Nick Jonas & A Brief History On Double-Duty Hosts
I've heard of having just one job, but having just two jobs?!?!
(Note: This edition is late and it is also long, so click on the title and open it in a browser window because your email will cut it off. Thanks byeeeeeee!)
Nick Jonas made his fourth (4th!) appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend - he’s been musical guest twice with his brothers (the cleverly named Jonas Brothers) and once as a solo artist. The Jonas Brothers’ appearances were a decade apart, and on his solo appearance he didn’t perform “Jealous” which might be a crime. More interestingly, this was the fortieth time the SNL music bookers and host bookers had a real “Ha!” moment when they realized they booked the same guest (I assume the guests are not booked independently and this is meant to be what in the biz is called a “joke.”) This has become more common lately as pop music had grown in the scope of popular culture, but the list of the SNL double-timers is kind of weird, so let’s get weird!
Paul Simon, Season 2 Episode 8 (11/20/76)
Paul Simon, Lorne Michaels’ good friend, was SNL’s first double-duty host. Still Crazy After All These Years had come out a year prior and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Pretty good resume for a musician also doing sketches! Simon performed four times doing “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “Something So Right”, and “Here Comes The Sun” with a very special guest.
Ray Charles, Season 3 Ep. 5 (11/12/1977)
Legendary Ray Charles was the first of two blind singers to host SNL. He performed five musical numbers and also played piano in a few sketches. Relying on host’s musical acumen continued to be a solid bet when musicians get the hosting call.
The Rolling Stones, Season 4 Ep. 1 (10/7/1978)
The Rolling Stones are so far the only band to host Saturday Night Live. They should bring this practice back. Imagine getting Maroon 5 to host and Adam Levine having to learn the names of the other people in the band.
Frank Zappa, Season 4 Ep. 3 (10/21/1978)
Frank Zappa did a bad enough job hosting, that he was banned from the show afterwards.
Olivia Newton-John, Season 7 Ep. 20 (5/22/1982)
Olivia Newton-John hosted during Dick Ebersol’s reign of producing the show after Lorne Michaels left. Newton-John did not have a monologue and instead opened with a performance of “Physical” (not the Dua Lipa one.) She would also reprise her role as Sandy Olsen from Grease but does not mention why the character is not returning for Grease 2.
Stevie Wonder, Season 8 Ep. 19 (5/7/1983)
Wonder also hosted during the Ebersol run, so he opened with a song as well (it was neither version of “Physical.”) Stevie’s Stevie met Eddie Murphy’s Stevie in a sketch that cemented Murphy’s impression as a highlight of his time as a castmember.
Willie Nelson, Season 12 Ep. 12 (2/21/1987)
Willie Nelson hosted when Lorne Michaels was back to producing, but he still opened with a performance of “Night Life.” Hopefully soon we will get to the era of musicians doing a tight five stand up set. Nelson also performed a comedy song with Victoria Jackson. She probably hates Willie Nelson now.
Dolly Parton, Season 14 Ep. 17 (4/15/1989)
Dolly Parton brings back the monologue! Parton performed two songs from her then latest album, White Limozeen. It being the late 1980s, you can guess which type of jokes from the late 1980s were made about Parton. Saturday Night Live writers have never skipped an opportunity to joke about boobs.
Quincy Jones, Season 15 Ep. 12 (2/10/1990)
Quincy Jones’ appearance as musical host came ten days before his enormous Grammys night where he won seven awards for Back On The Block. Since that comeback album/ foray into rap was largely collaborative, a bunch of the featured artists joined Jones, including Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, and Tevin Campbell, to name a few. This show was also the day before Nelson Mandela was freed, so Jones conducted “Manteca,” a song he wrote when Mandela was arrested and would not perform until Mandela was released.
Sting, Season 16 Ep. 9 (1/19/1991)
Sting did three songs when he hosted, but one of them was a cover of “Purple Haze.” There should be covers of sketches if they are going to let Sting pull that shit. I want Mikey Day’s take on the Get Off The Shed Dad.
