the 2026 TV schedule, and they can be streamed as well with a Peacock subscription.

Michael Che and Colin Jost consistently bring laughs during “Weekend Update,” but sometimes these jokes get a little more mean-spirited than I saw coming, and sometimes Che even ropes Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson into the “fun.” (Though she has her own reservations and rules.) The longest-running of these, aka the popular SNL “Joke Swap,” is basically a time-honored tradition at this point, but the two men have pulled many other pranks on each other, both on-air and in their personal lives. So, how did this prank war get started in the first place?

Well, there is a story behind “the war,” and someone finally asked Che about it. You’d have to go all the way back to Jost's 36th birthday in 2018 to get to the bottom of why Che and Jost are so brutal together. Let’s set the stage. Johansson set up a sweet dinner reservation with her husband. Then, Che sent a clown. Here’s what he said on Boardroom Talks:

Che posted a text Jost had sent him with a balloon creation on his head back in 2018, which is how we know this was Jost's 36th. (And also how we know this story is definitely a true one.)

However, what I hadn’t realized was that this was the moment that really ramped things up and spawned all the moments that came after. This includes Che intimidating Jost into thinking he needed to literally shave his head before stopping the bit. One time he tricked Jost into taking a brutal shot at Scarlett Johansson live on the air. One time outside of the office his birthday shoutout to Jost was straight trolling.

There was one time on SNL he even told the audience to stop laughing on “Weekend Update” but only when Jost was telling a joke. I mean balloon hat aside, some of these pranks are brutal.

Honestly, I know Jost also gets in some digs with Che during “Joke Swap,” but now that I’m really thinking about it, a lot of these pranks that tow the line are really coming from Che and not his “Update” partner. Some of them have clearly even gotten Jost into a little bit of trouble with his famous wife.

They are all very funny, of course, but Jost has admitted he’s at a “structural disadvantage” when it comes to the famous segment (and doubtless the prank war in general) during an episode of New Heights, and really only genuinely worried Che once when he made him take some shots at Kendrick Lamar, whom Che loves. There’s always time though, Colin, there's always time.

With Saturday Night Live still on the 2026 TV schedule, the late night series is on peoples' minds, and stories from the show's past keep surfacing. Though, not all of them are a barrel of laughs. Jon Lovitz has built a career around being blunt, usually to hilarious effect. When it came to his friendship with Chris Farley, that same bluntness came from a much more painful place. The SNL veteran recalled confronting Farley about his drug use, including one particularly harsh warning that is heartbreaking in hindsight.

During an appearance on Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of You podcast, Lovitz opened up about his attempts to help the late comedian, who died in 1997 at just 33. Both men are remembered as SNL cast members who made an enormous impact during relatively short runs, though Lovitz's memories of Farley are especially difficult to hear.

The star remembered what was going on with Farley personally during the period, and spoke about even reaching out to other performers for help. He'd hoped spending time with Farley away from Hollywood might allow for some advice and help to finally get through. He recalled:

It's hard to hear that story knowing what ultimately happened. Chris Farley became one of the show's most beloved performers, creating unforgettable SNL characters such as Matt Foley, the motivational speaker who lived in a van down by the river. He later teamed up with David Spade for Tommy Boy and Black Sheep on the big screen, with the former delivering some of the funniest scenes and most quotable lines of his movie career.

Behind the scenes, though, Lovitz was increasingly worried about his friend's substance use. The Rat Race actor recalled renting a beach house with their manager, Marc Gurvitz, where he repeatedly tried confronting Farley. He continued:

That is an incredibly harsh thing to say to someone you love. Lovitz knew it, too, but he was terrified of losing his friend. What struck me most was how Farley apparently turned even these conversations into comedy. Lovitz continued:

It's a heartbreaking exchange, especially because Lovitz remembered laughing while knowing how serious the situation had become. Farley died Dec. 18, 1997. Medical examiners determined that an accidental overdose of cocaine and morphine caused his death, with heart disease contributing.

Lovitz was hardly alone in struggling with Farley's death. Fellow SNL alum Adam Sandler has said it remains difficult to perform his musical tribute to Farley, even after singing it countless times over the years. The Wedding Singer standout concluded:

Nearly three decades later, that frustration still comes through. So does the love. Lovitz is one of several former castmates who have kept sharing memories of Farley, including Chris Rock, who has said he's reminded of his late friend whenever he watches Adam Sandler perform.

Lovitz saw the danger his friend was in and tried to reach out. Hearing him revisit those conversations now, it's hard to miss how badly he wishes the story had ended differently.

Tim Robinson didn’t spend a ton of time in front of the camera at SNL. Most of his tenure at 30 Rock was spent as a writer, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t contribute a few bits of on-screen genius when he was called upon. In fact, arguably his best work on the show is trending more than a decade later, and as a Robinson fan, I’m so happy to see it.

During Season 38, Robinson appeared in a sketch about the creation of NBC’s beloved basketball theme song “Roundball Rock.” NBA fans know the song as perhaps the most iconic sports instrumental theme in history, but the sketch imagines a world in which songwriter John Tesh brought in his brother Dave Tesh to sing vocals. SNL favorite Jason Sudeikis plays John and Robinson plays Dave, who belts out his lyrics with vigor and pride.

Today is the start of the NBA Season, and there’s an entire slate of basketball games on NBC and Peacock that will, of course, feature a soundtrack headlined by “Roundback Rock.” As such, a couple users on social media decided to dig up Robinson and Sudeikis’ SNL version of “Roundball Rock” and post it. Not surprisingly, the videos have been widely liked and shared, both by those familiar with the sketch and those discovering its greatness for the first time. You can watch the sketch in its entirety below…

Fans love to talk about the SNL cast members who crushed their time on the show and immediately springboarded into super successful movie careers. People like Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Adam Sandler were beloved during their tenures and achieved everything fans hoped for and more.

Quietly, however, there’s an extremely impressive alternate list of performers who weren’t able to show everything they could do at Studio 8H. They had some flashes of brilliance, but they needed a change of scenery to fully show their talent. I’m thinking of people like Jenny Slate, Larry David, Ben Stiller, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Robert Downey Jr. Robinson is most definitely a proud member of that club.

Robinson’s HBO comedy series The Chair Company premiered last year to rave reviews and led to probably the weirdest headline we've ever written at CinemaBlend. The project allows him to get as weird and uncomfortable as he wants, which obviously wasn’t something SNL always tolerated. Still, given how popular he’s gotten and the rare bits of gold he did create at SNL, it would be a joy to see him guest host the show at some point in the future. Fingers crossed.

Saturday Night Live has been airing new episodes for a few weeks now, and Season 52 has already delivered A-list hosts and major musical guests. The season started off with a bang, as New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson hosted the premiere. Brunson’s episode seemed to go off without a hitch, and he’s now shedding some light on what his week was like leading up to the taping. While I’ve always heard about the sketch series’ tight schedule, it’s overwhelming to hear Brunson’s description of his experience.

Usually, it takes quite a bit of work to pull off an episode of the Lorne Michaels-created comedy series, so a lot happens the week before an episode airs live. Sketches are written, re-written and then rehearsed, while costume fittings and set construction also occurs. As intense as that’s always sounded to me, the notion of that being the reality really hit home once I heard Brunson’s account. The NBA champion spoke about this on The Roommates Show (which is on YouTube), and it’s a lot:

Is anyone else wondering when Brunson actually got a chance to sleep, because I’m not sure how he was able to squeeze that in. The mere notion of having to put in some much work at 30 Rock just sounds straight-up exhausting. And just imagine how much more work it’d be if he were a regular cast member. Brunson went on to explain how he capped off his time with the show on that Friday and then shooting the episode (which is streamable with a Peacock subscription):

All of that and training camp? Jalen Brunson is a real trooper, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Despite some trolling from teammate and friend Josh Hart, Brunson delivered solid performances during his hosting stint. Among the highlights were that High School Musical-inspired sketch, an office-set segment that saw Brunson sink a long shot and the cameos from fellow Knicks players during the monologue.

Despite the amount of work that went into making the episode happen, Brunson seems to have enjoyed himself:

Honestly, I don’t think I’m built for the machine that is SNL, as even series alum Cecily Strong says a side-effect of being on the show for so long is needing to learn how to sleep again. So I applaud anyone who works on the show on a daily basis or decides to give up a week of their lives host like Brunson did.

Check out Saturday Night Live when it returns on October 31 amid the 2026 TV schedule. Hosting the Halloween episode will be Inde Navarrette, and Gracie Abrams will serve as musical guests.

Michael Che’s Netflix special, Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota, debuted on the Top 10 list this weekend. The comedian’s pretty proud of the fact, though he feels like he may have set himself up for some uncomfortable moments by taking press in the days leading up to its release. In fact, in a new post, he said he believes the grassroots initiative was the thing that brought eyeballs to his new special… and not the brouhaha surrounding what happened with a recent SNL guest host on the air.

How Che Got Embroiled In Shane Gillis Monologue Drama

To be clear, Michael Che has told some hairy jokes on SNL before, particularly whilst doing joke swap with Colin Jost. Regardless, he was not the subject of attention during the NBC sketch comedy series’ October 10th episode. Instead, it was host Shane Gillis who shocked audiences, the Internet and even some people previously involved in the show with commentary about women’s gym clothing during his monologue. His use of the word “whores” to describe women getting their workout on garnered more headlines than his f-bomb.

Che was seemingly a little mad this whole thing went down because it happened right before his SNL special dropped. He’d (likely) already committed to press for the special, and knew deep down that people would want to talk about Shane Gillis. Indeed, there was a very uncomfortable exchange when he appeared on NBC’s Today.

Now, in a new post on his Instagram, he seems to be implying he should have skipped the press and let word of mouth do its thing.

Now, by the time of this writing Monday morning, Che’s special had fallen out of the Top 10. Intriguingly, other special Mojo Brookzz I Know You Lying has been going strong in the Top 10 since it landed on the Netflix release schedule on October 6th. Netflix has a tendency to do really with comedy specials and has developed a loyal fanbase when it comes to that type of content on the streamer, so I would have liked to have seen Che’s special stick it out on the list a little longer, and maybe it could have used a bit more word of mouth.

I’ll also just mention, I only heard about his special because Che started commenting on how Gillis’ joke would impact his press for Shot in Minnesota. It hit the 2026 TV schedule on October 13th -- three days after Gillis' SNL episodes, and Netflix started recommending the special to me over the weekend after I started researching the topic. So, there’s certainly different ways to get the word out there.

To the delight of hardcore SNL fans and comedy nerds everywhere, we got an SNL and SNL UK crossover last night. During the cold opener, James Austin Johnson was brought on to do his fantastic impression of President Donald Trump, and not surprisingly, he crushed on the other side of the pond too. Johnson peppered his trademark rambling with plenty of UK references and had the cast members sharing the scenes with him trying to fight off laughter as he ripped on them for not having anyone in the cast that could play the President.

The video of Austin’s appearance has already been watched more than a million times on YouTube, which is a huge number for the first day of an SNL UK clip. The dozens of comments I looked through were all extremely positive too and about equally split between fans praising the comedian’s impression and fans hyping up the fact that we finally got a collaboration. I wholeheartedly agree with both takes and now my brain is going a mile a minute thinking of all the collaborations I want to see. Specifically, it’s thinking of one collaboration I want to see.

Before I get into where I hope this heads, you can check out the full video of Johnson’s impression below…

There’s obviously a whole host of beloved SNL characters I’d love to see on the UK version, as well as some outrageous British weirdness that I’d love to see on the flagship version, but to me, there’s a pretty clear collaboration that we need and that would make a ton of sense. We desperately need a Weekend Update swap.

Some random SNL UK sketches have gone viral and there’s been a lot of positivity around the cast, but I think the most consistently buzzy thing about SNL UK, at least from our perspective in the United States, has been the spinoff’s take on Weekend Update. Co-anchors Paddy Young and Ania Magliano have developed a really nice chemistry and read the fake news without pulling a single punch. At least a joke or two of theirs gets shared widely on social media after every episode.

It would be fun to expose Young and Magliano to a wider audience in the United States, and it would be fun to bring Michael Che and Colin Jost over to SNL UK as a delightful surprise for fans. They’ve, of course, been hosting the US version for over a decade now and are widely considered to be among the best to ever do it. Just as the live audience lost their minds when they saw James Austin Johnson’s Trump, I’d have to imagine they would be so fired up to see Jost and Che.

Beyond just the novelty, however, it would be nice to see both duos get out of their comfort zone and work on jokes for a new audience. I’m sure Che and Jost would have a field day coming up with some wild UK-based segments and topics of conversation, and it would be fun for everyone to see Young and Magliano go for the throat with some jokes that would likely feel edgier and more aggressive than what the US audience normally gets to see.

