Who is Hosting Saturday Night Live Tonight: October 3, 2020
Saturday Night Live is back tonight with its 46th season premiere hosted by comedy heavyweight and “Fargo” star, Chris Rock!
Tonight, SNL welcomes home one of its own. Former cast member and current comedy legend, Chris Rock is coming back to host the show where he was once part of the ensemble, Saturday Night Live. Chris joined SNL back in 1990 and didn’t stick around too long, only 3 seasons.
His SNL Class of ’90 is known as one of the more success ones. Chris Rock joined the Saturday Night Live cast at the same time as Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Rob Schneider, Julia Sweeney, David Spade and Adam Sandler. When Sandler came back to host SNL for his first time just two years ago, Chris Rock made a cameo appearance during Sandler’s monologue segment. Chris Rock has always been a regular in several of Adam Sandler’s movie comedies, so we’ll see if the Sandman repays the favor tonight.
This evening’s brand new SNL starring Chris Rock is not only the season premiere, but it’s also part of a tradition where executive producer Lorne Michaels invites a former SNL cast member back to host Saturday Night Live each season. In recent years, former repertory players and writers who have return to the host the show include Seth Meyers, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Jimmy Fallon, Larry David, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, John Mulaney, Adam Sandler, and most famously from last season, Eddie Murphy.
Along with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock is an SNL rarity; a former cast member who came back to host the show after being fired from it. Of course, that’s one side of the story. Sometimes the story is told another way, where Chris was ready to quit SNL, so they fired him before he could.
Either way, the results were the same. Chris Rock left Saturday Night Live after only 3 seasons,1990 through 1993. His first season was SNL – Season 16. By the end of SNL – Season 18, Chris had announced his frustration with the show. He claimed that he could never find his comedic voice on SNL.
He also expressed interest in joining a rival comedy-sketch show, “In Living Color.” Chris appeared on the variety series created by Keenen Ivory Wayans six times during its fifth and final season. And the way, Chris Rock tells it in interviews, he was ready to join the show when it was cancelled just weeks later.
Again, this didn’t slow down Chris Rock’s career either. He became a smash hit stand up comedian with huge tours and HBO specials that were massively successful including “Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes” (1994), “Chris Rock: Bring the Pain” (1996), “Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker” (1999), “Chris Rock: Never Scared” (2004), and “Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger” (2008). These all made “Chris Rock” a household name. His most recent stand up comedy hour “Chris Rock: Tamborine” was released by Netflix in 2018. His stand up specials have earned Chris Rock two Emmy Awards.
Saturday Night Live and “In Living Color” weren’t the end of Chris Rock’s television career. In the late 90’s, Chris hosted a talk – variety show for HBO called “The Chris Rock Show.” It lasted for 5 seasons on HBO and it brought Chris another Primetime Emmy Award. This one for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program.
Tonight’s SNL host also became a movie star, in both live-action and animated films. Chris Rock had scene-stealing performances with bit parts, co-starring roles and as a Hollywood lead in films like “Beverly Hills Cop II“, “Boomerang“, “Beverly Hills Ninja“, “Dr. Doolittle“, “Lethal Weapon 4“, Kevin Smith’s “Dogma“, “Head of State“, the “Grown Ups” movies and “The Longest Yard” with Adam Sandler, “Top Five” (written, directed and starring Chris Rock), and the “Madagascar” animated feature and its sequels.
Now back on television, Chris Rock has new project to promote which is different from most of the items on his IMDb page. He is starring in the fourth chapter of the FX anthology series, “Fargo“. While Chris Rock’s résumé is filled with comedies, his involvement in “Fargo” takes him back to his early acting days when he appeared in dramas, like playing Pookie in “New Jack City.” In this round of the crime-drama, “Fargo” on FX, Chris Rock co-stars with another actor who’s also more known for doing comedy over drama, Jason Schwartzman.