Hammer, Season 17 Ep. 8 (12/7/1991)
Hammer hosted in December of 1991 to promote The Addams Family. Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman showed up in character to introduce his performance of “Addams Groove.” They would again show up out of character to play children in a sketch when Nicole Kidman hosted. As far as I can tell, Nicole Kidman has no Addams Family connections.
Garth Brooks, Season 23 Ep. 14 (2/281998), Season 25 Ep. 5 (11/13/1999)
Technically, Brooks only gets one nod on this list since the second time he hosted, “Chris Gaines” was the musical guest. As Tracy Morgan pointed out, this was bullshit.
Brooks also developed a recurring bit with Mango in a sort of proto-Stefon/ Ben Affleck thing. Brooks’ appearances also gave us “Fred’s got slacks on the boulevard.”
Britney Spears, Season 25 Ep. 19 (5/13/2000), Season 27 Ep. 12 (2/2/2002)
Britney Spears was the first of the New Mickey Mouse Club kids to rise to stardom and host Saturday Night Live (Justin Timberlake showed up the most and Ryan Gosling broke during sketches the most.) Much like Dolly Parton decades earlier, there were many boob jokes, but this being the twenty-first century, SNL had the technology to fit Britney with an animatronic harness that made her chest move during the monologue. Spears’ episodes were also remarkable for her chemistry with Tracy Morgan. The world deserves a Britney/ Garth/ Tracy vehicle now.
Jennifer Lopez, Season 26 Ep. 11 (2/10/2001), Season 35 Ep. 15 (2/27/2010)
Lopez, like others on this list, would host SNL more than twice, but eventually she stopped being the musical guest. I wonder if Lorne just assumes double-threat talent will do both jobs until he hears otherwise. Like in 2019, he got Lopez to host and then turned his attention to getting other famous people to show up to do impressions instead of the cast members he hired, and on Thursday he was surprised when Lopez didn’t soundcheck. “Get me DaBaby.” - Lorne Michaels, then.
Lopez’s first hosting job came right around the time of The Wedding Planner and her second was in-between a lot of things so maybe The Back-Up Plan? Both appearances as host/guest occured at some remove from cycles of album promotion, but who cares!
Justin Timberlake, Season 29 Ep. 2 (10/11/2003), Season 32 Ep. 9 (12/16/2006), Season 38 Ep. 16 (3/9/2013)
Justin Timberlake joined the five-timers club but NOT all appearances were as a simultaneous host and musical guest, so we will not discuss his inclusion in that club here. Timberlake has been a musical act only twice - once with *NSYNC and once while Jimmy Fallon hosted, but that was for the second part of the 20/20 Experience, so we have agreed to forget that. Timbelake hasn’t shown up on the show since, which seems like a mistake I will have to go back to edit. (Editor’s Note - Timberlake showed up during the 40th Anniversary Special in 2015 but we are nothing if not honest here so we will address that via this note)
Janet Jackson, Season 29 Ep. 17 (4/10/2004)
Janet Jackson hosted two months after she performed the Super Bowl halftime show. You absolutely do not have to hand it to Saturday Night Live, BUT it’s easy to forget all of the projects Jackson lost and appearances that uninvited her after the Super Bowl. One of Jackson’s more impressive feats as host was only sort of losing her shit during “Corksoakers.”
Queen Latifah, Season 30 Ep. 2 (10/9/2004)
I gave Sting some guff for doing a cover, but I will not be doing that for Queen Latifah since she was promoting her covers album, The Dana Owens Album. Sting was not promoting a Jimi Hendrix album so what he did remains out of bounds.
Ludacris, Season 32, Ep. 6 (11/18/2006)
Ludacris came to SNL in 2006 which saw the release of Release Therapy. I don’t mean to diminish that appearance, but while researching I found his musical guest job when Paul Giamatti hosted to be out of a fever dream. First, he brought Sum 41 on to do a remix of “Get Back” and then he debuted “Number One Spot.” When Ludacris took to hosting and musical guesting, SNL also debuted one of their most (read: least) iconic characters - Blizzard Man.