I have no idea if James Austin Johnson’s guest appearance is a sign that we’re about to get a lot more crossovers or if it’ll go down as a one-off bit of fun. We've gotten SNL stars as hosts before, but this felt like a more direct shared universe situation. Personally, I’d like to see this sorta thing happen a lot more often, and if we’re going to go there, I really need to see this Weekend Update swap.

It’s been hard to exist as a person on the Internet this week and not feel bombarded by hot takes on Shane Gillis. The popular stand-up’s monologue on SNL, in which he claimed women dress “like whores” when they go to the gym, has become a lightning rod cultural issue that’s been hard to escape. I’ve felt that as just a random person existing in the world. I can’t imagine how it has felt for Gillis himself or those who actually work at SNL. If we can take anything from this Michael Che interview, however, it’s obviously been a week.

The Weekend Update co-host has been making the rounds this week to promote his new comedy special Shot In Minnesota which hit Netflix this week. Not surprisingly, many of the questions have not been about that special but instead about the Shane Gillis situation. Che hilariously addressed his frustration over the questions by dropping an Instagram post thanking Gillis for putting him in the position.

Unfortunately for Che, that just led to another round of questions, specifically on Today, where he was repeatedly asked whether he thought the monologue was funny. The video is going viral for obvious reasons, as it’s extremely clear Che would rather be anywhere else in the world than in that interview answering that question. Watch the clip below…

Whatever Che thought of Gillis’ monologue, it’s very clear he doesn’t feel like he’s the right person to weigh in on whether other comedians have gone too far. His foul-mouthed and extremely mean-spirited joke swaps with his co-anchor Colin Jost have never pulled a punch, and some of his stand-up material is edgy and intentionally pushes boundaries. He told the interviewer that, and after this clip from Today started flying around the Internet, he doubled down in a follow-up post on Instagram. Here’s a portion of his comment…

Some comedians have come out and very directly slammed Gillis’ monologue, but many clearly feel like it’s not in stand-up comedy’s best interest to make broad claims like you shouldn’t use certain words or joke about certain subject matter. Comedy has always been about pushing boundaries and commenting on taboo topics. So, it’s simpler for people to say they didn’t think a joke was funny than to say he shouldn’t have joked about something specific.

Fortunately for Che and everyone else involved, SNL will no doubt make new and louder headlines in the near future. Obsession star Inde Navarrette is hosting on Halloween and Druski is hosting the next week. I’m not sure how hard Navarrette’s episode will go, but Druski has certainly never met a controversy he didn’t run headfirst into. I’m not sure anything he does will produce the same level of intensity as we got from Gillis, but it should produce enough to help SNL move on from the conversation.

The iconic Saturday Night Live rolls on and on and on. It's now in the midst of Season 52 on the 2026 TV schedule. It's an incredible feat, and as always, it continues to draw in fans, old and new alike. One reason it's been able to stay so relevant over the past half-century has been its ability to tap into pop culture with its choice of hosts and musical guests.

Season 52, which you can catch up on with a Peacock subscription, is no different. We've already seen a big sports star, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Hollywood royalty with Dakota Johnson, and a controversial comedian, Shane Gillis. Gillis has drawn fire for his monologue, which, of course, is right on par with much of SNL's history, where controversy is as part of its legacy as anything else.

The show returns on Halloween with a fitting host, Inde Navarrette, star of the massively popular horror movie from earlier on the 2026 movie schedule, Obsession. Then another first-time host, Druski, will take the stage on November 7th, before former SNL writer John Mulaney will host for his seventh time on the 14th.

Keep an eye on this space for all the hosts for Saturday Night Live Season 52. We'll keep adding them as they are announced, along with the musical guest who will be joining them.

Saturday Night Live Season 52 Hosts and Musical Guests

October 31, 2026 - Inde Navarrette

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 0

Musical Guest: Gracie Abrams

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 1

There's no better guest for Halloween 2026 than breakout star Inde Navarrette. Navarrette's horror flick Obsession got its wish at the box office and raked in ticket sales. The Superman & Lois actor is soooo creepy in Obsession (in the best way), and I think she'll be a fantastic host. No doubt there will be a great Obsession parody, but I'm really excited to see more of Navarrette's range as she prepares to join the MCU as Rogue in 2028's X-Men movie. Up next on the big screen for Navarrette is the upcoming action movie Trap House, coming to theaters on November 14th.

Navarrette will be joined by Gracie Abrams, making her second appearance as the musical guest, after first performing on another holiday show, the Christmas show in Season 50.

November 7, 2026 - Druski

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 0

Musical Guest: The Strokes

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 4

Druski is an interesting choice and a great example of how SNL keeps things current. The comedian and social media star has a large and loyal following, including more than 6 million followers on YouTube and even more across other platforms. He should be a great host, as he's steeped in experience with sketch comedy, something he does all the time in his clips.

The musical guest for the show will be The Strokes, marking the fifth time the New York City band will play the quintessential New York City show. Their last appearance was on Halloween in 2020.

November 14, 2026 - John Mulaney

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 6

Musical Guest: Phoebe Bridgers

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 2

Mark your calendars for November 14th! John Mulaney, former SNL writer and frequent host, will be starring on the show once again. Mulaney was on the writing staff for five seasons before leaving in 2013. In the years since, he has hosted six times, joining the Five-Timers Club in 2022. So, this will be his seventh time on hosting duties, and it's always a delight when he returns to Studio 8H.

Mulaney will be joined this time by musical guest Phoebe Bridgers. This will be Bridgers' third appearance on the show, having performed solo in 2021 and as part of the supergroup Boygenius in 2023.

Hosts And Musical Guests Who Already Had Their Turn This Season

October 10, 2026 - Shane Gillis

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 2

Musical Guest: Rosalía

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 1

Shane Gillis never shies away from a little controversy, and in his 3rd stint as host of SNL, the stand-up comedian certainly caused a stir with one of his jokes during his monologue. Gillis joined a long list of hosts making controversial jokes when his bit about women dressing like "whores" caused a backlash from around Hollywood. Gillis later dropped an "f-bomb" during the live show, kicking up more controversy. But let's be honest, it's late on a Saturday night, should anyone really be upset about that? I'm certainly not.

October 3, 2026 - Dakota Johnson

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 2

Musical Guest: Turnstile

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 1

Dakota Johnson took over Saturday Night Live hosting duties for the second episode of Season 52 on the heels of Verity's release. The appearance made headlines for a couple of reasons. First, Johnson's buddy, an up-and-coming pop singer named...checks notes...Taylor Swift, made a cameo during Johnson's monologue. Keep an eye on her, America.

The second headline came as Johnson celebrated her 37th birthday when the clock struck midnight during the show. Swift returned with a cake for Johnson during the show's goodbyes.

She was joined by Turnstile, which feels like exactly the kind of band SNL would have regularly booked in the early days, and they killed it.

September 26, 2026 - Jalen Brunson

# Of Previous Hosting Appearances: 0

Musical Guest: Katseye

# Of Previous Musical Appearances: 0

Saturday Night Live Season 52 kicked off live from New York with a very New York City vibe. Jalen Brunson, who led the NY Knicks to an NBA championship over the summer and took the city by storm, made his first appearance as host. Sports stars on SNL are usually a mixed bag, which made the choice of an athlete as the opening night host a bold one. Brunson, ever the team player, brought along a few of his fellow champs as you'd expect.

If you’ve been on the Internet at all this week, you’ve probably heard about two things in pop culture. 1. Kelly Clarkson got into an incident over a bird named Molly and 2. Shane Gillis had people upset not about his live f-bomb, but because he referred to female gymgoers in neon shorts as “whores” during his viral and controversial SNL monologue. These are the things taking over the national discourse, much to “Weekend Update” host Michael Che’s chagrin.

He’s got his own selfish reasons for calling out Shane Gillis. Unlike Ego Nwodim’s snarky gym fit post or Dan Levy getting really fervent with his monologue feelings, Michael Che’s interest in Gillis’ commentary is purely one of self-interest. The man has a Netflix special out now, and he was set to embark on a press tour for it. Now, he knows all people are gonna care about are his thoughts on Shane’s thoughts.

In a three-post thread to his Instagram, Che got candid about doing press for Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota, which literally hit the 2026 TV schedule just days after Shane Gillis’ viral comments on October 13th. He joked he knows EXACTLY what types of questions he will be getting in the coming days, ending his post with an insincere, “Thanks a lot, Shane.”

He’s definitely got a funny perspective about the whole thing, but I bet this happens to celebrities all the time. They’re minding their own business, getting ready to promote a project they are (hopefully) genuinely excited about, and then, boom, something happens outside their control. That becomes the narrative people want to talk about instead of the actual project. Brutal.

I feel like we saw this recently in a very different context when poor George and Amal Clooney were out doing press and then just got asked about Presley Gerber's death over and over again. The couple are pals with Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber, and when news broke they’d been supportive, that’s all people wanted to talk to them about. I don’t think that’s a type of personal torture we could probably really understand unless we’d been there, even though I feel like I kind of get it.

Che himself is known for very edgy jokes on “Weekend Update,” most specifically when he and his SNL desk partner do their famous “Joke Swap” segment. I’ve heard Che say some outlandish things, but in his case, the jokes usually land a little better, or at least a little more quietly, than this past weekend’s recent SNL host.

If you are interested in where Shane Gillis was trying to go with his controversial SNL monologue moment, I suggest you watch Tires Season 3, which does basically the same bit, but better. Those episodes are also, like Che’s special, available with a Netflix subscription.

You would think SNL monologues would be the simplest for stand-up comedians. They spend their working lives on stage talking to audiences. How hard could doing five to ten minutes on live television be? Well, the fifty plus year history of Saturday Night Live has shown over and over again that stand-up comedians are the exact group of people who seem to generate the most controversy and actual consequences from their monologues. They’re also the group most often accused of bombing.

Right now, everyone is giving their takes on Shane Gillis and his monologue this past weekend on SNL, which was mostly about him trying to exercise to lose weight. During the extended bit, he said he was shocked that many women now dress like “whores” at the gym but you can’t look or you’ll end up in the background of someone’s TikTok video.

The bit got tepid laughter from the studio audience but immediately generated a lot of frustration on social media from some users who felt it was misogynistic. In the days since, there’s been a lot of talk about his choice of language and conversations about whether he was punching down. There’s also been a lot of accusations that he bombed to the point where that conversation has eclipsed his accidental dropping of an f-bomb in a sketch.

The monologue controversy is the same recurring pattern we’ve seen from Gillis during his other hosting stints. Back when he hosted for the first time in 2024, he was accused of bombing. Then he hosted again in 2025, and he was accused of bombing. Across both appearances, he also got a lot of social media backlash from viewers who weren’t happy that he joked about down syndrome, compared liberals to Star Wars villains and so on.

It’s not just Shane Gillis though. It’s a recurring pattern for a really healthy percentage of stand-up comedians who host the show. Last year, Nikki Glaser got audible gasps from the audience when she talked about her young nephew wanting to shower with her. Before that, Bill Burr launched a thousand think pieces after he said we shouldn’t cancel people who are dead because God already cancelled them.

The list goes on. Dave Chappelle joked about Kanye and anti-semitism, and some people didn't like it. Larry David joked about flirting with women in concentration camps, and some people didn't like it. There is a murderer’s row of stand-up comedians who have taken the stage at Studio 8H and have gotten mild applause at best. There’s also a murderer’s row of stand-up comedians who have been criticized for making jokes that many at home felt weren’t appropriate or touched on themes that they felt weren’t appropriate to joke about.

More often than not, that criticism has just come in the form of angry articles or more recently, social media backlash, but sometimes it’s had real consequences on the show too. There was heavy backlash to the monologues of both Andrew Dice Clay and Martin Lawrence, and neither has ever been asked back to host.

Some of the stand-up problem is related to expectations and some of it is related to the audience. There is an expectation that because stand-up comedians make people laugh for a living that they’re going to crush their monologues. There is an assumption that they’re going to kill when the truth is almost always the opposite. There are some rare exceptions, but in general, the format doesn’t translate nearly as well as you would think. More often than not, stand-ups, even if they don’t generate any controversy, only get mild applause form the audience.

That’s because the average person sitting in the Studio 8H audience and even the average person at home is not the same person who goes to stand-up comedy shows. Certainly, they’re not the same people who would buy a ticket to go see Shane Gillis. So, what he’s joking about and how he’s joking about it are probably not the sort of thing that the average person in the audience at SNL is predisposed to laugh about. It’s just easier for everyone to get on the same page and laugh about Debbie Downer than it is to laugh about Chris Rock’s thoughts on the Boston Marathon bombing. Even Norm Macdonald’s return monologue, which is one of the most lauded openers ever, got a mixed response from the crowd.

Monologues at SNL are hard for everyone. The expectation is very low for most performers, with the exception of stand-up comedians. We all assume they’re going to go out there and crush, but the history of the show says more often than not, it’s the exact opposite.

