Who is Hosting Saturday Night Live Tonight: April 25, 2020

Live from home isolation, Saturday Night Live is back tonight with a new episode of SNL at Home!!

Two weeks ago, Saturday Night Live returned to television with the most unique episode in the award winning variety series’ 45 year history. Due to the pandemic, the SNL cast and crew, like the rest of us, were sent home and told to stay there until the danger of the growing Coronavirus outbreak had been contained. After 5 weeks off, a combined time of a scheduled break and the forced shutdown, SNL and executive producer Lorne Michaels pulled off the herculean effort of doing the show without anyone coming in the office.

All the performances and the production that went with them, were all done from the home bases of everyone connected with Saturday Night Live. It was pretty remarkable that they pulled it off and the effort was rewarded. The episode labeled with the social media hashtag #SNLAtHome, brought in 6.7 million total viewers. It was the second highest rated episode during this current SNL – Season 45.

After a week of still working from home since that landmark show, Saturday Night Live made the announcement on social media on Thursday that they’re ready to try it again.

Yesterday, @nbcsnl tweeted a reminder that there would be a new show tonight, but with no new information on what we’re in for with this latest home-produced episode.

In this latest tweet, cast member Kenan Thompson announces that this will be “the second SNL at home” while cast member Pete Davidson quickly mentions that it will be weird without an audience. Strange coming from a man now known for calling his audiences “idiots” and “morons.” And then while Kenan shouts that he just wants “things to go back to normal,” featured player Ego Nwodim explains that the cast will just have to “embrace the awkwardness,” she guesses. Like their previous tweets about #SNLAtHome, the promos end with a “Brady Bunch” montage of all the Saturday Night Live cast members’ cam shots.

During more normal times, each week that there was a new episode of Saturday Night Live, it’s always been fun in this column to speculate on which direction the SNL writers’ room will go with the show’s comedy by guessing the premises they’ll use and what from the week of news, pop culture, scandal and Trump will get included in that night’s show. But we’ve never had to guess who’s hosting the damn thing!

As with the first “At Home” episode two weeks ago, Saturday Night Live hasn’t announced who’s hosting the show this evening. No one knew about Covid-19 survivor Tom Hanks being the host of the first #SNLAtHome until his name was uttered by Saturday Night Live announcer Darrell Hammond.

Is SNL keeping it a secret because so many things could fall through at the last minute with a remotely produced show!? Are they not even sure who they’re using as host until Saturday!?

After all, if we’re going by the “Tom Hanks” model of how the #SNLAtHome version of Saturday Night Live works, all the host has to do is pre-record the monologue (which is even shorter than usual), the musical guest introductions and then say “goodnight” while the credits roll. And all without having to leave their home base. It’s not that involved of a gig if Lorne Michaels is grabbing someone last minute.

Let’s look at some of the possible candidates we think might be hosting Saturday Night Live At Home tonight.

There’s John Krasinski. He’s probably even money to host. The former star of “The Office” (yes, we feel the need to clarify the American version) and current star of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” on Amazon Prime has been a force for good during the Coronavirus outbreak and isolation by cheering people up on social media with his “SGN” (“Some Good News“) videos where he plays the role of the happy anchorman who only reports stories of hope and goodwill during the pandemic. Plus if you remember, J-Kras was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live and then the pandemic came along and took a giant corona-shit all over those plans. So, SNL does still owe John Krasinski his first hosting gig.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is probably much more of a long shot. He’s been hailed as one of the hero governors of the Covid outbreak and is someone who would boost morale in the city, state and country if he hosted. He’s become synonymous with leadership during the outbreak in America. An appearance would work on a national level, but Cuomo may worry about appearances and how it would look if he was yucking it up on SNL while people in his state are really struggling.

If we’re going political with tonight’s host choice, the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden could definitely be in the running. A lot of Presidential contenders have made SNL appearances before the election including Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton to name a few recent ones. Usually the nominee of either party waits until the fall to appear on SNL, but these are strange days indeed.