Taylor Swift, Season 35 Ep. 5 (11/7/2009)
Taylor Swift musical guested when Neil Patrick Harris hosted and then realized she could just host the next time she was on the show. Swift did impressions of both Shakira and Kate Gosselin. 2009 was a weird time. She also starred in the Lonely Island’s Twilight parody.
Elton John, Season 36 Ep. 18 (4/2/2011)
Elton John brought Leon Russell along to showcase their album The Union. In my memory, this show happened right after the New York Knicks traded for Carmelo Anthony, but it was actually months later. Regardless, Carmelo Anthony showed up to be in a Laser Cats sketch with Sir Elton.
Mick Jagger, Season 37 Ep. 22 (5/19/2012)
There were a lot of guests when Mick Jagger hosted, but some of that was because it was Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg’s last show. Jagger did not join Samberg for “Lazy Sunday 2” but he did dance with Wiig while Arcade Fire played “She’s A Rainbow.” Jagger was funny throughout so here’s a cut for time sketch that I think about a lot.
Bruno Mars, Season 38 Ep. 5 (10/20/2012)
Bruno Mars’ appearance was in the lead up to his album Unorthodox Jukebox. The episode is most notable for “Sad Mouse.” Mars is funny and good throughout, but man, his take on a sad mouse really struck a chord! Bring back Sad Mouse. Let Sad Mouse house.
Justin Bieber, Season 38 Ep. 13 (2/9/2013)
Justin Bieber has not been banned from SNL, but there have been a lot of stories about the time he hosted. Mostly, Bieber was an uninterested and exhausted host. Bill Hader brings this up a lot. So much so, that he did a 15-minute commentary video for a sketch that bombed during dress rehearsal. Bieber has been musical guest several times since, so I guess things are fine with Lorne. Congrats to Justin for not being banned.
Miley Cyrus, Season 39 Ep. 2 (10/5/2013), Season 41 Ep. 1 (10/3/2015)
Miley Cyrus gets Saturday Night Live more than any other modern celebrity. Timberlake is able to play along, but I think Cyrus understands the sketch tenets in a better way. Plus, she’s always showing up! She’s been musical guest, host, cameo guest, and even cameo musical guest. She performed “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” at the SNL 40th anniversary, cementing her as Lorne’s new Paul Simon. Another feather in her cap is that she loves riffing with the riffmaster Kyle Mooney.
Here is another perfect sketch.
Cyrus also did a parody of her own video about the 2013 government shutdown, but the above sketches are better.
Lady Gaga, Season 39 Ep. 6 (11/16/2013)
Lady Gaga hosted during the ARTPOP phase of her career. Looking back at the sketches, more memorable Gaga moments happened during her cameos. There is a great covers sketch that NBC has scrubbed from the regular internet with a good Madonna/ Gaga punchline. R. Kelly also joined Gaga for a performance of “Do What You Want” so I think we should move right along.
Drake, Season 39 Ep. 11 (1/18/2014), Season 41 Ep. 20 (5/14/2016)
Drake proved a solid host in his two outings, cementing Degrassi as the Canadian version of the Mickey Mouse Club for a new generation of pop stars. So far Drake is the only person to break through from that pipeline, but that’s Canada for you. He was part of a golden age of Saturday Night Live where they aired LOTS of impressions of Katt Williams. Drake hosted around the release of Nothing Was The Same and Views. Unlike Donald Trump, he never performed “Hotline Bling” on the show. He did rap about Josh Gad.
Blake Shelton, Season 40 Ep. 12 (1/24/2015)
We are thirty-four entries in and now we have one of the more relevant episodes in terms of the Nick Jonas episode. Blake Shelton, like Jonas, hosted because he is a judge on The Voice. Do you remember that The Voice was (or is?) one of the most watched shows on TV? We live in an increasingly insane world, and I don’t mean that is BECAUSE of The Voice, but it’s wild that in this world that show can be a hit. Anway, Blake did “Wishing Boot.”