Sometimes I wake up and think it’s hard to believe that less than 15 years have passed since the era of peak TV when shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and even network TV shows like The Good Wife brought intricate and interesting storylines into homes. If you were to talk to Conan O’Brien, however, the decline of the TV landscape has been ongoing for much longer. Gone are the days of ordering “lobster” and “champagne” while working at NBC, he recently said.

Conan was on TV for decades. He worked on The Simpsons and SNL before joining NBC as a late night host in 1993 taking over Late Night from David Letterman before briefly hosting The Tonight Show. He’d taken over for Jay Leno and was replaced by Jay Leno, ironically, in a now very famous and very publicized story. Afterward, he went to TBS, where he remained until 2021.

During this time, he was at NBC quite a lot (SNL, his own late night shows) and he said at Bloomberg’s Screentime Conference that it was a great place to be a writer when he first started. The Peacock Network was very generous, and the money 30 Rock was bringing in supported young writers handsomely. Like I’m talking “lobster” and “champagne” for lunch handsomely.

He seems pretty happy actually about the writers these days not being given the same opportunities to push boundaries. In fact, he's a little sheepish about what his writers did at the time. He did say there will be “unexpected” consequences, both positive and negative, when it comes to TV changing.

Still, it sounds as if he feels this has been a long time coming, as things were already shifting when subscription cable really became popular and began upending the network system. Now, we’re decades later, and streaming budgets and different ways of watching (aka not in live time) are really changing the ways that TV is making money. It’s more about subscribers than advertisements, though that is changing on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, which are all offering packages with ads at slightly cheaper prices.

Per Conan, the era of lobster and champagne ended long before these trying times. Still, he said at the conference it’s been sad to see late night go from “a giant machine that fires out cash” to a genre facing an uncertain future, though he's not the only one spouting some unsettling things about network TV lately.

Conan O’Brien was a part of the late night landscape until 2021, when TBS ended Conan. We know thanks to reports that were made public around the time The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was axed this past season that revenue for late night is dwindling a bit more each year. Kimmel likened this phenomenon to late night being “poisoned,” but it’s more complicated than that. The money isn’t rolling in, and it’s not just with late night, it’s with every ounce of TV programming being created.

SNL fans are used to Colin Jost being forced to deliver zingers about his wife on Weekend Update. We’ve all seen enough joke swaps to brace for the worst during the recurring segments whenever Scarlett Johansson’s name comes up, but last night, poor Colin ended up eating it again after an exchange with Mr. Wonderful turned into a roast about the monetary dynamic in his relationship.

The bit started as an excuse for James Austin Johnson to do his fantastic impression of Kevin O'Leary/ Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank. In character, he came onto Weekend Update to talk about his plan to build a data center in Utah. When Jost pushed back and said people don’t want to live next to data centers, Mr. Wonderful said it was fine because he himself doesn’t live there. When Jost pushed back again, Mr. Wonderful accused him of being poor, to which Jost replied that he’s not poor because his wife gives him plenty of spending money.

The comment almost seemed to surprise Jost himself and received a huge round of applause from the audience.

I can’t say for sure since there’s no footage from dress rehearsal that’s made its way online, but it almost feels like someone changed the cue card here on Colin Jost. He seemed surprised when he started reading the line and had to fight off laughter as he tried to get through the joke. Then after the applause break, he very clearly said, “That’s not nice.” Maybe he was just playing up the bit for the cameras, or maybe the cue card got changed on him like John Mulaney used to do for the Stefan sketches with Bill Hader back in the day.

Regardless, one of the reasons Jost and his longtime co-anchor Michael Che have had such a great run on Weekend Update is because of their ability to laugh at themselves. Everyone always talks about the Joke Swaps which are obviously the clearest examples of that, but on a week to week basis, they show they’re not above being the targets. Obviously Jost had his moment here and gets it all the time via repeated references to his very famous and very rich significant other, but Che is also willing to play the victim on the regular too. During another bit on last night’s Weekend Update, he used his own picture while talking about Halle Berry needing to find someone to choke.

I have no idea how many more years we’re going to get Che and Jost on Weekend Update. Every summer, there are rumors about the two moving on to other projects, but each time, they wind up coming back, much to the delight of fans. I get it though. They clearly love working together and are having a blast, which is probably why they’re both so willing to take jokes at their own expense.

Whoops. Shane Gillis broke the number one rule at Saturday Night Live last night. The popular stand-up comedian was mid-sketch when he accidentally let out an f-bomb, much to the shock of the audience, his fellow performers and even himself. Of course the accidental flub trended loudly and widely on social media, but I think more people should be talking about the fun little improv response we got from Mikey Day.

The sketch in question was a take on Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham. Day played the main character repeatedly rejecting green eggs and ham, while Andrew Dismukes played a man offering him the delicacy over and over again. At one point, Gillis showed up to tell off the man for not listening to his father’s repeated nos. It was during that rant, that he accidentally dropped the already infamous f-bomb.

At first, Day and Dismukes just kinda went with it and tried to get the sketch back on track, but later, during a speech where Day was criticizing Gillis for having no direction in life and working at Jimmy John’s, he added that among his many faults, he also said a bad word. The crowd clearly loved it, and an amused Gillis just owned up to it and said, “Yes, I did.”

The uncensored f-bomb is everywhere on social media, but the powers that be uploaded the full sketch on YouTube with just the swear in question bleeped out. You can watch the full thing below…

Gillis is definitely not the first person to accidentally swear on Saturday Night Live. Charles Rocket infamous dropped an f-bomb during Weekend Update in the early 1980s, and in the decades since, quite a few cast members and hosts have accidentally joined him. Kristen Stewart, Sam Rockwell, Cheri Oteri, Jenny Slate and more have had an on-air whoopsie, but perhaps my favorite live swear of all-time actually came from the studio audience.

A few years ago during Weekend Update, Ego Nwodim was doing a bit where she played a comedian interacting with the audience. She said these men ain’t what and several members of the audience loudly shouted, “shit!” much to the shock of everyone involved. It was the type of organic bit of craziness you can only get from SNL.

Gillis played it off during the sketch, but he clearly felt bad about what happened. You can hear him say “Sorry about earlier” at the very end of the Green Eggs & Ham sketch as the broadcast is cutting away, and during the closing segment where he said his goodbyes, he repeated that he was sorry about earlier. I’m not sure if the Lorne Michaels and company asked him to formally do the second apology, but the first one was definitely just a nervous, off-the-cuff that was my bad comment.

Some fans are speculating Gillis likely won’t return to Studio 8H after his flub, but I’m not so sure about that. The popular stand-up has a long, strange history with the show. He was originally brought in as a featured player but was let go by the network (not Lorne Michaels) prior to his first episode over some old jokes he made. He then blew up with comedy specials and his own television show Tires and has since come back three times to host. His comedic style is more abrasive than we get from the majority of hosts, but it’s also produced a lot of really funny sketches that we wouldn’t get on episodes with more traditional hosts.

SNL is off for a few weeks but will return on Halloween with host Inde Navarrette. Fingers crossed she can get through the whole thing without swearing.

Saturday Night Live has produced plenty of stars and is continuing to produce stars on the 2026 TV schedule for its 52^nd season. While SNL may be fun, it can actually be pretty anxiety-inducing and stressful job. However, Marcello Hernández has a goofy stunt that he does to make things lighter. Funny enough, it’s actually the same thing that Jimmy Fallon would do once upon a time.

Hernández appeared on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, where they talked about their times on SNL. Like most people, Hernández revealed that he doesn’t always like to work, so enjoying himself can be a goal. He admitted he does things at 30 Rock so it doesn’t feel like work, such as bringing his scooter and riding around the office. There’s also something else he does that is on par with what former cast member Fallon used to also engage in, as Poehler recalled. Personally I love the similarities.

• Marcello Hernández: Sometimes I do seal. Do you know seal? With that long table that we do table read in, I run through that hallway, and then I seal and see if I can get fully across.
• Amy Poehler: Okay, you know who did a version of seal many, many years before you is Jimmy Fallon.
• Marcello Hernández: Of course. That’s my kind of guy.

I love the fact that Fallon and Hernández have both felt the need to slide across the table or the floor, and it makes me wonder just how often each of them did it. I’m sure it helps with the nerves and maybe even writer’s block if you’re trying to come up with a good sketch. This also raises the question of what other goofy stunts SNL cast members do in the office for fun and to stall working.

It’s no secret that Saturday Night Live has done a lot of physical comedy and stunts throughout its over 50-season run. But the fact that some cast members are willing to do goofy stunts when they’re not on the show is pretty amusing. I can only imagine the kind of chaos Fallon and Hernández would have brought to the cast had they been on the show together, because two people doing the seal on a table would have been hilarious.

Meanwhile, Hernández continues to be a favorite on SNL in his fifth season. Season 52 only premiered on September 26, but it’s already been a pretty fun one. Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks kicked off the season, with Dakota Johnson hosting on her birthday last weekend. Taylor Swift made sure to celebrate her bestie with a surprise appearance, and it was possibly the first time Hernández was in the same room as her since he attended the Tayvis MSG wedding over the summer.

I’m excited to hear about what other stunts Hernández and the rest of the cast are doing behind the scenes and if any more are similar to former cast members. This does make me want more sketches involving the cast as themselves around the office, because it sounds like they have fun BTS. I think having a sketch with Hernández doing the seal and messing things up would be pretty hilarious. For now, though, new episodes of Saturday Night Live air, of course, on Saturdays on NBC and the next day with a Peacock subscription.

If you walked into a room and met Colin Jost and Pete Davidson, it would be pretty obvious who the more serious person is, right? The Saturday Night Live vets own a retired Staten Island Ferry boat, the John F. Kennedy, a $280,000 purchase they made together in 2022, along with other investors. Recently, the two hosted a comedy show on the boat and, by all accounts, it was a success. That doesn’t mean boat ownership has been all good for the investors. Davidson, for one, is grateful that Jost is involved. Otherwise, they’d be in trouble.

Both Jost and Davidson bring a very different kind of energy to the partnership, it seems. It’s Jost, naturally, who does all the serious stuff. Jost, a Harvard grad and the head writer on SNL, is certainly the one of the two you’d expect to take on the heavy lifting. Speaking about the event, Davidson praised Jost, telling People:

Jost added that he’s still learning the ins and outs of boat ownership, but it seems like he’s pretty into it.

Most people, when they buy their first boat, buy something smaller. Maybe a water ski boat or a small fishing boat. Not Jost and Davidson. Instead, they went big. Really big. Guys named Musk and Bezos might own big yachts, but even those pale in comparison to a Staten Island ferry, which the duo has nicknamed “The Titanic 2.” That means the hole in the ocean that boat owners throw money into is equally big, and while Jost and Davidson have managed to get the boat seaworthy and up to code, it’s come with struggles, along with some jokes from Jost’s wife, Scarlett Johansson.

Some have even said that the two should just sink the boat and make it an artificial reef. Speaking as a scuba diver myself, I can get behind that idea, but Jost and Davidson have very different plans. They want the boat to be an event space, and now they’re off and running in that aspiration. It’s a goal I can also get behind. I’ve seen a couple of concerts on boats in New York City, and it’s a very cool way to see a show.

That plan is going to cost them a lot of money, and there are sure to be many more jokes on SNL at their expense, but it sounds like Jost has a pretty good grasp of all the work (and cash) that the boat will be, and his partner is confident that Jost is up for the challenge.

OK, if you were on the Internet at all this weekend, you probably heard about Taylor Swift’s surprise appearance during her pal Dakota Johnson’s SNL episode. The news went around, partially because Taylor showing up anywhere will garner headlines, but also because Johnson’s third appearance on the sketch comedy series hit a separate weird milestone: midway through it, she turned 37.

SNL has shouted out cast member birthdays before, but this was a much rarer situation since it literally happened during the episode. As part of the festivities, at the end of the night, Taylor Swift came out and busted out a freaking beautiful birthday cake. I at first thought this might be a Swift birthday original, and while it proved to be store bought, it was absolutely a carefully thought out gesture. Here’s the moment:

Apparently, this was a Taylor Swift gesture, and one the cake baker who made the Tiffany’s box-colored cake had no idea what would happen on Saturday Night Live. One other detail I didn’t know but is pretty cool though? Apparently she was mimicking Swift’s own handwriting when she wrote the birthday message on the cake. Here’s an up-close-and-personal look at the cake.

As part of this, I actually looked through some handwritten lyrics Swift has displayed at the Grammys Museum as well as some of the sourdough and baking labels she’s put together for friends like Selena Gomez. It does seem as if the cake maker may have been in the know about this being a cake from Swift and tried to emulate the handwriting accordingly. While I’d argue Swift’s handwriting is usually a bit messier when she’s scribbling down lyrics, she does like to do that think where some of her letters will be in print while others will be in cursive, as is shown on the cake.

The baker in question, Gaby Scelzo from Gaby Cakes, told People she had been watching the episode but didn’t actually think the cake would come into play.

