Response to Glen Powell hosting Saturday Night Live has been extremely positive. Many fans are calling last night’s episode the best of the season, and others are talking about how it’s likely we’ll see the burgeoning movie star return to Studio 8H a ton more times. Given where his career seems to be going, it’s very possible we see him enter the esteemed 5 Timers Club at some point. In fact, if it wasn’t for Covid, he’d already be almost half way there.
Apparently Powell was supposed to host the Christmas episode of SNL back in 2021, but it all fell apart when Top Gun: Maverick was delayed. Longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels felt like he wasn’t well known enough without the movie, and he was replaced by show favorite Paul Rudd. Powell was, of course, devastated, both because he’d dreamed of hosting the show and because he felt awkward about an exchange he had with a UPS driver.
During his monologue, Powell told the story about getting the call to host the show for the first time. Apparently he was spending time with his whole family when the show called and offered him the hosting gig. That led to a raucous celebration that was interrupted by a random UPS driver who showed up to deliver a package. He asked what everyone was so excited about, and Powell told him he was hosting SNL. The driver was ecstatic for him, and they ended up taking a happy picture together.
Here’s a portion of the story in Powell’s own words…
When I got the call, I was on a porch with my family, and we just all lost our minds. We were jumping up and down celebrating, and a UPS driver happened to be delivering a package at that exact same moment. And was like, ‘What is going on?” And I was like ‘I’m hosting SNL!’ And he was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I was like, ‘Yup! Christmas episode! Tune in!’ So, we all took a selfie with him.
Unfortunately, that picture got retroactively awkward when Powell lost the hosting gig. He joked to the audience that the UPS driver has probably been telling everyone he’s a liar, as he's only appeared in a brief cameo since the encounter.
So, after he got offered a chance to host again, his sisters, who were in the original picture, made it their mission to track the UPS guy down. They eventually got a hold of him, and Powell flew him out to SNL to celebrate with him.
Even better, he brought the guy, whose name is Mitch, on stage and had a really likeable moment with him again. You can watch the entire thing below, which SNL fans cannot get enough of…
Part of why Glen Powell has gotten so popular is he has an everyman charm about him. He’s obviously in better shape and more handsome than most of us, but there’s something about his mannerisms and general outlook that feels really relatable. This story is sort of the perfect encapsulation of that. He feels like a guy that would celebrate with a UPS driver after getting offered SNL, and he also feels like a guy that would get famous and spend his money on flying someone to New York City.
I definitely expect to see Powell back at Studio 8H at some point in the future, and whenever he does, I expect no one will be happier for him than Mitch from UPS.
As for SNL, it'll be on a short break for Thanksgiving before returning on December 6th with its next guest host Melissa McCarthy. It should be a fantastic episode.
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