"I cried every single day of the week, no joke at all."
Hosting Saturday Night Live is a bucket list opportunity for many entertainers — but preparing for the big show is no easy task! The week leading up to the live taping is jam packed with late nights in the writers room, rehearsals and about a million changes to the script. While some stars describe it as one of the most stressful weeks of their lives, in the end, it’s all worth it and they can’t wait to do it again!
Find out how these stars felt about hosting SNL…
1. Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian had nothing but good things to say about her experience hosting SNL. While the week leading up to the show can be challenging, Kim shared that it was one of the highlights of her entire career. After taking “a few days to decompress,” Kim gushed about the hosting gig on social media.
“Hosting Saturday Night Live was probably one of the best experiences of my career! The amount of work that the entire @nbcsnl team puts in to make a show like this even possible is unmatched. I’m forever grateful for this experience and to everyone that supported me and worked so hard to make this all possible!” Kim wrote on Instagram after the show.
2. Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish admits she was incredibly nervous leading up to showtime when she was hosting SNL. She later shared that she “had a full body reaction” and even threw up on the plane on the way to New York. While her nerves continued throughout prep week, she says it all went away when she hit the stage for the dress rehearsal in front of the audience.
“The week preparing for SNL is f—ing nuts. It’s literally alien. I mean, I cried every single day of the week, no joke at all. I did actually love to act when I was a kid, but that’s not my world so I don’t know what the f–k I’m doing. I feel like I’m terrible, I feel like I suck. I was just scared. It’s SNL. It’s these amazing, talented actors surrounding a table where somehow I’m the main course for this show I didn’t feel qualified for,” she said during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show.
She continued, “As soon as I saw the crowd and felt their joy, it was like I wasn’t nervous. It was relieving, somehow… I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually really incredible, and I don’t have to worry. This is just for fun.'”
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3. Simu Liu
Simu Liu had a blast hosting Saturday Night Live, even if it was a pretty tiring experience. On Instagram, the actor joked that it was “like a dream” — except a dream where a whole lot happens and Cate Blanchett is somehow involved.
“It was over so fast it was like a dream. I mean maybe not one of those dreams that you wake up feeling particularly well-rested. More like an awesome dream where you’re flying and shooting laser beams out of your hands and shit, beating the crap out of alien invaders, and then the President of Earth gives you a Medal of Valor and Cate Blanchett calls you up and is like ‘what’s up?’ And right when you’re about to meet Cate Blanchett for coffee you wake up suddenly because there’s construction outside your building and you scream, ‘NOOOooOOOO’ because you desperately want to be back in that dream,” Simu wrote, adding that he can’t wait to do it again sometime.
4. Keke Palmer
Hosting SNL was a major moment for Keke Palmer, who got the chance to announce that she was expecting her first child during her opening monologue. Reflecting on the experience, Keke says she learned so much and was so happy to do it with her baby.
“I had such an amazing time hosting SNL! Truly such a unique experience, I learned so much. The cast was incredible, I was so happy to be taken into their home for such a short time. Being around so many others that appreciate and put their all into their craft was especially fulfilling. I love to [perform] so much. I love bringing laughter and good vibes and just taking us all away for a moment,” Keke wrote on Instagram.
She continued, “This year has taken me for a ride! And how cool, my baby and I are already doing it all together. Thank you God! Thank you to my amazing parents and family who continuously support me.”
5. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin has hosted Saturday Night Live a record 17 times but he says the feeling of taking the stage in front of the live studio audience always feels like “being shot out of a cannon.” Through the years, Alec says he’s been “much more able to focus” though as he has come to expect the constant changes to the script.
“And the other thing I remember so vividly was that it was over before you knew it. They sort of go, ‘Let’s put your suit on to say goodnight, let’s put your wardrobe on to go on stage,’ and do what they call the goodnights. I thought, ‘It’s over already?’ But that hour and a half went by like nothing because you’re so into it that you lose sense of time,” Alec told Vanity Fair.
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6. Lindsay Lohan
Hosting SNL for the first time was a great experience for Lindsay Lohan because she loves an opportunity to poke fun at herself. Looking back on the experience, she says it was one of her favorite things she’s ever done.
“I think it’s important to not take yourself too seriously. You have to enjoy the fun sides of things, and I also think it’s so much to poke fun at yourself and just be humble… That’s why one of my favorite things to do was Saturday Night Live because it’s the best opportunity to, like, rip yourself apart and it’s great! I’m all about that,” she shared with Cosmopolitan.
7. Ariana DeBose
For Ariana DeBose, hosting Saturday Night Live was a thrill. While she admits it was simultaneously very challenging, she says it gave her a new appreciation for everyone who works on the show full time.
“You know, hosting Saturday Night Live was honestly one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever done. I loved everything about it. Do not get me wrong, it is so challenging. That show is a beast of its own and I have the utmost respect for the entire cast, crew, producing team, everybody who works to make that show possible week-after-week because it’s not a game,” Ariana told Forbes.
She continued, “I don’t think the audience or the entertainment industry actually really understands how hard that show is, but I had so much fun. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a really long time and I will treasure those memories forever. I mean, I never in a million years thought I’d end up singing a medley of anything with Kate McKinnon.”
8. Tiffany Haddish
In 2017, Tiffany Haddish got to live out her childhood dream of hosting Saturday Night Live. Although the week was “stressful,” Tiffany says she felt “really awesome about it” and got a lot of love from her “comedian homies.”
“That was the most stressful week! I’m about 7 lbs. lighter. I call it the SNL stress diet. I feel like I just had a baby!” Tiffany told People. “By the dress rehearsal I was just anxious to get it done. I was like ‘Come on guys, let’s do this, come on, come on.’ I felt like the captain on a navy ship.”
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9. Seth Meyers
After being a writer on SNL for over a decade, Seth Meyers says that hosting the show gave him a new perspective on the whole thing. In fact, after it was over, Seth admitted that he probably owed former hosts an apology.
“I felt like I had to apologize to so many hosts from my time there. When I was the head writer there, a lot of times the host would call you into their dressing room and say, ‘I don’t like this joke’ or ‘I don’t like the monologue.’ In the back of my head, all I ever thought was, ‘F—ing shut up and do it… Trust us. Just do it. We wrote it,'” he said during the Tribeca Festival.
Seth continued, “Then I was the host and all of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh, I don’t like this joke. Oh no, I don’t like this sketch.’ When the writers came into my room, I was like, ‘Oh man, [being] the host is terrifying’… I just assumed it was easy and it was a whirlwind.”
10. Ana de Armas
Ana de Armas admits she was “terrified” about hosting Saturday Night Live but once she hit the stage in front of the audience, she says she forgot about all of her fears. By the end of the show, Ana says she was ready to do it all again.
“I was freaking out! On Monday, I got there and I was like, ‘There’s no way I can get through this week.’ No one can prepare you for that,” she said on The Tonight Show. “There’s so much going on, you know, and coming at you, and it’s terrifying but you have to just make fun of yourself and don’t take it seriously and just kind of go with it. And then on Saturday, I was begging them to bring me back — please have me again! It’s incredible, the best experience ever.”
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