Ultimately, I’d say it was a surprise for the baker and the actress herself, and was a memorable celebrity birthday that is the type of thing that could only happen for someone who is famous. Johnson seemed pretty excited about the cake when Swift busted it out, too. At that point it was past midnight, and it was her real birthday, after all. I’d say it’s a night both will remember all too well.

Now, I just gotta wonder: Will Swift herself will get the chance to be an upcoming SNL host for a third time coming up, too?

It's runway season, which means famous fashion cities like Paris and Milan have been filled with a-listers and celebrity fashion looks that are far removed from normal streetwear. (See: Zoe Saldañ's incredible sheer flapper dress.) Which means a lot of it is whimsical, daring, and many adjectives in between. The latter is exactly what I felt about Verity actress Dakota Johnson’s open blouse look in Milan. The actress sported a top that somehow stayed put despite no buttons, zippers or stays. You have to see it to believe it.

Johnson’s been out and about for Verity press over the last few weeks. She wore red for SNL (and hopefully fell into no set pieces this time). She wore a creamy lace number that landed her a lot of attention at a Verity gala event. There have been so many looks you’d be forgiven if you missed the open black blouse she wore for Vogue World: Milano 2026 at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Luckily, British Vogue got an up close and personal look at her black ensemble, and the way it clung even as she moved.

Listen I know tape and other manner of stitch witchery can be employed to make sure you don’t accidentally shift in an "oops" manner in an open top like this. It also helps that Johnson is tall and lithe; she doesn’t have as many curves to worry about as some of us do. I’m short, and relatively curvy, and I feel like if I put that on not only would I swim in it, it would hang in ways that would just make me look very silly.

Dakota Johnson, on the other hand, looked completely glamorous, and in a way that’s both aspirational and understated at the same time. This is not her usual aesthetic. She’s usually notable in a turn-heading way, like when she rocked that spider web chainmail dress for Madame Web, or during the recent Verity premiere in the UK, which came just a few days after her appearance in Milan.

Then, this week she was already back in New York, and she wore a memorable red latex dress for her SNL monologue over the weekend.

All her various looks lately have fit the red, white and black aesthetic of Verity and its promotional art. This includes the plunging black dress she also wore earlier this month, and that also played with silhouettes.

This time it’s the cut that’s showy and not how she looks in it as much, although if she didn’t look great in it, she’d never be able to pull it off. So, that’s a catch-22 of sorts. Anyway, I missed this unusual blouse amidst her other looks over the past week, and I wanted to point it out, because it’s a type of top we never really see. Yes, that’s probably because most people could never pull it off. Yes, that also means it’s very special when someone like Dakota Johnson can.

Ahead of this week’s Saturday Night Live episode, a lot of fans wondered if the show would comment on the Cornell 7. The sketch comedy institution has built its reputation on addressing the social issues everyone is talking about, but given the sensitive and legal nature of the case, which involves allegations of sexual assault and questions about consent, morality, drug use and duty of care, many suspected the writers would avoid the issue altogether. Let the record show they did not. Michael Che addressed the case and used it as an opportunity to dunk on Colin Jost and his Ivy League education.

The joke in question happened during Weekend Update. Che referenced the case and said it’s time for men to start holding other men accountable. He said we all know of friends who seem like a nice guy but definitely are not. As he was talking, however, the camera kept cutting to Jost, making it seem like his co-anchor was actually the person he was talking about. That became especially clear when he brought up “weird privileged Ivy League types,” as Jost graduated from Harvard.

Some of the funniest jokes play very differently based on whether you’re reading them or seeing the actual footage, and this joke is a great example of that. I love that if you weren’t watching the actual show, you would have no idea Che was actually dunking on his co-anchor (which he does a lot). You would think he was just offering commentary on the Cornell 7 case and taking some shots at kids at elite universities.

You can watch the actual footage from Weekend Update below, which starts at the 3:40 mark.

You never quite know how SNL is going to handle social issues, divisive legal cases and even politics. There are times in which the show tries to offer really daring commentary. There are times it takes the easy joke everyone else is making, and there are times like this in which it talks about the controversy but does so in a way that moves the target onto someone else entirely. It’s never a one size fits all solution.

Regardless, last night’s Saturday Night Live had a lot to offer outside Weekend Update. Friend of the show Dakota Johnson hosted for the third time and brought Taylor Swift alongside her for a fun cameo during her monologue. She also delivered some really fun and out there sketches including one where she played a really mean girlfriend and another where she played a doctor encouraging a woman not to sing to a family member in a coma because it wasn’t going to help. I’d definitely encourage you to check out the full episode.

The show will return next week with host Shane Gillis before taking a break for a few weeks and returning on Halloween.

When it comes to iconic Saturday Night Live stars, fewer managed to leave their marks on pop culture than Chris Farley. The beloved comedian managed to make a major impact on SNL in just five seasons and crafted some memorable characters. Off camera, though, Farley sadly dealt with his share of personal problems and, on at least one occasion, that spilled into his work. A couple of Farley’s co-stars once tried to hide him when he was inebriated, though his boss, Lorne Michaels, had a very warm response.

Farley – who was on SNL from 1990 to 1995 – contended with alcoholism, substance abuse, mental health struggles and more during his lifetime. Co-star Melanie Hutsell spoke about a time at which the star of (the highly quotable) Tommy Boy approached her and a fellow co-star. At the time, Farley was apparently drunk and was rambling as he attempted to express remorse for his appearance. Hutsell didn’t hold back when describing the situation to Vice TV (as shared on Instagram):

Hutsell – who was on the sketch comedy series from 1991 to 1994 – didn’t specify the “David” she was referring to. It may be fair to assume that she’s referencing fellow series alum David Spade, who was good friends with Farley and found Hollywood success with him. Still, we can’t say for sure whether it was indeed the Joe Dirt star. All that aside, though, Hutsell went on to say that she and David had quite an ordeal as they sought to conceal Farley. However, as the Lady Dynamite alum further explained, they were unsuccessful:

I can’t even imagine the feeling the trio had when coming across the SNL creator himself. Michaels, given his professional stature, can surely be an intimidating guy upon first glance regardless of whether a person works for him or not. Overall, the Canadian film and TV producer strikes me as a man who doesn’t suffer fools. However, none of that was apparently present when he encountered the inebriated Farley with his co-stars. Hutsell recalls Michaels’ reaction as follows:

That certainly sounds more like a concerned parent than a stringent exec, and the former definitely tracks for Michaels. Over the years, many SNL alums have spoken about receiving guidance from Michaels or being on the receiving end of a kind gesture from him. For example, Pete Davidson has spoken about Michaels stepping in as a father-like figure after his own dad died on 9/11. Maya Rudolph also gushed about her former boss suggesting a nursery be built in her office after finding out she was pregnant.

In the case of Chris Farley, he sadly died at the age of 33 of an overdose in 1997, and his loss is still felt by so many. What still gives me comfort, though, is him having people like Lorne Michaels and Melanie Hutsell in his corner while contending with his personal challenges. Farley remains immortalized due to his work on Saturday Night Live, and anyone who has a Peacock subscription can enjoy that work by streaming those classic episodes.

Josh Hart showed up to Saturday Night Live to support Jalen Brunson when the NBA Finals MVP hosted this past weekend. He even cameoed during his opening monologue and came out during the closing credits. It’s the level of support you’d expect from a teammate, podcast co-star and longtime BFF. Saying positive things about how Brunson did, however, was clearly too much for anyone to expect out of Hart.

The popular Knicks player was asked about his buddy Brunson’s SNL performance during the team’s media day earlier this week, and he wasn’t exactly effusive in his praise. In fact, he had a pretty hilarious and blunt assessment of his teammate’s acting performance. Here’s a portion of his quote, which is circulating widely on social media…

If this quote came from someone else, I would probably think they had mean-spirited intentions, but Brunson and Hart roast each other in media interviews all the time. In fact, during the SNL monologue, Hart laughed about covertly shoving his finger in Brunson’s butt while he was trying to celebrate after winning the NBA title, and Brunson showed a clip of Hart blowing a layup during a key moment. So, yeah, it’s not like the two, who have been close friends since they attended Villanova together, have a relationship built on thoughtful compliments and non-stop positivity.

Real talk though, Brunson was perfectly fine on SNL. He didn’t put himself in the Charles Barkley and Peyton Manning echelon of fantastic athlete hosts, but he represented himself well enough. He remembered his lines, had some funny moments and hit a big shot with a pizza wrapper during a sketch that was as clutch as anything he’s ever done on an NBA floor. I’d say, all in all, that’s a pretty big win for something that was clearly out of his comfort zone.

As for Josh Hart, however, he could have a future in acting, or at least as a talking head on television. He made the most of the lines he had on SNL and consistently shows during his media interactions that he’s got so much personality. He would be a great option on an Inside The NBA style show where he could do a combination of analyzing games and having some laughs at the expense of himself and other people.

As for Brunson’s day job, the Knicks are officially back at practice and preparing for the 2026-2027 NBA Season. They, of course, brought home the city’s first NBA Championship since the early 1970s and are hoping to potentially repeat their success. Their first game is at home on October 20th, and the crowd is widely expected to be as moneyed and famous as usual with a ton of A-listers in attendance.

A new season of Saturday Night Live is upon us, which means along with celebrity appearances from host Jalen Brunson and his New York Knicks teammates, we’re in for more of Colin Jost and Michael Che trolling each other on “Weekend Update.” Apparently that’s not the only place we can see their fun rivalry, though, as Che appears to take some shots at the Harvard grad in his upcoming Netflix comedy special Shot in Minnesota. And of course Scarlett Johansson is involved.

Colin Jost’s marriage to Scarlett Johansson is something that tends to come up on the job, whether he’s answering audience questions on Pop Culture Jeopardy! about how to pronounce his wife’s name or delivering jokes at her expense during his and Michael Che’s famous joke swaps. It happens again in the trailer for Che’s upcoming standup special (shown above), in which the comedian discusses the celebrity couple, saying:

OK, already I can tell I’ll be firing up my Netflix subscription when Shot in Minnesota drops October 13. Nothing at all against Colin Jost, but the well is deep when it comes to jokes about Scarlett Johansson being out of his league. Che’s set continues:

I mean, he’s got a good point, because I’d imagine a lot of women would be intimidated by the idea of going on a double date with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost — at their house, no less.

At least this joke from Michael Che was complimentary to the actress. Scarlett Johansson has taken some brutal shots over the years at the hands of the "Weekend Update" anchor (though the joke that hit Colin Jost the hardest had nothing to do with his wife).

The MCU star admits that she has “blacked out” during some of the joke swaps, but she definitely retains enough that Michael Che might want to sleep with one eye open. Scarlett Johansson has already said that retaliation “should be expected,” after she was made to watch a particularly “vulgar” joke swap live on camera.

My money’s on Scarlett Johansson to get the last laugh, but in the meantime, she and Colin Jost appear to be at the mercy of Michael Che, at least for the duration of his comedy special.

Be sure to catch Shot in Minnesota when it hits the Netflix schedule on Tuesday, October 13, and you can catch more jokes between the “Weekend Update” anchors when Saturday Night Live airs at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturdays on NBC and streaming with a Peacock subscription.

Jalen Brunson has hit plenty of big shots in his life. Most have been into a basketball hoop. Thanks to SNL, he can add one that went into a trash can. The NBA star swished a Pizza Hut wrapper from a good distance during an office sketch, and it’s a good thing he did because apparently the entire ending to the sketch was going to be changed if he missed.

Saturday Night Live’s Dan Bulla, who co-wrote the sketch, hit up social media after the episode and said he wrote two different versions of the ending. One had lines for everyone if he made the big shot, and another had separate lines for everyone if he missed the big shot. Apparently in dress rehearsal, he missed, and they all did the sad lines. To the surprise of absolutely no one, however, when the big moment hit during the live show, he swished it. Here’s what Bulla said on Instagram…

Saturday Night Live hosts (and even some cast members) often talk about the pressure they feel performing on the show. Many of them aren’t natural comedians, and they’re not used to having to memorize lines and get everything correct in one take. I’m sure Brunson was nervous about doing all of that (as well as his teammates who cameod), but I have to know what kind of nerves he felt before throwing that pizza hut wrapper. Yes, he’s used to making big shots, but there’s a special kind of pressure that comes with everyone expecting you to come through with something entirely in your skill set.

The sketch in question was about a group of office workers who finished their lunches and threw the wrappers into the trash. Brunson missed his first attempt but then kept derailing the meeting to shoot again because there was still time left on the clock. He eventually revealed himself to be the Jalen Brunson and was given one last chance to make the big shot, which he, of course, nailed. You can watch the sketch in all its glory below…

One of my favorite things about SNL is the diversity of its hosts. I like seeing a mix of actors, musicians, athletes and comedians. Thankfully, showrunner Lorne Michaels and company are giving us exactly that at the beginning of this this season. 52 started with Jalen Brunson and is going to move into Dakota Johnson, Shane Gillis and Inde Navarette. That should guarantee a wide variety of sketches with different subject matters and comedic sensibilities. I can’t wait.

