Saturday Night Live returns at the end of March with a three-week run of new episodes, and will welcome a variety of familiar faces and one new-comer as hosts and musical guests. Here’s what you can expect from the show’s next three episodes.
First up on March 29 is Mikey Madison, who will be hosting for the first time on the heels of winning the Oscar for Best Actress. The Anora star will be joined by noted country dipshit Morgan Wallen, whose first scheduled appearance in 2020 was delayed due to his violating Covid protocols, and whose career was absolutely unhurt by his public usage of the grandaddy of all racist slurs. (Kudos to turning the Atlanta Braves’ depressing loss in the ’98 NLCS into a maudlin ballad, though, I guess.) The two will team up on the first of these three episodes, and I’m sure SNL‘s writers are already spitballing ideas for an Anora parody.
A week later Jack Black will return for his fourth time as host on April 5, the day after his movie based on Minecraft opens. Given he’s been pretty popular for a solid 25 years or so, it’s surprising that Black has only hosted four times, but his type of over-the-top energy isn’t always the best fit with this relatively buttoned-down, tightly-formatted show. Elton John and Brandi Carlile, close friends in real life, will be the musical guests; they have an album out on April 4 and a CBS TV special on April 6, making SNL the meat of a weekend-long Elton and Brandi sandwich. Elton has somehow only been a musical guest on the show twice, almost 30 years apart, and the second of those, in 2011, he pulled double-duty as host and guest. Carlile will be appearing on the show for the third time. It’ll be the first SNL appearance for the two as a duo.
Finally, Jon Hamm, who hosted a string of great episodes when Mad Men was on the air , and seemed destined to be a perennial host, finally returns after 15 years to host on April 12. Seriously, he seemed on the fast track to a Five Timer’s robe, hosting in three consecutive seasons, including twice in the calendar year 2010—and then nothing but unannounced guest appearances for over a decade. He’ll be joined by Lizzo, who still gets invited to stuff like this, and will be the musical guest for the fourth time. Her first guest spot was over nine years after Hamm’s third hosting gig, and yet they’ll both be doing their fourth show on the very same night. Some people really want to know why Hamm wasn’t invited back for so long after crushing three appearances in just over two years.
These three episodes will bring Saturday Night Live‘s 50th season up to the home stretch; expect the final batch of episodes in May. As always this season, make sure to read Matt Mitchell’s recaps here at Paste the morning after. What could be a better way to start your Sunday?