8 Predictions for the First Host of ‘SNL’ Season 51
Historically, Saturday Night Live aims to kick off each season with a bang, so its season premieres typically feature fan-favorite SNL alumni or white-hot stars coming off a big summer.
The past five seasons have seen Jean Smart (fresh from her comedy Emmy win for Hacks), Pete Davidson (the show’s hottest alum thanks to tabloid romances and scandalous meltdowns), Miles Teller (representing that summer’s biggest hit, Top Gun: Maverick), Owen Wilson (promoting Marvel TV shows and movies) and Chris Rock (trying to make SNL safe from COVID once again).
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Who will Lorne Michaels tap to guide the show into its 51st season? Here are eight educated guesses, based on marketing opportunities meeting comedy bona fides...
Adam Sandler
In the Sandman’s favor: He was the standout star of SNL50, and his Happy Gilmore 2 just broke a bunch of Netflix streaming records. In other words, he checks both the “favorite SNL alum” and “huge summer” boxes. After getting fired from the show in the 1990s, Sandler stayed away for decades before his triumphant return as host in Season 44. Seven years later, he’s due for an encore.
Pedro Pascal
One of the biggest surprises of Season 50 was no hosting appearance for Pascal, who absolutely crushed his first chance the year before. But just in case anyone thought he fell out of favor with Michaels, Pascal got a featured spot during an SNL50 sketch. With Pascal’s Fantastic Four likely to gross a half billion dollars or so before summer’s end, a return would be welcome.
Spinal Tap
A late-summer movie release starring three former cast members of Saturday Night Live? Of course we’d want to see a show hosted by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. Standing in the way is Shearer’s notorious hatred of SNL’s producer — two years ago, Shearer called Michaels “an expert at manipulating people, and playing psychological games with people.” There might not be room at 30 Rock for both of them.
Pam Anderson and Liam Neeson
The Naked Gun reboot has fantastic reviews — will that drive enough box office to officially make Neeson and Anderson comedy superstars? The two have been teasing an on-set romance, making a tag-team hosting appearance a fun possibility. Surely, Michaels is serious about the pair’s potential.
Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen her around Studio 8H, but Lohan used to be SNL royalty. The Five-Timers Club member was a go-to host in the 2000s, talented enough that Tina Fey took her on as a protege in Mean Girls. With Lohan and Curtis back in theaters with Freakier Friday, is it time to welcome Lohan (and two-time host Curtis) back into the fold? And if Spinal Tap won’t work as a host, perhaps Curtis could convince her husband, Christopher Guest, to serve as the musical act.
Bad Bunny
I wasn’t a fan of Bad Bunny’s first go-round as SNL host, but he turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of Happy Gilmore 2. Like Pascal, Bad Bunny is enough of a Michaels favorite to earn stage time during SNL50. He’s also best pals with emerging SNL alpha dog Marcello Hernández, which can’t hurt.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Many of the other candidates on this list appear on the strength of their summer hits. Five-Timer Dwayne Johnson actually has something to sell — his buzzy A24 movie, The Smashing Machine, opens the same weekend as the Season 51 season premiere. Variety is already predicting an Oscar nomination for one of the world’s biggest movie stars, making this pick a no-brainer.
Stephen Colbert
And the slam dunk. Colbert already sits atop most lists of the biggest comedy stars to never host Saturday Night Live. What better way to stick it to the current administration than to enlist Colbert to make his SNL debut? Colbert was a Second City superstar who auditioned for SNL back in the day, a natural fit for live sketch comedy. And a Colbert hosting appearance would deliver the one thing that our President respects the most: ratings.