We all figured Jalen Brunson’s SNL episode was going to feature cameos from other Knicks players. That’s a common theme with athlete hosts, and given the overwhelming popularity of the Knicks inside the city after their first championship since the 70s, those cameos were always going to make particular sense in this case. Well, I’m happy to report they did happen, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, it’s OG Anunoby that fans are all talking about.

The understated forward is extremely popular in New York, partly for basketball excellence and partly for his almost comically low-key persona. The SNL writers played into that reputation during a brief cameo within Brunson’s monologue, and hilariously, OG himself played into that reputation when he was the only Knicks player not to return to the stage during the closing credits.

The initial appearance included not only Anunoby but also the other three Knicks starters: Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges. During his monologue, Brunson took questions from the audience and eventually called on his teammates. They each asked a cute little question and had their own moments before Brunson called them up to join him on stage. In that initial instance, all four followed his lead and played along. You can watch the footage below, which has been widely posted by Knicks fans all over social media…

You can tell how much the crowd loves all four of the guys but also the affinity they have for Anunoby in particular. People just cannot get enough of how calm and slow to excitement he is in almost all instances. His blank star during an interview on Good Morning America went viral earlier in the summer, and you can tell by how quickly he sits down after he gets his lines out during the monologue that he’s not exactly looking for extra attention.

That shyness became extra clear later in the show, however, when all of the Knicks players made another appearance and Anunoby was just gone. It’s standard SNL protocol that any celebrity who makes a cameo during the live show joins the host and the cast during the closing credits. At the end of this episode, however, Brunson was joined by Towns, Bridges and Hart, but Anunoby was nowhere to be found.

No one involved in the show acknowledged his absence, but fans immediately started laughing and speculating on social media about what happened. Did he leave the studio after his lines during the monologue? Did he just not feel like being on camera again? Was he in the bathroom? We have no idea. You can watch the goodbyes below…

Even if you set aside the championship, fans, both randoms and celebrities, have really fallen in love with this team and this group of players. Obviously some of that is because they’re the best group to represent New York City in decades, but some of it is also because they all have such fun and distinct personalities. Hart, Bridges and Brunson all went to college together at Villanova and clearly have a close personal bond. Towns is a larger than life character who had his moment earlier this year during a WWE event where he showed off the best chokeslam this side of the Undertaker. And Anunoby is, well, Anunoby, doing Anunoby things, at his own pace and in his own way. Something about the five guys just works together, and they’re all quite clearly huge fans of each other.

Don’t expect to see any of them next week though. Saturday Night Live will return for its second episode of Season 52, and it’ll feature Dakota Johnson on hosting duties. In her case we may get another cameo, but rather than Knicks players, I’d expect maybe her Verity co-stars, her 50 Shades Of Grey partner Jamie Dornan or some of her famous family members.

If you’re a fan of Saturday Night Live, chances are you’ve heard one of the cast members share horror stories about trying to get on the show. But, I had no idea it was this intense. Chris Rock just brought up one “test” used on him while he was trying to get on the show, and it sounds rough.

Rock was in the cast of Saturday Night Live for three seasons from 1990 to 1993 alongside the likes of Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider and David Spade. Like his co-stars, he had to be battle-tested even before being hired for the gig, and there was one particular hurdle that was meant to test those who specifically couldn't manage long hours. Here’s what Rock recalled:

Imagine having to wait for a highly-anticipated job interview like SNL, and then being iced out in the lobby for hours on purpose to make sure you can do the job. That sounds wild, but that's what Rock, who last hosted the show back in 2024, recalled while talking to Entertainment Weekly. As he added:

I can't help but ponder the identities of those hopefuls who chose to leave. Personally, I can imagine that if a person doesn't know they're being tested, they're likely just stressed out and anxiety-ridden while waiting for the big meeting. Of course, SNL is famously a very high-stress job, so I guess the patience test is a big part of the audition, too.

Chris Rock isn’t the only Saturday Night Live cast member to have reported back on this “ritual.” Former cast members also recalled similar stories while talking to GQ before. Alex Moffat, who had a handful of famous Weekend Update appearances among other sketches during his time at SNL, said he had to wait for “four hours in some random dressing room” prior to his audition. He thinks it’s done “to separate the wheat from the chaff.”

Tim Meadows, who was on SNL a whopping ten years, said when he was waiting for his first meeting with series creator Lorne Michaels, he was waiting “like, 10 hours” before talking to the executive for just a “few minutes”. During his meeting, Michaels also brought in some of the cast to talk about an upcoming show while he was sitting there in his office. Clearly, they were all ready for the job, given they sat through the test and made it through!

What I'm wondering now, though, is whether this test will remain intact now that Chris Rock and others have spilled the beans about it. Still, even if it doesn't, I could easily see Michaels and co. coming up with another sharp way to test prospective cast members.

Saturday Night Live is set to return to the 2026 TV schedule for its 52nd season tonight, September 26 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC, and the episode will also be streamable with a Peacock subscription. New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson is hosting, and Katseye will serve as the musical guest. And there are plenty of other great upcoming SNL hosts this season that viewers certainly won't want to miss.

Since joining the Saturday Night Live cast in 2024, Ashley Padilla has made quite a name for herself. She was the most-used cast member in Season 51 despite only being a featured player, and as she makes her debut as a repertory player for Season 52, fans can expect to see even more of Padilla. Ahead of the new season on the 2026 TV schedule, she shared her take on Lorne Michaels and working at SNL that includes fart noises and sincerity.

Padilla joined former SNL cast member Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast, where they talked about their experiences on the show. This included Poehler wondering how Padilla’s relationship is with creator and producer Lorne Michaels. While Michaels may seem intimidating, Padilla admitted how much she admires him. And is still as grateful as ever for him giving her a job:

Michaels has been with SNL for 46 of its 51 seasons, and while there are constantly rumors about his retirement, he obviously still cares about the show and the cast after all these years. It takes a lot to run such a big show, and he’s still advising to cast members because he’s certainly seen it all. I love that even as a boss, Michaels is still there for his cast, and Padilla still can’t believe it.

She also can’t believe that her job is to be funny. Of course, plenty of comedians have made it their full-time job and that’s what SNL is. And obviously, a lot more goes into the show than just doing the sketches, between the long and late hours of writing and rehearsing. Padilla and Poehler both find it amusing that this is what they’re doing with their lives when other people have completely different jobs, and the fart noises really complete the conversation:

Being funny isn’t all it’s cracked up to be sometimes. She has to live up to all these great comedians who came before her and her fellow castmates, but if she didn’t have what it takes, Michaels wouldn’t have taken a chance on her. Even with the laughs and fart noises, Padilla is being sincere. It just sounds like she’s still trying to come to terms with the way her life is going, in a good way.

Ashley Padilla is definitely one of my favorites on Saturday Night Live, and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for Season 52. Luckily, fans won’t have to wait too much longer. The season premiere, hosted by NBA champion Jalen Brunson, is airing this Saturday on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Saturday Night Live will be heading into its 52^nd season on the 2026 TV schedule with just one cast member exit, which is a welcome sight following last season’s multiple departures. Bowen Yang was among the surprising exits for Season 51, having left the show following the Christmas episode in December, and it was pretty emotional. He was in his feelings about leaving SNL, but luckily, he’s been doing just fine with other projects. And Yang just got some good news about one of them.

Yang has been quite busy since officially saying goodbye to 30 Rock and Studio 8H, making waves with his podcast. That’s not all. Earlier this month, the comedian made his Broadway debut as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! He was supposed to wrap up his run on December 6, but according to Deadline, he’s been such a hit after just over a week that he’s extending his run. Fans will now have a chance to catch Yang in Cole Escola’s Tony-winning comedy through January 17.

Oh, Mary! opened on Broadway in July 2024, and has become quite the hit. The dark comedy play centers on a “miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln” in the weeks leading up to President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The one-act play examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mary Todd Lincoln told through the bonkers lens of Escola. After Yang’s debut on September 15, the show had its biggest gross in months. It sold out and raked in over $1.5 million.

Considering Yang was a fan-favorite on SNL, it’s not surprising that people are coming out in droves to see him on Broadway. When he was announced to be leaving SNL, it was definitely heartbreaking. Although with his talent and popularity, it was clear that it wouldn’t be long until he landed something else. And I am so happy to know that he’s doing so well. I just wish that we could get him back on SNL because I miss him already, and with all the shows and rehearsals he’s doing for Oh, Mary! that might be hard for the time being.

Meanwhile, fans aren’t the only ones showing their support for Yang. Plenty of SNL cast members past and present shared some love for him after his exit from the long-running variety sketch series. Tina Fey supported his post-SNL career when it came to his and Matt Rogers’ awards show, The Culture Awards. Sarah Sherman shared what she’s been missing since her co-star left, which was all the laughs and inside jokes.

Even though Bowen Yang is no longer on Saturday Night Live, those traveling to New York City will still have a chance to see him. He will be Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! on Broadway through January 17. And for those who can’t see him on Broadway, all episodes of SNL are streaming with a Peacock subscription.

Throughout Saturday Night Live’s 51-season run, the series has satirized dozens of political figures and other celebrities, and that will continue on the 2026 TV schedule. Many people have spoken out about the impersonations, and the feedback can vary depending on the public figure. When it comes to Meghan McCain, she's not a fan of the way in which the show pokes fun at Republicans, including herself, and she explained what she didn’t like about the impression.

McCain, an author and media personality, has been impersonated on SNL three times, with former cast member Aidy Bryant portraying her each time. The show's interpretation of McCain is a high-strung person, who's easily offended and interested in pop culture more than anything.

While it’s been years since that happened, the impersonation has apparently weighed heavily on McCain. She brought it up during an interview with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (who has also been impersonated by Bryant on SNL) on her Citizen McCain podcast. The former View panelist admitted to not being a fan of either impression:

Through the years, NBC's long-running sketch show has made fun of various U.S. Presidents in some way, and political impressions happen practically every episode. Despite that, it's been said that SNL won’t ever fully pick a political side. Nevertheless, McCain -- the daughter of late U.S. Senator John McCain -- is of the belief that there are some inconsistencies on that front. This also isn't the first time as of late that she’s felt the need to call out someone or something for political-based reasons.

Over this past summer, McCain went off on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night content after the host made a joke about Spencer Pratt leaving LA if he lost the mayoral race. She’s also taken shots at Kelly Clarkson and Gwyneth Paltrow, so her willingness to call out Saturday Night Live aligns with how she's approached such discussions before.

Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, not all politicians who are impersonated on SNL dislike it. NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is allegedly still trying to get on SNL and was a good sport when Ramy Youssef impersonated him in 2025. Ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Kamala Harris stopped by Studio 8H and did the cold open alongside Maya Rudolph, who had been regularly impersonating the Presidential candidate.

When it comes to SNL and political impersonations, it's hard to predict how the person being lampooned will react. Historically, though, the show has utilized politics since the very beginning, whether in a sketch or on Weekend Update. And, of course, viewers' reactions to that material will vary. As for Meghan McCain, though, it's hard to say if she'll ever impressed with the show's handling of political matter.

It’s unknown what Saturday Night Live has planned for its Season 52 premiere this coming Saturday, September 27. Given all the developments that have occurred since the show's been on summer hiatus, though, viewers may be in for some political satire. For now, know that all episodes of SNL are streaming with a Peacock subscription.

Colin Jost and Pete Davidson may be known for Saturday Night Live, but the two have been making headlines in recent years for a different venture. Back in 2022, they bought a retired Staten Island Ferry at an auction, which they named Titanic 2, and there have been one too many jokes about what the heck they’re going to do with it. Even Scarlett Johansson had a funny one-word response when she found out about her husband’s purchase. Luckily, the ferry will no longer be the butt of the joke, because Jost and Davidson finally turned it into something pretty great.

On Thursday night, the comedians turned their long-abandoned ferry into a one-night comedy show, called the Snapple Island Ferry Comedy Show. According to the official Snapple Instagram, the lineup included Matt Richards, KC Shornima, Ronny Chieng, Jay Jurden, Paul Virzi, Mike Veccionne, and Caitlin Peluffo. In a video posted by Variety to X, Jost and Davidson take the stage and seem to be very surprised at the big turnout, as there are plenty of cheers:

I honestly never thought I’d see the day where they actually did something with the ferry. They had talked about wanting to do something with it, but there were a lot more insurance and legal troubles than they intended. The longer they put it off, it was hard to tell what was truly going on with the ferry. A state official offered some advice earlier this year, saying that the two should just sink the investment and move on.

Even with all the problems they were having, between figuring out what to do with it, where to put it, and the insurance, that didn’t seem to stop Jost and Davidson from putting their heads together. Jost had a pretty great Shark Tank-like pitch for the ferry’s future, and he seemed to be as determined as ever to get people on board for it. It’s not so surprising, considering they spent $280,000 on the boat. They gotta make that money back somehow.