A choice from out of left field would be Louis C.K. He’s sure to be available and he has a brand new comedy special to promote, “Sincerely, Louis C.K. It’s C.K.’s first full comedy hour since confessing to sexual impropriety and becoming one of the unofficial faces of the #MeToo era. Louis would be a controversial choice to host tonight’s SNL At Home episode, but that same controversy would translate into entertainment headlines for Saturday Night Live. Louis is also back in the news. The Joe Biden campaign recently returned Louis C.K.’s donation of $2,800. Uncle Joe Biden has enough problems with being too “hands on” with the ladies to also want be tied to Louis C.K. as well.

If you need a laugh during the pandemic (and that’s what Louis is offering,) “Sincerely, Louis C.K. is available at louisck.com. And if you’re not sure a Louis C.K. special is for you at the moment, you can check out a review of Louis C.K.’s latest hour by our own Marty Younge on TheIBang.

One person who has a good chance of hosting SNL tonight from the comfort of his own living room would be Jimmy Fallon. He’s still Lorne Michaels’ late night golden boy and has been doing the Tonight Show remotely for most of the pandemic. Fallon knows what goes into pulling off one of these homegrown variety shows and he obviously knows how SNL works. Jimmy Fallon is a pretty logical choice if no one else is available.

If we’re looking at former cast members as a possible host for tonight’s new SNL at Home show, the comedy team of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler would be a brilliant choice. Seeing Tina and Amy from separate locations, but still interacting with each other would illicit cheers from quarantined viewers across the country. Looking at their credentials, the combo of Fey & Poehler are always a hit when they host the Golden Globe Awards and they appeared on the first #SNLAtHome episode when they were part of the moving tribute to Saturday Night Live music producer Hal Willner who friends believe was lost to the Coronavirus.

Larry David has been making cameos on Saturday Night Live all throughout SNL – Season 45 playing former Democratic contender for President, Senator Bernie Sanders. He also did a PSA as Bernie during the first edition of SNL At Home two weeks ago. Even though Larry would make for a fun and popular host, he wouldn’t be much of a surprise since SNL fans have grown accustomed to seeing him on an almost weekly basis. The same goes for Fred Armisen, Rachel Dratch and Alec Baldwin.

Another popular choice for host tonight would be Melissa McCarthy. Her regular SNL hosting gigs have been hits in the past and her cameo appearances as former Trump White House spokes-model Sean “Spicy” Spicer got legendary reviews on social media. And Melissa McCarthy is now also part of the NBC family. She recently took over as the host of “Little Big Shots“, the children’s talent show formerly hosted by Steve Harvey.

Finally, a host from the world of sports which the public is missing so badly right now with all events and seasons likely cancelled, would be a joy for the fans to see. Eli Manning, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, the new darling of the “Tom-pa Bay” Buccaneers would all be a sight for sore sports-less eyes. We’ll find out tonight who’s hosting Saturday Night Live At Home.

Weekend Update will be a large part of this week’s at-home show on SNL. And for the foreseeable future, the Covid virus is going to top the headlines that anchormen Colin Jost & Michael Che mock in the sequestered version of their funny news broadcast. However, rarely does our dimwitted President of the United States hand Weekend Update and the SNL writers such comedy gold as Donald J. Trump did this past week. And by the way, the J. stands for “Just inject some Clorox to take care of that nasty virus.” No. Don’t.

On Thursday, while thinking out loud in front of the White House Press Corp, that’s if you can consider it thinking, the President pondered this thought, “”Then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks (the virus) out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.”

The assumed Democratic nominee, former Veep Joe Biden tweeted a simple response saying, “I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t drink bleach.”

And if suggesting injections of extremely poisonous household cleaners wasn’t bad enough, Trump went on to also suggest exposing the inside of human bodies already suffering from the deadly Coronavirus, to highly dangerous UV rays to kill the disease. He thought aloud, “supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way.” Jost & Che, as well as the SNL Cold Open, are sure to have an absolute field day with comments this dumb and this dangerous from the President.