In the 4th and current installment of “Fargo,” it’s the year 1950 in Kansas City. By that mid-point in the century in the Fargo-verse, the Italian mafia that runs crime in KC is organized by the Fadda Family. The Faddas, led by Josto Fadda (Schwartzman), has a firm grip on Kansas City corruption. However, the more traditional crime family is being challenged by some 20th century upstarts, Cannon Limited. That’s the name of the crime syndicate that is headed up by Chris Rock’s character, Loy Cannon.
There is an uneasy peace between the Faddas and Cannon Limited. No one wants an all out gang war. That would be bad for business. Loy and Josto come to an agreement with a tense arrangement that leads to the two godfathers literally exchanging sons as a sign of trust between two men who don’t trust anyone. How long can this bizarre peace treaty last when everything does explode and who will come out of it as the top Kansas City kingpin? The 4th season of “Fargo” airs Sunday nights at 10pm et on FX.
Tonight will be Chris Rock’s third time hosting Saturday Night Live. He made his first trip back home to SNL as host of the show on November 2, 1996 during SNL – Season 22 and then again 8 years later when he hosted SNL on November 1, 2014 during SNL – Season 40.
Even though tonight’s SNL premiere is hosted by one of the biggest names in comedy with Chris Rock hosting, we can expect the show to open with a different comedy superstar. This evening’s planned SNL – Cold Open was more than likely going to be a parody of this past Tuesday’s presidential debate between incumbent Donald Trump and front-runner Veep Joe Biden, which by all accounts was a bellowing disaster.
Alec Baldwin will be back this season as Donald J. Trump, but it’s comedy showman Jim Carrey who’s been brought on by SNL to play that aviator-glasses wearin’, ’67 Corvette drivin’, healthcare savin’, wheelin’, dealin’, definitely kiss stealin’ son-of-a-gun Joe Biden! Woooo!
Earlier this week, Saturday Night Live released a short promo showing Jim Carrey and former cast member Maya Rudolph transforming into the 2020 Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It shouldn’t be any surprise given Jim Carrey’s natural elasticity and chameleon-like powers to transform into anyone he impersonates, how much he looks like a more energetic version of the former Vice-President, especially when he puts on a pair of Aviators. We have that promo below for you to check out along with the other promos for tonight’s SNL premiere.
Of course, the bigger than big news is that President Trump and the First Lady have tested positive for the Coronavirus. With this not being announced publicly until early Friday morning, the SNL writers’ room has most likely gone into comedic overdrive to rewrite the show’s opening sketch to include the President and Melania’s diagnosis. If Alec Baldwin was scheduled to appear on tonight’s first show of the season, it will probably involve more of a rewrite than to just throw a face-mask on his Trump character. We’ll have to see tonight how much this past week’s debate plays into SNL‘s plans.
If SNL decides to rework the opening sketch to cover the Trumps dealing with what social media is now calling “Covid-45” in honor of the President, perhaps this is a chance for featured cast member Chloe Fineman to play Trump senior adviser and White House Patient Zero Hope Hicks. That’s someone from Trump’s inner circle who’s been played in the past on Weekend Update by cast member Cecily Strong. And since Cecily also plays infected First Lady Melania Trump on SNL, this might be a chance for featured cast member Chloe Fineman to step into the impression. She’d be perfect as the former White House Communications Director.
The first of the debates was also one of the big political stories last week so it’s a given that it will show up in some form on Saturday Night Live‘s premiere night, either in the cold open, a sketch or on Weekend Update. That’s along with Donald Trump’s pick to replace the irreplaceable Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett who is sure to be mentioned on tonight’s show, although we still don’t know who is going to play Judge Barrett. May we suggest the fabulous Molly Shannon!?
Being the first episode back after the hiatus, this evening’s show will be a amalgam of the big stories that SNL didn’t get to handle in real time during the summer and those news items happening currently. Saturday Night Live was on vacation during a majority of the Covid Crisis and the race for a vaccine, along with most of the Presidential Campaign including the conventions, Joe Biden selecting his running-mate Kamala Harris and the revealing Donald Trump books by family and journalists alike, plus the massive nationwide demonstrations against police injustice which began following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and of course, (and most importantly) America falling out of love with Ellen DeGeneres. That all happened while Saturday Night Live was out of the office.
