Selena Gomez to Host "Saturday Night Live" with Musical Guest Post Malone
by Devan Coggan
May 6, 2022


NBC announced Friday that "Only Murders in the Building" star Selena Gomez will host the May 14 episode of SNL, joined by musical guest Post Malone.

Gomez has performed on the show before, but this episode — the penultimate show of season 47 — will mark her first time hosting. As for Post Malone, May 14 will be the Grammy-nominated rapper's SNL debut.

https://ew.com/tv/selena-gomez-hosting-saturday-night-live-with-post-malone/

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/05/snl-limping-toward-finish-line/629872/

"Throughout this season, the show has struggled to find the humor in newsworthy matters, like the Oscars slap. Yet at times it has managed to sharpen its efforts on evergreen sketches that have been either refreshingly layered or genuinely delightful," says Amanda Wicks. "With the penultimate episode of its 47th season, though, SNL delivered a sleepy collection of surface-level sketches content to aim for the obvious. Whatever steam had propelled recent standout episodes, such as the ones hosted by Jake Gyllenhaal and Benedict Cumberbatch, dissipated. (Saturday) night, the show felt closer to one big yawn." Wicks adds: "Part of the problem with yesterday’s episode may have stemmed from the first-time host, Selena Gomez. As the wry Millennial character on Hulu’s true-crime comedy series Only Murders in the Building, she offsets Steve Martin and Martin Short’s senior-age vitality with sardonic realism. But her demeanor last night, oscillating between quiet politeness or chilled disregard, didn’t map neatly onto the range of character work that SNL typically requires."

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Selena Gomez was muted to the point of sleepiness (https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/selena-gomez-snl-review/): "A host, unless catastrophically Steven Seagal or Paris Hilton terrible, is rarely what sinks a bad episode of Saturday Night Live," says Dennis Perkins. "The show has carried some real stiffs through to passable shows. But that happens when everyone is on, the writing is sharp, and, hey, an explosively talented musical performance or two doesn’t hurt. Here, Gomez was muted to the point of sleepiness, the sketches were bordering on dire, and Post Malone—well, I just don’t get Post Malone. After a string of solid outings, SNL was due for a dud, I suppose, although it’s been a few seasons since I scanned over my notes and realized I had no memory of jotting down, 'I hate this.'"
SNL's cold open didn't really address the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial -- it was four minutes of fecal synonyms and dull reactions (https://www.avclub.com/selena-gomez-and-steve-martin-cant-energize-a-less-th-1848927944)
SNL does a man-baby parody of Netflix's Old Enough! (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/selena-gomez-man-baby-boyfriend-snl-sketch_n_62812b2ce4b04353eb05ed34)