Who is Hosting Saturday Night Live Tonight: August 8, 2020

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Saturday Night Live reruns continue tonight with an SNL repeat hosted by James Bond star Daniel Craig, 007 License to Entertain!

During each of its summer hiatuses (or is it hiati?), Saturday Night Live replays episodes from the previous season. So, during the Summer of 2020, we’re getting reruns provided from SNL – Season 45. And even with 18 shows to choose from, including three “SNL At Home” episodes, Saturday Night Live still has its favorites. And those shows get re-aired more than once during the off-season.

For example, the SNL – Season 45 Finale starring host Kristen Wiig from May 9th, has aired 3 times already. And after tonight, the same thing goes for tonight’s Saturday Night Live rerun starring Daniel Craig. It could be that some of these episodes just hold a special place in the heart of the SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels in order to get the triple play treatment.

Tonight’s Daniel Craig hosted rerun may be special because Daniel Craig will go down in SNL show history as the last host to work out of Studio 8-H. This evening’s replay is also the last SNL that was performed in front of a live audience. This show originally aired on March 7, 2020. Not long after that, everything shut down around the world because of the Coronavirus outbreak. That especially included movies, television shows and New York City based variety series.

So, this evening at 11:30pm et on NBC, sit back, relax and enjoy a taste of yesteryear when TV shows had studio audiences full of people, when they were produced in expensive sound stages and not at home and when the performers, writers, directors, cameramen and everyone else worked together in the same location.

As you’ll see in tonight’s SNL repeat, the Covid19 virus was already having its influence on Saturday Night Live. Both in the writers’ room as a source of inspiration for the sketch comedy show and on the host’s film career.

Daniel Craig, tonight’s replay host, was appearing on Saturday Night Live in March to promote his new James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” which was suppose to premiere in April, but the virus was changing those plans. Craig wanted to plug the movie which was his 5th and final adventure as James Bond, but had to explain in his monologue that “the release of the film had been delayed due to public health concerns.” That explanation made it sound as simple as a kid took a shit in a theater and it was temporarily closed, not that a worldwide pandemic was coming to shutdown the planet Earth.

By the way, Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as James Bond still hasn’t been released. “No Time to Die” has had its premiere date changed about 5 times now and is currently due to come out in theaters nationwide on Friday, November 20th, 2020. We’ll see.

In the monologue portion of the show tonight, you’ll also see Daniel Craig doing some bragging about his latest James Bond movie. He says “No Time to Die” is the best Bond script yet and a lot of that has to do with producers bringing in “Fleabag” star and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge to punch up the script. Speaking of which, congrats to Phoebe Waller-Bridge who picked up a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for hosting Saturday Night Live herself last season. She hosted the second episode of SNL – Season 45.

Also during the monologue, Daniel Craig gives us a sneak-peek at “No Time to Die” by showing us one of his favorite scenes which is really an SNL Short featuring Craig’s James Bond in a casino with the SNL cast playing different characters in the film including an excellent job by SNL featured player Chloe Fineman as Bond Girl “Paloma”, the character actually played by Ana De Armas in “No Time to Die.” The scene is a great look at James Bond. That is if James Bond were a compulsive gambler on top of being a secret agent.

Daniel Craig also brings another one of his hit movies to SNL in tonight’s repeat with a sketch that takes us behind the scenes of Craig’s 2019 hit film “Knives Out.” In the mystery thriller from last year, Daniel Craig stars as the southern sleuth, Private Detective Benoit Blanc. In a sketch this evening called “Accent Coach“, host Daniel Craig plays himself preparing to play Benoit Blanc, the investigator with a prominent southern accent.

While meeting with producers, Daniel Craig introduces them to his dialect coach Franklin Hughes played by cast member Beck Bennett. Franklin has a unique look and style. He also knows nothing about southern accents. His southern accent would have made Tom Petty cry. You’ll see and hear it in tonight’s SNL rerun.

In other sketches this evening, Daniel Craig also plays a guy who takes a game night round of the Movie Quote game too seriously. It goes from quoting to deep quoting and we find out he’s also keeping secrets from his family. Plus in another sketch, Craig plays a celebrity chef dealing with an angry singing diva after he insults her intelligence on a daytime talk show. And he also plays a soap opera actor trying to handle the new filming restrictions on set meant to keep the cast safe from the Coronavirus in a sketch called “The Sands of Modesto.”

This episode of Saturday Night Live replaying this evening is also special because of the cameo appearances you’ll see tonight. The first one takes place right at the beginning of the show in the SNL Cold Open. Of course, the opening is a political sketch. It’s features cast member Kate McKinnon back in her wig (which could only be described as Fox News blonde) as cable host Laura Ingraham for another “Ingraham Angle” sketch.