Other Trump news that Weekend Update might report on tonight includes a new NBC News report says President Donald Trump is tired of being stuck in the White House during the Coronavirus pandemic and wants to get away. That’s easy enough to turn into a homemade parody spot as an SNL Short for Southwest Airlines. The President makes a ridiculous statement about using disinfectant to cure the virus and then you hear, “Wanna Get Away?!?

Trump isn’t the only person talking crazy during this pandemic. Befuddled Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman had an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that was described as “bonkers” by late night host and Vegas favorite son Jimmy Kimmel who called the Mayor and her comments “an embarrassment to my hometown.”

Mayor Goodman told Anderson things that finally had him face-palming in frustration including that she hoped the warm weather would kill the virus, along with saying that re-opening Vegas was up to the casinos and that maybe just the casinos with a few Coronavirus cases should be opened and then she threw in some xenophobic comments to boot. Cast member Alex Moffat could transform into his Anderson Cooper impersonation easy enough at home. Hopefully, SNL over-nighted a silver wig to Moffat this week.

Update might also mention, Trump economic task force member Stephen Moore suggesting we put every American in a spacesuit and then send them back to work, the type spacesuit the astronauts on the International Space Station use for spacewalks. It would be like Trump’s Space Force, but here on Earth, making coffee, doing construction and working in offices. All in spacesuits.

Then there’s televangelist Pat Robertson, who was in Moses’ graduating class, and who recently blamed same-sex marriages and abortion for the Coronavirus outbreak and claims the plague is here to stay until America repents of its evil ways. Then there’s all our daytime TV doctors saying crazy shit including Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew and Dr. Oz.

There’s other Corona-related news that the Saturday Night Live at-home writers’ room may try to turn into remotely produced comedy tonight. There’s the  “Open It Up” protests in different states with demonstrators still wearing masks despite claiming its safe to leave our homes and now some of those same protesters are starting to come down with the Coronavirus themselves.

Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update may also be writing punchlines for stories like 63% of Americans fearing restrictions being lifted too fast and causing another, even worse outbreak, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio planning a ticker-tape parade for the city’s healthcare workers through the Canyon of Heroes, Disney giving free online illustration lessons during the self-quarantine, Baskin – Robbins Ice Cream now doing a “Tiger King” inspired promotion and changing their marquees to read that they’re not associated with Carole Baskin, the new Stones song, “Living in a Ghost Town” being released and frozen pizza getting as hard to find as toilet paper.

Things that are not so Corona-related that Weekend Update and SNL might touch on include the “Tiger King” Joe Exotic wanting out of jail because the prison he’s being held in has the most virus cases out of any other federal pen. With all the SNL sketches taking place via home cameras, it’s the perfect opportunity to do a sketch featuring an inmate video call from the imprisoned Joe Exotic.

We also have the first-ever NFL virtual draft that SNL is likely to parody this weekend. Not to mention the nutty headlines that new Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is causing by reuniting with Gronk, being chased out of a Tampa park where he went to work out because it had been closed due of the Florida lockdown, and accidentally walking into a stranger’s home unannounced when he thought he was at a Bucs assistant coach’s house.

Plus, the number of gun sales in America are way up and unfortunately, this is at the same time that the number of kids staying home during the pandemic is up as well. Also, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is reportedly in grave condition following surgery. It might be time for featured player Bowen Yang to dust off his Kim Jong Un wig. And if things weren’t bad enough on the planet, we have an asteroid estimated to be 1.2 miles wide flying by the Earth next week, but fortunately, it’s not expected to collide with our planet. However, the asteroid does have the appearance of wearing a protective medical mask. Yeah. That’s true.

All of that, or none of it, may be on SNL this week when the show returns with a new episode. Saturday Night Live At Home is back tonight with plenty of remotely produced comedy content to help us laugh at what’s going on in the world. Thank you SNL.

#SNLAtHome airs this evening at 11:30pm et and across all American time zones on NBC!