Without digging in too deep to popular music/ culture trends over the past 20 years, it feels that, recently, Saturday Night Live has more readily accepted musicians jumping into the hosting waters. I've discussed this many times in this newsletter, so I apologize if I repeat myself, but the double-duty host is sort of the meat of this sandwich (be careful what you wish for).
The shift to pop-star hosts at first seems connected to the maturing careers of early-2000s pop stars like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake (buoyed by Timberlake hanging out on the show for, like, a decade), but I’d say the earliest of this “modern” version was Garth Brooks in 1998. This also coincided with different generations finding SNL: a younger fanbase embraced full-throated adoration resulting in a steady stream of musicians who could elicit shrieks from fans who camped out for stand by tickets.
With a few exceptions, this has created solid television. Musicians who are used to playing to live audiences are able to connect and entertain a live studio audience in a way that Liev Schreiber cannot. Not to bury the lede, but Megan Thee Stallion gave herself to the hosting side with delightful results.
Last week I insinuated that the SNL writers were hoarding music sketches for Megan. Aside from the above “We Got Brought,” Megan's sketches ran the typical gamut - commercial, song, classroom, talkshow, all the standards. The sketches and monologue mostly built off MTS’s big personality, but she also fit easily into more premise-heavy bits. However, if they are holding musical ideas for Jack Harlow, I will scream.
When Megan Thee Stallion musical guested previously, she performed powerful and memorable editions of her songs. The emotion continued in this episode.
Three episodes into the season, Megan’s hosting has been a bright spot. Usually after pulling double-duty, musicians are content to return just for musical guest spots. Megan Thee Stallion seemed like she was having so much fun during her episode that maybe she will lobby to be a featured player for the rest of the season.
No Notes:
“Hot Girl Hospital” was the most Megan Thee Stallion sketch
“Deer” was the least but was still very fun.
Next time: Ugh, Jack Harlow. Can’t wait for all the jokes about how he should not be rebooting White Men Can’t Jump and the most New Balance 550s on the SNL stage since Nate Ruess and Please Don’t Destroy had a meeting (it’s a great shoe, I love the shoe).