SNL Cast Members Sometimes Don’t Gel With Hosts. Why Chris Parnell Was Not A Fan Of Tom Green

Saturday Night Live is continuing its 51^st season amid the 2026 TV schedule, and there are still some exciting hosts and musical guests to look forward to. Throughout the show’s illustrious run, hundreds of celebrities have walked through the doors of Studio 8H to host an episode of the long-running series, and a lot of them have been more than once. Of course, not everyone on the cast is going to vibe with a given host, and series alum Chris Parnell has his reasons for not vibing with Tom Green during his hosting stint.

Green hosted Saturday Night Live only once, and that was back in 2000 during Season 26. While some may have found the episode, which is streaming with a Peacock subscription, funny, Parnell wasn’t fond of it. This came up when Parnell recently spoke with LateNighter and was asked who his least favorite host was out of all eight seasons he worked on SNL. Apparently, there were some specific creative decisions made that rubbed Parnell the wrong way:

Green’s entry of the show is certainly a memorable one, to say the least. Per Cracked, he previously revealed that he wanted to make his installment of SNL the “craziest episode ever.” With that, Green talked creator and producer Lorne Michaels into having his friends and collaborators Glenn Humplik, Phil Giroux and The Tom Green Show co-writer Derek Harvie write the episode.

Although the results have since been much-discussed, it's understandable why Parnell wasn’t much of a fan. I'd argue that even though each host brings a different vibe, the qualities that make up a traditional episode of SNL should remain intact.

That being said, Saturday Night Live can be unpredictable at times, and sometimes a host will push the envelope. Green was obviously more comfortable doing comedy that was closer to his own style, and Michaels was clearly okay with it. Still, by the time Green hosted, Parnell had been on SNL for two years, so I could imagine him having felt thrown for a loop, given the usual flow of the show.

While Green may not not among SNL’s best hosts, he is definitely among the most eclectic ones, regardless of how Parnell or others feel about him. Between his bathtub sketch with Michaels, his pledge to marry then-girlfriend Drew Barrymore by the episode’s end, and even licking audience members’ faces and screeching at them, it’s hard to forget Green’s… unique episode. Considering how much Michaels liked him, though, it’s hard to believe he’s only hosted one time.

Whether or not Tom Green will ever return to host SNL remains to be seen. At present, he's still doing stand-up comedy, and he released a few projects in 2025 that can be streamed with a Prime Video subscription. SNL continues to surprise fans when it comes to the hosts, so I'd think viewers should rule that out. At the very least, if he does host again, I wouldn't expect Parnell to make a cameo.