Now that the Staten Island Ferry has finally turned into something, even if it was for just one night, I’m curious to see if this will be brought up on Saturday Night Live when Season 52 starts. The ferry has been joked about on Weekend Update on numerous occasions, with Davidson even coming on the show during Season 51 to give viewers an update on the investment. At the time, they had been paid by Nike to do some promo for the New York City Marathon, and Davidson even jokingly said that they were turning the ferry into New Staten Island following the mayoral election. The comedy show was definitely the better choice.

Even though the comedy show was only one-night only, perhaps Jost and Davidson could turn it into a regular thing. It’s unknown what they have planned next, but turning the ferry into a comedy place wouldn’t be too bad. At the very least, after four years, that ferry was finally used for something.

Throughout its 51-season run, Saturday Night Live has seen tons of cast members come and go, but it never gets any easier to say goodbye. Of course, SNL has produced some pretty big stars, so many go on to do great things, but I still tend to miss them on the NBC series. One of my favorite cast members in recent years was Leslie Jones, and I was absolutely heartbroken when she left Studio 8H. Now she’s revealing the true reason why she had to go.

Jones was a writer and cast member on SNL from 2014 to 2019, and she left at the end of Season 43. She might have only been on the show for five years, but she definitely made an impact. However, Jones admitted she didn’t actually miss being on the show, noting she “wasn’t very free.” That being said, in a new interview with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed Podcast, Jones said that things would have been very different had she joined the series much earlier than she did:

I definitely understand where Jones is coming from. Saturday Night Live might be the show for comedians, but it’s also a great launching pad for them to do other work. It’s why a lot of cast members are usually in their 20s and 30s, and then make the decision to leave because they want to branch out. In Jones’ case, she’s one of many celebrities who didn’t get their big break until after 40, and because of that, she had to decide if being on the show was truly the right move for her career-wise since she felt like she was getting up there in terms of time:

It does make me wonder just how different things could have gone for Jones had she joined SNL in her 20s rather than her 40s. It sounds like she very well could have pulled a Kenan Thompson and stayed there for as long as humanly possible. That’s not to say she couldn’t do that anyway when she actually joined the show. Even though a lot of cast members are able to do multiple things and go on comedy tours while on SNL, their free time is very limited, and Jones’ reasoning for saying so long makes perfect sense.

I think it's also worth noting that Jones has confessed to dropping the F-bomb after landing her SNL audition since the series wasn’t what she wanted to do. She was very against joining the sketch comedy show because stand-up comedy was what she wanted to do. I’m definitely very grateful she had a change of heart, even if she did think it was a bit too late in her career.

As of now, Jones has yet to make an on-screen return to Saturday Night Live, but she was in attendance at the 50^th anniversary special where she got Pedro Pascal’s name wrong. Hopefully she returns to Studio 8H soon, because I would give everything to see her on my screen again, and not just via reruns with a Peacock subscription.

Saturday Night Live is best known for the whole being live element, but the sneaky truth is there are typically a few sketches each week that are not filmed live. Typically referred to as pretapes, they’re recorded earlier in the week, maybe because they need to be shot on location or because they require effects that are complicated or risky to pull off live or they're a commercial parody. In practicality, that means the actors can do multiple takes, but that’s, of course, only if the host agrees to do multiple takes. Enter Robert De Niro.

The nine time Academy Award nominee has hosted three times and made ten additional cameos. During one of those appearances, he shot a pretape for a sketch called Pranksters, and Seth Meyers told Amy Poehler the hilarious behind the scenes story during a recent episode of her podcast Good Hang. The sketch involved De Niro pranking her neighbor to death with a chainsaw because he borrowed his tools. During the first go, he was sprayed with a ton of fake blood. Afterwards, the director wanted him to go take a shower and try it again. De Niro was let’s say less excited about that option.

Here’s how Meyers put it when he retold the story…

Everyone working on SNL speaks about Jim Signorelli, who directed many of SNL’s pretapes for decades, with such reverence, but it’s hilarious to think about De Niro wanting no part of getting sprayed with that fake blood again and just ignoring him. Honestly, I get it though. It’s one thing to redo a line read to try and make it funnier. It’s another thing to wash off, change and reshoot a ridiculous cut-to shot that’s going to be funny enough regardless.

You can check out the sketch in question below…

I can’t imagine reshooting that scene would have made any difference to the finished product. Besides, I think De Niro deserves some level of credit for agreeing to do that. There are horror stories out there about SNL hosts who say no to most of the pitches. De Niro said yes to this and was willing to get covered in bloody pudding again if the OG shot didn’t come out.

Regardless, SNL is finally about to return, and I cannot wait. The sketch comedy staple finally solidified its cast for the upcoming season and dropped its exciting list of initial hosts. Season 52 will officially hit the TV schedule next Saturday, where it may or may not contain a pretape shot once or many more times, depending on what Jalen Brunson agreed to.

Before he became a late night legend celebrated for his oddball humor (and his ginger coif), Conan O’Brien worked behind the scenes as a writer and landed a highly sought-after gig penning sketches on Saturday Night Live. He stuck to it from 1987-1991, working alongside other comedy greats like Bob Odenkirk, Jack Handey and Greg Daniels. But he might never have made his talk show mark without a little show called The Simpsons.

The Fox mainstay was the direct link between O'Brien's writing work and his leap to hosting for NBC's Late Night, and the Simpsons gig came along at the perfect time, as the comedian had hit a rough patch at SNL. Speaking to guest Matt Groening on the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, the host shard:

Mike Reiss and Al Jean are Simpsons royalty at this point, and also earned my eternal respect for co-creating The Critic (starring another SNL vet in Jon Lovitz). The fact that they were so in tune with the sketch show's writing staff turnaround is a good sign of their knack for corralling talent.

The way Conan O'Brien puts it, he wasn't waiting all that long between his somewhat disgruntled Saturday Night Live exit and his Simpsons welcome. As he put it:

O'Brien will always be remembered by Simpsons fans for "The Monorail Song," and certain other episodes, though Kumail Nanjiani hilariously pointed out how relatively little impact the host had on the show overall, despite always being connected to it. (He wrote enough Mr. Burns for that to be his favorite, at least.)

O'Brien knew he was in a lofty place, professionally, and that he landed the gig without even being well-versed in traditional scripting by way of act breaks and arcs and the like. He continued:

Conan O'Brien went on to cameo in The Simpsons among many other A+ appearances, took on a mission with Archer, he was a hilarious Oscars host (and is coming back next year), is one of SNL's Five-Timer's Club members. and can bosts a slew of other career highs. (His Toy Story 5 character is the absolute best.) And it's entirely possible he wouldn't have landed any of those if Mike Reiss and Al Jean didn't clock his SNL exit.

Though the latest season has already concluded, Conan O'Brien Must Go can be streamed in full via HBO Max subscription.

Inde Navarrette’s year somehow keeps getting bigger. Obsession turned her into one of 2026’s breakout stars, here character is even headed to Halloween Horror Nights, Marvel came calling for its upcoming X-Men movie, and now she is heading to Studio 8H for her first crack at hosting Saturday Night Live, ahead of its 2026 TV Schedule premiere of its 52nd season. That would be intimidating enough before you remember she landed the Halloween episode. But the young star is taking notes from past host Taylor Swift.

Navarrette is already doing some homework. While answering questions on the red carpet, the 25-year-old actress told Entertainment Tonight in a clip shared on its official TikTok that she has been jotting down sketch ideas and looking to Taylor Swift's 2009 hosting job. In the clip below, Navarrette said she grew up watching SNL and wants to arrive with her own material, much like the Pop Star allegedly did.

That makes me even more curious about what she brings to the episode. Plenty of hosts arrive at SNL and wisely put themselves in the hands of people who write live sketch comedy every week. Navarrette sounds ready to show up with a notebook, and she has a pretty good model in mind.

The Superman & Lois alum said she heard Swift wrote her own opening when she hosted in 2009, which encouraged her to take a similarly hands-on approach. She explained:

Swift set one heck of a high bar. At 19, she hosted and served as a musical guest, then opened the show with “Monologue Song (La La La),” an original song poking fun at her own tabloid life. Seth Meyers later remembered Swift essentially arriving with the whole thing ready to go, calling it a “perfect SNL monologue.”

No pressure, Inde.

Navarrette will host the Oct. 31 episode with Gracie Abrams as musical guest, which feels almost suspiciously well timed for the star of one of this year’s biggest horror movies. NBC confirmed the Halloween booking as part of SNL’s first batch of Season 52 hosts. The writers have plenty to work with before Navarrette even opens that notebook.

Obsession gave the internet a new horror movie favorite and put its lead in a much bigger spotlight. Now she also has an upcoming Marvel movie role hanging over the episode, which means MCU jokes are practically inevitable. Throw in Halloween, and I would be shocked if she makes it through the night without fake blood or super suits being used somewhere.

Still, I like that she wants to bring ideas rather than simply waiting to see what gets handed to her Monday morning.

Swift’s 2009 episode worked because the monologue sounded unmistakably like her. She joked about Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner and the Kanye West VMA disaster using the thing she already knew how to do better than almost anyone: write a song.

Navarrette does not need to recreate that trick. Taking the same ownership over the opportunity, though, seems like a pretty solid lesson to steal.

But ultimately, whatever she decides to do, we will have to wait and find out what made it into her memo pad when Navarrette makes her SNL hosting debut Oct. 31 on NBC, then streams for everyone with a Peacock subscription.

SNL50 marked a major moment for NBC’s landmark sketch comedy series, as it brought together actors from various eras of the show together for one night. I personally had a great time seeing so many familiar faces, including Bobby Moynihan. While Moynihan only returned briefly, he certainly made the most of his time on screen. His return to the series was quite funny but, for the star himself, it sounds like it was nerve-wracking due to the presence of series creator Lorne Michaels, Meryl Streep and more.

Moynihan appeared on Weekend Update during the anniversary, reprising his role as Drunk Uncle and mixing it up with the likes of Colin Jost and Cecily Strong. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins co-star opened up about the experience during his recent appearance on the NCIS: Partners and Probies podcast. As seen in an Instagram clip, Moynihan recalled his nerves being elevated amid the TV special (which is streamable with a Peacock subscription) due to the presence of such A-listers, and his story is stressing me out:

I can certainly understand how that would be such an “insane” experience, and it’s wild to think that the Saturday Night Live’s creator and Streep were only a few of the A-listers present. Believe it or not, Andy Samberg previously spoke about the experience being “stressful” due to the uncertainty of whether he’d be in the special and the presence of so many stars among other factors. Veteran cast member Pete Davidson also admitted to the audience being “terrible” because it was full of famous people.

So Bobby Moynihan apparently wasn’t the only SNL alum feeling the pressure that night at Studio 8H. Moynihan joined the show in 2008 and, before he left the cast in 2017, he became a true fan favorite. As the Star Wars Resistance alum shared on the podcast, he’d returned to the show ahead of his appearance in the special in 2025, yet he still understood the gravity of the moment:

Not everything was “healed” after that evening, though, as OG cast member Chevy Chase still had beef with the creative team for not featuring him in some way. Chase’s lack of screen time was even mentioned by podcast co-host Brian Dietzen during the podcast interview. For Moynihan, he just feels grateful to have been involved at all:

I’m also grateful Bobby Moynihan received that call and that he was able to power through with so many major celebrities watching him. Let’s hope he returns to the show again at some point but, in the meantime, stream his best performances using a Peacock subscription. And look forward to Saturday Night Live’s Season 52 premiere, which hits NBC on September 26 amid the 2026 TV schedule.

The OG version of Saturday Night Live isn’t back until later this month, but the UK spinoff officially launched its second season last night with a political cold opener. The sketch took shots at new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as King Charles and Queen Camilla, but the biggest laughs came at the expense of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The much-discussed ex-Royals recently moved back to the UK and have started making public appearances again. It’s a little unclear what the pair’s long-term plan is, and SNL leaned into that uncertainty with some pretty direct shots. We got jokes about blowing their Netflix money. We got jokes about hiring staff. We got jokes about needing support from the Royal Family again. We even got jokes about Megan being proud of the fact that she made ice herself.

You can check out the buzzy sketch that’s already been watched almost a million times in its entirety below…

Of course, it would be unfair to say the above sketch was merely an excuse to roast Harry and Meghan. The two were the subject of many of the more memorable jokes, but others took plenty of shrapnel too. We got shots at King Charles and Queen Camilla’s inability to connect, their racial insensitivity and their carefree lifestyle. New British PM Andy Burnham didn’t exactly escape unscathed either. He got roasted for his meteoric rise from nowhere, his desperation to be liked and his appeal mostly being in contrast to the leaders that came before.