In the cold opener, McKinnon’s Laura Ingraham declares the Coronavirus as a complete hoax. She also gives her conservative viewers a list of things more important to worry about instead of the virus. The guests in the SNL opening sketch include FNC’s Judge Jeanine Pirro played loudly by cast member Cecily Strong and then-recently fired MSNBC host Chris Matthews fantastically played by returning SNL cast member Darrell Hammond doing one of his most popular impressions that made him a Saturday Night Live favorite.

And that’s not all when it comes to special cameo appearances. The SNL Cold Open tonight also welcomes the real life Senator Elizabeth Warren who had just dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination, ending her Presidential campaign. It’s a really special moment in this evening’s SNL repeat when the real Elizabeth Warren is joined on stage by SNL‘s Elizabeth Warren played by Kate McKinnon after a spectacularly fast costume change.

There’s another guest appearance in tonight’s show that caught everyone off guard. It’s the return of recurring character Debbie Downer portrayed by former SNL cast member Rachel Dratch. Either Saturday Night Live owed Rachel one more “Debbie Downer” sketch for flawlessly playing Senator Amy Klobuchar in all the Democratic Debate sketches this past season or they just realized the Coronavirus outbreak lent itself perfectly to the return of the always negative recurring SNL character, Debbie Downer.

In the sketch which made the live audience really pop, Debbie Downer shows up at a relative’s wedding reception. And as usual, she’s got nothing but bad news. From Covid19 to the “Me Too” movement to yes, feline AIDs, Debbie has the doom and gloom market cornered.

There’s two SNL Shorts in tonight’s repeat to go along with all the sketches. The first one is a music video for the song “On The Couch” performed by cast members Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd as well as musical guest The Weeknd. It’s a 70’s style love song about guys who end up sleeping “on the couch” no matter how smooth they try to be.

The next SNL Short this evening has a 1950’s feel to it. Cast member Aidy Bryant has a 50’s TV sitcom housewife look as she sings about her famous recipe for overnight salad. The salad has plenty of layers and they’re not all good. In fact, she made have killed the family dog with this disgusting concoction.

In the repeat edition of Weekend Update tonight, the top story isn’t the virus shutting down the world, it’s Elizabeth Warren shutting down her campaign. Anchormen Colin Jost and Michael Che talk about the two last Democrats standing, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, both trying to earn Senator Warren’s endorsement. Jost puts the state of the Democratic campaign in perfect perspective when he says, “it’s become like my Dad’s favorite radio station, just the oldies.”

Jost and Che do get around to talking to about the coming pandemic on Weekend Update tonight with Che going back to a bit he did on the show before this one aired where he decides the best way to deal with the Coronavirus is to just get drunk and say screw everything.

Weekend Update also covers President Trump babbling at an appearance where he started hugging on the American flag again. Plus, they report on Trump’s visit to the CDC, along with the SXSW festival being cancelled due to the virus and someone testing positive for Covid19 who had attended a conservative conference where Trump and VP Mike Pence had also appeared.

Other news stories you’ll see on Weekend Update on tonight’s replay include NASA searching for a diverse group of astronauts for a trip to Mars, the release of the new James Bond movie being pushed back till November, Penn State students upset about the campus Taco Bell closing, a 100 year old woman in North Carolina wanting police to arrest, handcuff and take her to jail for her birthday, and William Shatner being awarded semen from his prize horses in his latest divorce agreement.

In this evening’s SNL rerun, Weekend Update has three guests stopping by the news desk. A new one, an old one and a musical one. First, featured player Bowen Yang introduces a new homeless character called “Bottle Boi.” Wait. He’s not homeless. He claims to live at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Times Square. Bottle Boi is very upset about New York City banning plastics. Although, he doesn’t sound like a New Yorker. It’s hard to tell if he’s trying to be southern, urban or what the hell that accent is suppose to be?

There’s also the return of cast member Cecily Strong’s recurring Weekend Update character called “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With At a Party.” She’s upset about the government’s Coronavirus response and what’s happening with the Presidential election. You can tell by what she does to Michael Che that this show was definitely before any sort of social distancing protocols were set up at Saturday Night Live.

And on Weekend Update this evening, it’s the unveiling of a new segment featuring tonight’s musical guest, The Weeknd. Just don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

There’s two promos for tonight’s Saturday Night Live repeat starring Daniel Craig just waiting for you to check them out below. In the first promo, Daniel Craig is determined to have some fun and do something really different this evening from his regular James Bond routine on Saturday Night Live, no matter how many people he has to hurt to do it.

In the second promo, Daniel Craig is joined by musical guest The Weeknd and cast member Cecily Strong. This promo shows you that not everyone is cut out to be James Bond. Because sometimes, their name just doesn’t fit the part.

Daniel Craig hosts a Saturday Night Live encore presentation with musical guest The Weeknd from a show which originally aired on March 7, 2020 in front of a studio audience. See if you can remember what a studio audience used to be when you watch tonight at 11:30pm et on NBC.

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Ernie Tripper

Ernie Tripper