Who is Hosting Saturday Night Live Tonight: May 27, 2017
Sorry folks, Saturday Night Live is not live tonight. Last week’s gigantic season finale was the last live episode you’ll be seeing till the fall. But there’s no reason you can’t enjoy some sketch comedy tonight because NBC is re-running an episode from earlier this season. Louis C.K. hosts this episode which originally ran on April 8, 2017.
Louis C.K. of course, is one of the biggest comedy stars on the planet and the rare breed that remains as critically loved as he is popular. No need to rehash all of C.K.’s contributions to stand up and comedic television here. If you live on the planet you’re familiar with his accomplishments touring worldwide, putting out great specials and creating great shows like Horace and Pete, Louie, Better Things, Baskets, One Mississippi. You might not know that he produced one of our favorite specials of the year, voted by our readers as the #1 Comedy Special of 2016, Barry Crimmins: Whatever Threatens You.
Want more Louis? Listen to his hour long episode of Unmasked on iTunes
This year was Louis’ fourth time hosting SNL. In 2015, he hosted the show’s season finale and before that in November of 2012, and March, 2014. His newest special is available on Netflix. It’s called Louis C.K. 2017.
The episode is worth watching, although not as strong as we would have hoped with Louis on as host. Critics raved about C.K.’s stand up monologue which covered some controversial topics- getting into race and white privilege. Some of the jokes were shocking and audiences love to be shocked by Louis. It wasn’t one of our favorites and definitely can’t compare to C.K.’s season-ender in 2015, but if you didn’t catch it the first time around, it’s worth watching.
It was one of the sketches, however which brought out some genuine controversy. A funny sketch about a kids’ party clown (Bobby Moynihan) hired to perform for a grown man named Earnest (played by C.K.) generated plenty of heat around the internet when it was compared to a very similar short film created by Tig Notaro. Did SNL steal the bit? Notaro seemed to think so, but the issue was never resolved.
It wasn’t a memorable episode sketch-wise, but there are a few gems. You’ll get a quick silly laugh from a sketch about eyelashes, and a bit about a creepy ice cream shop owner had potential, but the real highlight of the episode comes from Che and Jost on Weekend Update.
C.K. is joined by musical guest, The Chainsmokers.