In only its second season, SNL UK is still working to find its footing and figure out how much it should take from its American predecessor and how much it should chart its own course. The import initially got mixed reviews during its debut season, but by the end of its short run, the buzz was starting to build. Last night’s episode appears to have continued that momentum, thanks in part to host Jeff Goldblum. The long-term goal is obviously to become intertwined with popular culture to the point where people proactively look to you for commentary, but that’s going to take a lot more than two seasons.

Regardless, SNL UK will return for the next two consecutive weeks with British comedian and actor Jamie Demetriou up first, followed by Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg. Together with premiere host Jeff Goldblum, the trio are a good example of SNL’s hosting philosophy, which is to bring in all sorts of different celebrities who are able to be funny and relevant in very different ways.

As for Harry and Meghan, their future remains uncertain. The two quit the Royal Family and moved to California six years ago. A huge Netflix deal to produce content generated a lot of early momentum, but a lack of buzzy content that came from the deal, as well as some divisive media appearances, halted a lot of momentum the couple had in Hollywood. Maybe a return to the UK or even a return to a more formal role in the Royal Family will improve public perception. Regardless, you can expect SNL UK to have plenty to say about it.

Saturday Night Live has delivered quite a lot of iconic sketches with A-listers throughout its 51-season run so far, and even more are imminent when Season 52 hits the 2026 TV schedule later this month. It’s always fun to see how sketches are executed, whether pre-recorded or live, especially since you really never know what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, for the cast, it’s not always the most pleasurable experience, and both Amy Poehler and Kenan Thompson do not recommend doing a sketch while hungover.

Since SNL can take a toll on its cast with the long and late hours and all the anxiety-inducing live shows, it only makes sense for them to wind down from time to time. That’s exactly what happened with Poehler and Thompson one night back in 2005. The two recalled on Poehler’s Good Hang Podcast how they were both at a bar just hours before they had to be up for a pretty early call time:

• Amy Poehler: We went to Bungalow 8, and I was there, and all of a sudden, guess who comes in later than me, is Kenan. Kenan comes strolling in, and we had a 6 a.m. call? I probably had a 6 a.m., you maybe a little later because ladies have a lot.
• Kenan Thompson: It was first thing in the morning.
• Amy Poehler: We had to be up maybe 2 or 3 hours later to play
• Kenan Thompson: The Black Eyed Peas.

I’m sure plenty of people can relate to being at the bar or someplace and having to go into work the next day. But the fact that they only had a few hours’ of sleep and still chose to be at the bar doing who knows what is definitely interesting. Not to mention the fact that they were playing The Black Eyed Peas, so they had to be all energetic to do so. And as if playing The Black Eyed Peas was any indication, the sketch itself called for what was probably the opposite of the hangover cure:

• Kenan Thompson: Back then, those shoots used to be 10,000 miles away.
• Amy Poehler: I had not slept. You had not slept. Who else was in it?
• Kenan Thompson: I want to say [Will] Forte. I just remember Forte, like, laying on a very hard floor.
• Amy Poehler: They stopped traffic in the middle of a New Jersey highway.
• Kenan Thompson: Yeah, for us to pretend to be The Black Eyed Peas.

I can’t imagine not only having to go into work hungover and getting no sleep, but having to be The Black Eyed Peas so early in the morning in the middle of a highway. They also had to sing some of their songs, and while the sketch was definitely hilarious, knowing the story behind it is making it even better. Thompson previously talked about partying too hard with Poehler and Forte before filming the sketch, but hearing them talk about it gives me a new perspective.

There have been stories about people being drunk or high while doing Saturday Night Live, so Poehler and Thompson pulling up to film hungover is not unusual. It does take dedication and discipline to make it through filming, though, and I would have given anything to see a video of what they were like. Of course, fans can see how the sketch turned out with a Peacock subscription, Season 31, Episode 2, but I’d love to see any kind of BTS of that.

I’m sure both Thompson and Poehler learned their lesson after filming that sketch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they still came to work slightly hungover. As long as they weren’t filming a sketch as energetic musicians in the middle of a highway early in the morning. I’m excited to see what the cast gets up to in Season 52, when the premiere episode airs on Saturday, September 26 on NBC.

Cecily Strong was hesitant to tell CinemaBlend that she preferred doing Weekend Update desk segments over traditional sketches on Saturday Night Live. However, it certainly sounds that way after hearing her thoughts on the differences between the two. As we wait for the late-night sketch comedy series to return to the 2026 TV schedule, Strong is explaining a key advantage of the news segment (and I never considered it).

Strong spoke to CinemaBlend, in collaboration with Thomas' 21-day Morning People Challenge. These days, the beloved staris someone who no longer has to spend late nights entertaining the masses via network TV. Now, her days are spent caring for her baby. However, that doesn't mean she doesn't still have a lot of thoughts about how Weekend Update has one major upside that traditional SNL sketches don't. She explained below:

SNL's hosts are a huge part of the show and, while some can surprise the cast with their willingness to play along, others are more timid about ideas and looking silly. Cecily Strong pointed out that when someone is doing a character on Weekend Update, the host usually has zero role in that. As a result of that, it's easier for the cast member to just write the role and focus on what they know works for them.

Strong has a particularly special connection to Weekend Update, having served as the bridge between Seth Meyers' final run at the desk and Colin Jost's beginning. And, of course, she's also celebrated for her various sketches from her time on the show as well as her Update characters.

Cecily Strong left Saturday Night Live in 2022, and welcomed her child into the world in 2024. Make no mistake, however, she remains active in Hollywood and will appear in the upcoming prequel for The Boys, Vought Rising. Strong wasn't able to tell CinemaBlend anything specific about her involvement in the series, but she did say to brace for everything fans have come to expect from that off-the-wall superhero franchise.

Thanks to Strong's partnership and subsequent ads with Thomas', it seems she's embracing the morning lifestyle more readily. However, I wouldn't rule her out of a one-off appearance on SNL down the road. It feels like the show always finds a time to bring in one or two former cast members for some fun during a season, and she'd be one I'd love to see pop up a few more times.

Anyone looking to take Thomas' 21-Day Challenge can visit their website and maybe even win a $50 Instacart gift card or a Morning People prize box. As for Saturday Night Live, it's set to return on September 26th, with New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson getting to open up the season after their NBA championship. In the meantime, grab a Peacock subscription and stream SNL episodes, including past seasons featuring Strong.

Has a human being ever had a better year than Jalen Brunson? The NBA star led the New York Knicks to their first NBA Championship since the early 1970s, launching an entire summer of celebrations in the city. He was also voted Finals MVP, got to appear in a well-received WWE segment as a longtime fan and continued crushing family life with his high school sweetheart wife and baby daughter. Oh and now he’s hosting Saturday Night Live.

The popular sketch comedy show dropped its first four hosts of the season in a social post this afternoon, and Brunson was tapped for the season premiere. I would say the pick is a shock, but it actually makes a ton of sense. SNL has a long history of inviting buzzy athletes and a long history of doing business with celebrities and politicians who are uniquely buzzy in New York. Brunson is both of those things, and his media appearances have shown him to be deceptively charismatic when he wants to be.

The pick will also potentially give the show a chance to show off some other celebrities and New Yorkers, as well. The most obvious choices are, of course, Brunson’s New York Knicks teammates. When Derek Jeter hosted, he brought along a few of his fellow New York Yankees, and I think there’s a strong likelihood Brunson will do the same thing with Karl Anthony Towns (who joined him in his WWE appearance), OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges and maybe more. Those guys would be a huge ovation, even if it was just for a brief cameo during the monologue.

There’s also a unique chance with a Brunson hosting appearance to play into all of the celebrities who are New York Knicks superfans. Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Chris Rock and Larry David are all huge Knicks fans who previously worked on the show. Other supporters who regularly sit courtside like Spike Lee, Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift, Timothée Chalamet, Mariska Hargitay and Fat Joe have all hosted or made cameos on the show already too. There’s definitely an opportunity here for the show to play into that and make a big splash at the same time by incorporating some of these people into a sketch with Brunson, playing off their well known fandoms.

Regardless, I’m happy for Brunson. He seems like a really genuine and relatable person, and however things go for him and the Knicks moving forward, he’ll be a beloved celebrity in the city for the rest of his life. It’s only fitting he gets his moment on the Studio 8H stage. Besides, there’s a chance he could be amazing. Athletes like Peyton Manning and Charles Barkley have been terrific during their guest stints.

Apart from Brunson, SNL has some other heaters come too. Brunson will serve as the show’s first host on September 26th, and he’ll be followed by Dakota Johnson (October 3rd), Shane Gillis (October 10th) and Inde Navarrette (October 31st). They’ll be joined by musical guests in order: Katseye, Turnstile, Rosalîa and Gracie Abrams.

Expect to get a finalized cast list, as well as more details about the next season in the coming days before it officially hits the TV schedule on September 26th.

We’re just a few weeks away from the premiere of SNL 52, and we still don’t know which cast members the show is adding or even bringing back. With the exception of Chloe Fineman, who announced her departure much earlier in the summer, it’s been crickets on the fate of every single other person. Diehard fans, including myself, are starting to get really antsy, which is probably why one brief exchange during an interview at the Minnesota State Fair had SNL fans potentially overreacting this weekend.

Featured Player Tommy Brennan, who joined the SNL cast last season, stopped by The Jason Show on Saturday. For those of you who don’t live in the Twin Cities, The Jason Show is a local talk show in which Jason Matheson interviews locals and celebrities passing through the area. He’s been broadcasting from the Minnesota State Fair and had on the St Paul raised Brennan to plug his stand-up, talk crap about Wisconsin and answer questions about SNL.

During the interview, Matheson asked if he’s able to relax more now that he’s heading into his second season. Brennan said no but admitted it’s nice to understand the routine and which bathroom is the right one to poop in. The exchange was clipped and posted on social by SNL fans, some of whom took it as the comedian confirming he’s headed back to Studio 8H.

Not so fast though. I like Tommy Brennan and definitely want to see him back. With a little more time, I think he can continue to develop into a key role player and maybe more, but at no point during the interview did he actually say he was coming back. He just answered the question about becoming increasingly more comfortable. You can watch for yourself. The moment in question happens at 23:30.

I’ve been saying this for the last two or three weeks, but I’m just going to continue the refrain. This has to be the week where we start getting some official confirmations. We know SNL already held a bunch of auditions to possibly add new cast members, and the premiere is locked in to hit the TV schedule on September 26th. That means everyone involved needs to start making plans and get the wheels in motion to pull off ninety minutes of live television in a little less than three weeks. Last year, a lot of the news broke the first week of September.

I expect an overwhelming majority of the cast to return. It feels like Ashley Padilla is a potential breakout star the show can really build around, and the younger supporting pieces look like they're getting more comfortable with each appearance. Throw in some old standbys like Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day and Sarah Sherman, and there's a really good base to build from. That being said, Lorne Michaels typically likes to tinker a little here or there to keep things fresh; so, it would be a surprise to see every single person back.

On an unrelated note, if you’ve never been to the Minnesota State Fair before, it’s a delightful time. The area is really beautiful this time of year, and the people are amongst the nicest in the entire country. Throw in a ton of food options, rides and carnival games, and I cannot recommend it enough.

It’s safe to say that Kenan Thompson is easily one of the most iconic SNL members we have today. He’s definitely the star with the longest SNL tenure and, even today, he still serves as a comforting staple of the variety series. While it's been over two decades since he auditioned for the show, he can still remember the experience. Thompson recently reflected on that, and I wasn't expecting him to mention Fight Club while recalling his SNL audition.

When Thompson joined Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast (which is shared on YouTube), they reminisced about his audition when he was 23. Poehler brought up an “inviting” moment where the Good Burger star “zapped himself to the present” by telling himself, “Oh my God, SNL” before he began. He gave a simple explanation for the moment in a classic Thompson way. He said:

Thompson has always been one to share insight his time on the sketch comedy show, and that even includes the harrowing reason he’s been on SNL for so long. Thompson can take a simple answer involving financial stability and turn into a clever retort about the “traveling salesman” life of an actor. And that’s one reason I’ve always enjoyed watching Thompson’s perform. So I’m not surprised that he instantly stood out in his audition.

Even Poehler describes having watched his big moment, and her story is incredible. At the time, she was apparently on a private plane with SNL creator Lorne Michaels. While flying back from filming Mean Girls with Tina Fey and Lindsay Lohan, they gathered together to watch Thompson’s audition. But what Poehler remembered most was the way he used he “Oh my God, SNL” statement as a way to “secretly quiet [his] nerves.” The way Thompson described the moment as “silently putting that seatbelt on” is a lovely reminder of how quick the comedian can think on his feet. That's how his mention of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton-led cult classic came up film:

Fight Club may not have struck a chord when it was first released back in 1999, but the David Fincher-directed film has since become a cult classic. It's filled to the brim with memorable scenes, including the one featuring Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden. While that may be an unexpected reference in this context, I'm certainly not mad at it.

