Who’s Hosting Saturday Night Live Tonight: February 3, 2018

For the first time in over a decade, Academy Award winner Natalie Portman is back to host a brand new Saturday Night Live tonight!

Although this is only the second time that Natalie Portman has hosted SNL, she’s definitely has a significant part in Saturday Night Live history. The last time she hosted was in 2006 during SNL Season 31. That was a trend-setting year for Saturday Night Live because it was the first year that the guys from The Lonely Island joined the show with Andy Samberg as a new featured cast member and his partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone hired as part of the SNL writing staff. This was start of a new era for the show with the beginning of the SNL Digital Shorts created, written and directed mostly by the Lonely Island boys. The show already had a viral (a new phrase for the time) hit with the SNL Digital Short “Lazy Sunday” and Natalie Portman starred in their next big sensation, “Natalie Raps” which was the sixth ever Digital Short for Saturday Night Live. In “Natalie Raps“, Portman went gangsta to get rid of any illusion of her clean cut, intellectual image by rapping about being a “badass bitch” among other things. Natalie Portman also was back for part of the SNL:40 special with a Digital Short cameo featuring all the stars of the previously hit shorts. So it would be easy to predict that Natalie Portman will once again try to make SNL Digital Short history when she hosts the show tonight at 11:30pm on NBC.

Looking at what’s going on in the world that may seep into tonight’s new SNL and Weekend Update segment, that declassified secret memo from Congress will probably top the list especially if Alec Baldwin who we have not seen in the Trump wig and makeup since December 16th’s show returns for a cold open appearance as the President. There’s also President Trump’s recent State of the Union speech that could lure Baldwin back. Plus, it’s Super Bowl weekend, so look for a sketch possibly skewering both Eagles and Patriots fans. Also in the news, there’s Hillary Clinton’s cameo at the Grammy Awards, the viral video of a showering rat and Scott Baio being accused of being a child molester by former “Charles in Charge” child co-star Nicole Eggert. Speaking of which, this will show you how times have changed. Back in 2006 when Natalie Portman first hosted SNL, the big closing joke in her monologue was cast member Chris Parnell making an inappropriate comment about Portman’s work as an 11 year old actress in the film, “The Professional“. Don’t expect a repeat of that joke.

In the first of the promos for tonight’s new Saturday Night Live, Natalie Portman takes a very slow trip down the halls of Studio 8-H much to the inconvenience of cast member Kenan Thompson. Then in the next set, Natalie is joined by musical guest Dua Lipa and cast member Pete Davidson who feels it’s a little too early for promos and he tells us about his ethnic background. Finally, Natalie Portman does an SNL 360 tour while going through her resume. Plus as a bonus video below, it’s the “Natalie Raps” SNL Digital Short from Season 31, the first season that Digital Shorts made their way onto Saturday Night Live.

Natalie Portman hosts an all-new SNL tonight with musical guest Dua Lipa at 11:30pm and live across all time zones on NBC.

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