Bad Bunny pulls double duty on SNL tonight as host and musical guest!
Bad Bunny (and Benito) enter the ring this Saturday 🥊 pic.twitter.com/QGduTdR8Xi
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 18, 2023
• Bad Bunny returns to Studio 8H tonight. This will be the musicians first time as host, but his third appearance on SNL overall.
• He first appeared on the show back in April 2020 on an episode of "Saturday Night Live At Home". It was not a live appearance for obvious reasons, but was a pre-taped appearance during a sketch that involved Kenan Thompson's David "Big Papi" Ortiz impression.
• He was then a musical guest the following season in the February 2021 Regé-Jean Page hosted episode. He appeared in two sketches: a pre-taped music video where he played a plant during a quarantine induced breakdown Ego Nwodim was having, and in a live sketch where everyone sang sea shanties.
• The first wave of ratings for season 49 are in, and the Pete Davidson/Ice Spice season premiere scored 4.8 million viewers, a 19% improvement from last seasons Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar premiere. This episode also performed well on Peacock, with the one day viewership beating the one day viewership for every season 48 episode besides the Dave Chappelle/Black Star episode and the Pedro Pascal/Coldplay episode.
• SNL announced the host and musical guest for the October 28 episode: stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze is set to host for the first time, with musical guest Foo Fighters. Bargatze is not the second stand-up to host this season and certainly the one with a more...up and coming profile than usual. This will be Foo Fighters ninth appearance as musical guests on SNL, more than any other musical guest in SNL history other than Paul Simon. This will also be the band's first appearance on the show since the unfortunate death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins.
"No one knew they were coming."
Here's how Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift pulled off their surprise SNL appearance: https://t.co/jZYOIcxem6 pic.twitter.com/9ZezSyjsmt
- Variety (@Variety) October 16, 2023
• Last week saw surprise appearances by the couple of the moment, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Variety ran a story about how it came to be.
• The appearances were not planned out that far in advance and was a shock to the live audience. Taylor and Travis decided to head down to 30 Rock sometime between dress and air, and once Lorne Michaels and other producers got word, they found ways to get the two on air.
• The NFL sketch full of references to their relationship had made it through dress rehearsal and was always set to air after the monologue. An insider said, "The second [Kelce] walked in, they mentioned the sketch and he said he was happy to join." The producers then asked Taylor if she would like to introduce Ice Spice's second performance.
• Another insider says that Kelce, who just hosted the show back in March 2023, greeted the cast and producers with hugs at the afterparty while Taylor hung out with Ice Spice and took photos together.
Click to view• The show uploaded a new cast member Q&A with the only new hire this season: Chloe Troast. The comedian answered some quick fire questions and reveals that she was an SNL PA and auditioned for the show last year. She says that she was the only person who auditioned last year and got all the way to a meeting with Lorne but was not hired. This time around she auditioned again and later had a phone call with Lorne who told her "You will be here."
Bad Bunny at read-thru! pic.twitter.com/vaF1eIW18k
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 19, 2023
• Bad Bunny...
<333 pic.twitter.com/alblY7yFoe
- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 19, 2023
• And the cast at read-thru
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