Currently, there’s so much going on that there’s seems to be enough topical material happening in the news right now to do three installments of Weekend Update tonight alone. Plus, there’s so much Trump news that Saturday Night Live has plenty for material without even having to mention his Coronavirus infection.
Other Trump topics SNL might use tonight include the President’s income tax situation being shown to the world in a New York Times piece that would have been less embarrassing if it exposed Trump’s ass instead of this taxes. The Weekend Update anchors are sure to mention the NY Times investigative report showing that Trump only paid $750 in taxes and that he’s not a real estate baron like he portrays on “The Apprentice” and that all his money simply came from television and endorsement deals.
Plus there’s Trump trying to sow seeds of doubt and sabotage the Vote-by-Mail process in this election and his refusal to agree to concede if he loses on November 3rd, along with Trump’s Ex-Campaign Manager Brad Parscale being dropped off at the nut-hut after a shirtless, erratic and possibly dangerous episode, reports that Donald Trump considered his daughter Ivanka for his running-mate (sorry Mike Pence), circus workers furious over the first Presidential Debate being referred to as a “circus”, and Presidential Debate moderator Chris Wallace from Fox News getting a Covid test after spending debate night dodging President Trump’s spittle.
Other news items that may be used for laughs on the first edition of Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che on this evening’s SNL premiere include the unprovoked attack on comedy recluse Rick Moranis in NYC, new charges filed against Harvey Weinstein, NASA sending a new $23 million women’s toilet to the International Space Station, Joe Montana fighting off a kidnapper who tried to steal his grandbaby, the NFL coming back without fans along with coaches getting fined for not wearing their masks and the Steelers – Titans game being postponed because of Covid, the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the NHL’s Stanley Cup, LeBron James buying $37 million mansion where Katherine Hepburn once lived, and “Tiger King” antagonist Carole Baskin being eliminated on “Dancing with the Stars.”
As mentioned we have the promos for tonight’s all-new Saturday Night Live. Finally! A new SNL! The first promo is the from the SNL makeup and wardrobe departments where we see Jim Carrey going through the process of becoming former VP Joe Biden and Maya Rudolph transforming into Senator Kamala Harris. We get to see Carrey being fitted with a Biden white-haired wig and his prominent teeth for that trademark Biden smile.
The Jim Carrey – Maya Rudolph promo also gives us some clues about the tonight’s premiere. The opening shots of the promo pan down a wardrobe rack showing the suits specifically marked for each player in a political sketch this evening. There is a suit marked for Jim Carrey as Biden, one marked for Alec Baldwin as Trump and one listed for cast member Beck Bennett to reprieve his impression of current Vice-President Mike Pence. So, now we know those characters based on real-life White House characters will all appear tonight on the first Saturday Night Live of SNL – Season 46.
In the second promo for this evening’s Saturday Night Live 46 premiere, host Chris Rock is appearing with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion. Longtime SNL fans will notice that Chris is doing his Saturday Night Live promos without the help of cast member. Usually someone from the cast gets to join in on the promo fun with the host and the musical guest. And there were plenty to choose from. With no one leaving for Hollywood and new SNL featured players coming in, this will be the biggest Saturday Night Live cast ever.
Chris Rock is definitely following strict Covid-19 guidelines in this second set of promos. He and musical guest Megan Thee Stallion are wearing face-masks which not only block dangerous droplets, but also cover Megan’s lips when she’s mouthing things that can’t be said on network television. Also, it looks like Megan Thee Stallion is going to need more than a mask to make her feel safe during tonight’s show.
The amazing comedy phenom Chris Rock hosts tonight’s Saturday Night Live Season 46 Premiere with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion at 11:30pm et on NBC!
Plus, in extremely exciting news, Saturday Night Live has announced that stand up megastar Bill Burr will host SNL for his first time next week on Saturday, October 10th!
The next two shows! @billburr @MorganWallen @IssaRae @justinbieber pic.twitter.com/CBaublGtmi
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 2, 2020
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