Ariana Grande, Season 41 Ep. 15 (3/12/2016)
Not to distract from Ariana Grande hosting and the beginning of her relationship with Pete Davidson, but this was an episode from 2016 where Alec Baldwin did NOT play Donald Trump. What a simpler time when COMEDIANS and POP STARS did impressions. Grande did a sketch similar to one from the Bruno Mars episode where she sang a bunch of musical impressions. Unfortunately, since they used real songs, it has been removed from the internet.
Grande hosted two months before Dangerous Woman was released, but has not been on the show since. She was a good host, but now can only be whispered about now in jokes Pete Davidson makes to Colin Jost on Weekend Update. The biz ain’t fair.
Grande’s time hosting coincided with an SNL trend of big cast songs so here is the one she filmed in Coney Island.
Donald Glover, Season 43 Ep. 19 (5/5/2018)
Donald Glover hosted in 2018 in the midst of Atlanta’s second season and right before the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, but the episode was most notable for the debut of “This Is America.” Stormy Daniels also appeared on this episode which makes it seem like one thousand years ago. At the time, a lot of outlets thought her appearance was the big takeaway. What a world!
Halsey, Season 44 Ep. 12 (2/9/2019)
Lots of people were surprised by Halsey hosting in 2019, but as this Vulture article points out, it is not that irregular. As a successful pop artist, Halsey probably skirted around the standard SNL fan base’s realm of cultural knowledge. If Phoebe Bridgers received some “Who is this?” tweets this year, imagine what the tweets said about Halsey! I will not look for these tweets because I do not want to ruin my day.
In true commitment to double-tasking, Halsey painted during her musical performance. How great!
Chance the Rapper, Season 45 Ep. 4 (10/29/2019)
Chance the Rapper is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with his former manager, Pat. A lot of the lawsuit’s contention is about mishandling of The Big Day rollout vs. the album being alleged as not good. It’s another chapter in a story that had Chance’s former manager bully MTV News into taking down a concert review. Pat worked hard!
Usually, musical guests transition into double-duty hosts after a few musical appearances. Chance’s time as both guests came after he hosted without being the musical guest. SNL had him on with Eminem being his musical guest.
Mr. The Rapper’s charm is evident in all his appearances which is probably why Quibi made him the host of their short-lived Punk’d reboot. I’ve often called Chance the modern-day Ashton Kutcher. Despite his myriad appearances, his mark as a true capital-H Host was cemented through his character Lazlo Holmes.
Harry Styles, Season 45 Ep. 6 (11/16/2019)
Like another former boy band member gone solo, Styles’ SNL hosting seemingly has him moving on from his past musical life. In reality, when Styles (like Timberlake) hosted, he was already far enough away from One Direction that hosting was a matter of course.
Styles hosted to promote his at the time upcoming Finish Line and perform a relaxed version of the ordinarily mega-horny “Watermelon Sugar.” He also destroyed toxic in community, as seen below.
Nick Jonas, Season 46 Ep. 14 (2/27/2021)
Ladies and gentlemen, we did it. We are at the most recent combo-host/ musical guest. It feels great. Jonas appeared on the show to promote The Voice, a show that keeps chugging along! He did many of the things these hosts and musical guests do - sang, poked fun at himself, talked about boners, and interacted with cast members impersonating other musicians.
It might seem like I am giving Jonas’s episode short shrift (and maybe I am) but it’s easy to look at the history of the combo host and think it’s a bad idea. Musical guest performances, if not memorable, seem to fade out of memory much more quickly than “bad” hosting jobs (and there are many more bad hosting that we don’t collectively remember), and even when the musical host has a part in an iconic or memorable sketch. Britney Spears’ batting average on sketches is way higher than, say, Kit Harrington.
Celebrities crossing over to both roles have weird pressure on them to justify their position as host from a fanbase that kind of doesn’t really care about the show. This is not to excuse them for their shitty jokes and terrible impressions (and sometimes impressions with interpretations that do not age well) but acting as host and musical guest shines a spotlight that magnifies both performances linking them as a whole to assess on a level of celebrity rather than sketch and musical performance.
No Notes
None because this has gone on TOO LONG.
Next week - No show! Maya Rudolph and Jack Harlow show up later in March