Also, that way of thinking obviously worked out for the former Nickelodeon star. And, clearly, he impressed more than the Mean Girls cast, as Thompson would go on to take part in some fan-favorite sketches. For example, there's the "Scared Straight" segments, which Thompson and Colin Jost concocted while sharing an office. And Thompson has continued to impress audiences with comedy gold, as was the cast with that moment when he busted out a deep cut character, Jean K Jean, after having not played him for a while.

However, just because he enjoys the stability of the skit series doesn’t mean Thompson doesn’t play outside of the long-running NBC show. He actually has a new gig outside of SNL, as he’ll be filling in as a guest judge on America’s Got Talent while Simon Cowell recovers from non-emergency back procedure. And that’s not all. The comedian has also joined Seth MacFarlane’s new Family Guy spin-off as the voice of Royal, one of Stewie’s new friends. Additionally, he can be seen in the Michael Tiddes’ Scary Movie 6.

I, for one, am glad Kenan Thompson's audition worked out, because the public would otherwise be without his vast body of work on Saturday Night Live. His journey and Fight Club reference both argue the notion that some performers should understand what they can and can't control.

Check out Thompson on SNL when Season 52 premieres on September 26 as part of the 2026 TV schedule. His various other appearances on the show can be streamed with a Peacock subscription.

Physical comedy doesn’t come easily for everyone, but Chris Farley seemed to have been crafted from a textbook. Showcased best on Saturday Night Live, Farley’s freewheeling and manic energy was also on display in Tommy Boy, Black Sheep and a handful of other features and series filmed before his untimely death at 33. Though not known for youth-skewing fare, Farley appeared on All That for one of his final TV roles, and Kenan Thompson revealed how the comedian broke one of Nickelodeon’s go-to rules for filming messy scenes.

Years before Thompson himself started his record-breaking run within the SNL cast ranks, he shared the screen with Farley in All That’s Season 3 episode “Mint Condition,” and even if the sketch wasn’t exactly the deepest idea, the experience was a core memory for Thompson. Appearing alongside his former co-star on the podcast Good Hangs with Amy Poehler via YouTube, the Good Burger star first addressed just how funny and commanding Farley was, saying:

It is quite true that I can't really see any other comedians stepping in to bring Tommy Boy's best scenes to life isntead of Chris Farley. In that he seems like the only person who could have made the "Fat Man in a Little Coat" sequence work without it being needlessly mean or weird. ("You're needlessly mean and weird." Shut up, Richard.)

For those who need a refresher on the All That segment Farley appeared in, Thompson explained the high-art concept, saying:

It's a tactic that's been addressed before by other former child actors from Nickelodeon's stable of beloved kids shows. As soon as there's a set-up to make a gigantic mess, that's apparently when everybody gets really into their job, and the push was always to make sure the on-camera splattering (be it slime, cake or otherwise) was as effective as possible.

But a performer like Chris Farley doesn't follow all the rules when he's told, and it doesn't seem like he was invested in hanging out on the All That stage for full afternoon. Because he didn't play nice when asked to go easy on the large cake being utilized for the scene. Thompson continued, with Poehler giggling in anticipation.

Simply amazing. Watching Farley in that sketch feels exactly like it sounds, as he's rolling on all cylinders and is just a boulder of energy. And knowing that he's going against the rules, advice and requests of Nickelodeon execs just makes it even funnier once he starts turning that cake into mulch.

It's always fun to hear Kenan Thompson share anecdotes from his 23 seasons on Saturday Night Live, and he shares quite a few others throughout his appearance on Good Hang. When the anecdotes have run dry, though, the new season of SNL is finally almost here.

Saturday Night Live is set to return to NBC for Season 52 on September 26, 2026, with episodes also streaming via Peacock subscription.

I’ve enjoyed the performances of quite a few Saturday Night Live cast members over the past several seasons, from breakout star Ashley Padilla to the long-serving Kenan Thompson. Someone else who deserves props for their work is James Austin Johnson, who’s become particularly famous for his impression of U.S. President Donald Trump. Considering how the imitation has taken off, Austin has now reached the point at which fans approach him in public, and I can’t get over what some of them say to him.

Austin is far from the first person to mimic Donald Trump on SNL, as the likes of Darrell Hammond and Alec Baldwin (who won an Emmy for his work on the show) have as well. I’d argue, however, that Austin’s portrayal has hit the cultural zeitgeist in an even stronger way. Anyone who needs evidence of that should listen to what Johnson shared during his recent appearance on the Downside Podcast (part of which was shared to TikTok). The comic specifically explained what it’s like meeting older fans who approach him near his home:

Honestly, a part of me can’t tell if he’s joking but, even if he’s overexaggerating, I just find this too funny. I can also easily see some older admirers coming up to the Tennessee native and sharing their takes on his depiction of POTUS. Such reactions fall in line with the praise Johnson has received for his take on Trump, which emphasizes the businessman-turned-reality TV star-turned-politician’s stream of consciousness. For an example of what Austin’s take looks like, check out this cold open from Season 51:

Despite Johnson’s humorous take on the attention, it’s fair to wonder if he’s afraid of Donald Trump. He previously answered that during an appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, Johnson asserted that he had “never been afraid of anything ever.” From the A Complete Unknown actor’s vantage point, he’s “doing a version of [Trump] that I feel is sustainable.” In his recent podcast interview, he also said he didn’t believe Trump supporters felt “targeted” by his comedy due to it not being aimed at them.

Johnson is a man of many talents, though, as he's made great contributions to a number of other sketches during his tenure at SNL, which began back in 2021. What’s ironic is that as great as Johnson is as Trump, he claims the show won’t let him do his best impression: Rolling Stone editor David Fricke. Austin has been trying to pitch it for a while, it seems, and I hope his efforts are eventually successful.

More immediately, I’m looking forward to seeing James Austin Johnson back on stage at Studio 8H, where he’ll once again don the suit, prosthetics and hair piece to play the Commander-in-Chief. There’s no telling what Johnson might be called upon to do as Trump in order to keep up with the ever-flowing political landscape. Whatever the case, though, I expect the actor will continue to field responses from fans and roll with them as they come.

Saturday Night Live Season 52 premieres on NBC on September 26 amid the 2026 TV schedule. In the meantime, warm up for Johnson’s reprisal of Trump by streaming past episodes with a Peacock subscription.

Keeley Jones is an iconic Ted Lasso character, and her journey to becoming a beloved businesswoman has been wonderful to watch. Now, she’s helping spearhead AFC Richmond’s women’s team, and she really is in full boss mode in the season of the comedy airing on the 2026 TV schedule. With all that said, I was shocked to learn that Jason Sudeikis’ experience on Saturday Night Live actually helped inspire Keeley’s arc.

Now, Keeley is partially inspired by former pinup Keeley Hazell (who played Bex in Ted Lasso). But Saturday Night Live and Sudeikis’ early years in comedy informed Juno Temple’s character, too. This came up during an interview the actor who plays Ted Lasso did in 2021 with Jeremy Egner (via his book Believe). Here’s what he had to say:

In the first three seasons of Ted Lasso, which you can stream with an Apple TV subscription, we do see Keeley rise from a socialite to a powerful PR professional who helps AFC Richmond thrive. She has to break out of a box she’d been in for a long time to do that, though, and that was inspired by SNL, as Sudeikis explained:

I totally see what he’s saying. Keeley was so good at the work she did before Richmond. However, she quickly realized she had more range and wanted to pursue other paths, while also not totally abandoning the thing that made her successful in the first place.

That trajectory matches all the mega SNL stars Sudeikis mentioned, and it’s true for him too. Take Adam Sandler, who has made his fair share of comedies and dramas over the years, for example. He’s still making funny movies, like Happy Gilmore 2 and Grown Ups 3 with his pals. However, he is also acclaimed for his work in more dramatic films, like Uncut Gems, Hustle and Jay Kelly. On top of that, he’s an accomplished writer and producer.

Tina Fey is also an accomplished writer, producer and performer, and so are Mike Myers and Jason Sudeikis. They’re all versatile, and in the years since they were on SNL, they’ve helped spearhead major projects both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. To use the Horrible Bosses star’s words, they have “more to give than just jokes.”

In the case of Jason Sudeikis specifically, Saturday Night Live helped him launch a very successful career as a comedic performer. Then, after leaving SNL in 2013 and working in movies and TV for a few years, he co-created Ted Lasso, which highlights his range as a comedic and dramatic performer while also showcasing his skill as a producer and writer.

And Keeley has more to give than being an on-camera talent, which she’s proven across Ted Lasso’s run. Now, to see how she continues to help get AFC Richmond’s women’s team off the ground, you can catch new episodes of the Apple TV comedy every Wednesday.

Kenan Thompson is heading into his 24^th season of Saturday Night Live, which will soon hit the 2026 TV schedule. With that, the beloved star will continue his reign as the longest-tenured SNL cast member. While it’s hard to imagine the series without him at this point, it's likely that the time will come when Thompson decides to step down. And, when that eventually happens, I hope he launches a great next chapter that aligns with a gig he just landed.

It's been confirmed that Thompson will be a guest judge on America’s Got Talent on Tuesday night for the third Quarterfinals episode. As explained by TV Insider, this move is due to Simon Cowell temporarily stepping away from live shows amid AGT Season 21 to recover from a non-emergency back procedure. As it stands, Cowell will be back “in a few weeks,” as his rep shared in a statement. In the meantime, though, I'm excited over the decision to have Thompson step in.

For the former Nickelodeon star, this may be the gig he could do permanently when he eventually leaves SNL. Or, at the very least, he could do something similar on that level. He also has the experience, as he's filled in for Cowell before on AGT. Not only that, but Thompson was also a guest judge on The Masked Singer and a judge for Bring the Funny in 2019. Thompson's magnetic personality and jovial demeanor make him perfect for these kinds of shows. So it's very easy for me to see him regularly hosting or judging some sort of reality series in the future.

Considering Thompson has been on Saturday Night Live for a long time, it’s hard to tell how much longer he’s willing to stay. Earlier this summer, he shared the harrowing reason why he’s still on SNL, and he chalks it up to his desire to ensure he has steady work. That's because there have been times in his life where his bank account has in the negative range. With all that in mind, it's understandable as to why the father of two would want the job stability.

Thompson has already thought about what his final day at SNL will be like, and I hope that it’s not anytime soon. While he acknowledged that there would be so many "layers" to it, he simply declared that the day was "gonna suck."

On that note, SNL has seen a handful of exits in the last year, both before and during Season 51. And, ahead of Season 52, veteran cast member Chloe Fineman has already exited the show. As of now, it’s unknown if anyone else will depart before the new season starts. I would hope that whenever Thompson does step away, an announcement will come well ahead of his final taping. I'll be sad when that happens, but I'd imagine it'll be quite a send-off.

Before Kenan Thompson returns to SNL, see him as a guest judge on America’s Got Talent this Tuesday, September 1, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Who knows? Maybe this could be a glimpse of Thompson's post-SNL career and, if it is, I think viewers will be all the better for it.

The Saturday Night Live audition process is infamous; many well-known comedians have tried and been rejected by SNL during it. Meanwhile, some of those who do make the cast have horror stories about what it was like. Jeremy Culhane – who became one of my favorite new stars of the sketch comedy show thanks to his Tucker Carlson impression and his Weekend Update character, Mr. On Blast – has a doozy of an audition story, and he told it to Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney.

Culhane, who joined the SNL cast during Season 51 and who I have been a fan of for years thanks to Dropout, shared that he’d been sending in audition tapes “for a while,” but didn’t catch anyone’s attention until a few years ago. His TikTok is what helped him get in the room, and he said he tested for SNL for the first time in 2023. To use his own words, it went “really badly.” Here’s exactly how he explained it on What’s Our Podcast? With Beck and Kyle:

That mentality continued through tech rehearsal, because when Culhane asked if the producers would be OK with him asking for their names, people said they would be. That’s when the podcast’s hosts and SNL alums Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett visibly cringed, with Bennett commenting that he was trying to do “audience interaction in the hardest audition room ever.”

It proved to be exactly that too, because Culhane was in a room full of producers, since this happened during the 2023 writers' strike. Upon hearing that, Bennett said that made it “even worse” because “the laughers are gone.” The current SNL star agreed with that and continued his story:

Nothing was hitting, they weren’t interacting, and it was mortifying. Kyle Mooney then asked what Culhane was thinking as this happened, and the Dropout performer said:

Well, despite the room going cold, the show went on, and Culhane didn’t give up. He tried to get a crew member involved, and they were very hesitant to give him their name. Here’s how that interaction went:

Eventually, the bit ended, Culhane said he “shook it off,” and then the rest of his test went “alright.” He didn’t get the show that year. He had to go through the process again (which is a story for another time), but now he’s getting ready to head back for his second season on SNL.

So, to see Jeremy Culhane on Saturday Night Live, make sure to stay tuned to the 2026 TV schedule so you don’t miss Season 52’s premiere. In the meantime, you can stream old seasons of the iconic comedy series with a Peacock subscription.