SNL bringing back Kate McKinnon and Adam Driver

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https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/snl...sh-1235812845/

By Selome Hailu

Adam Driver will host “Saturday Night Live” on Dec. 9, joined by Olivia Rodrigo as musical guest, while the Dec. 16 episode will feature host Kate McKinnon and musical guest Billie Eilish.

The Dec. 9 episode will mark Adam Driver’s fourth time hosting “SNL“; he previously appeared on the late night show in 2016, 2018 and 2020. He can soon be seen playing Enzo Ferrari in the Michael Mann-directed biopic “Ferrari,” which hits theaters on Dec. 25.

Rodrigo, who first performed on “SNL” in 2021, recently picked up six Grammy nominations for “Guts,” her second album, which she will take on a world tour beginning in 2024.

McKinnon will make her “SNL” hosting debut on Dec. 16, a milestone often taken on by former cast members of the show. She left “SNL” in 2022 after working on the show for 10 years, during which she was nominated for 10 Emmys, winning two. Earlier this year, she appeared in Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” movie, playing Weird Barbie.

Eilish returns to “SNL” for the third time after first serving as musical guest in 2019 and pulling double duty as both host and guest in 2021. She wrote the “Barbie” song “What Was I Made For?,” which earned her five Grammy nominations, this year, along with another for best pop duo/group performance alongside Labrinth for “Never Felt So Alone.”

As previously announced, the Dec. 2 episode will be hosted by Emma Stone, who is currently starring in the Showtime series “The Curse” and will soon be seen in “Poor Things.” Noah Kahan will be the musical guest.

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Kate McKinnon and Billie Eilish spread Christmas cheer with Ego Nwodim in SNL promos

McKinnon makes her return to Studio 8H this weekend after leaving Saturday Night Live in May 2022.

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Kate McKinnon curiously disappeared into her first time hosting SNL

The quirky ex–cast member came back to the sketch show, only to disappear into it.

By Amanda Wicks

DECEMBER 17, 2023, 11:29 AM ET

When Kate McKinnon departed the Saturday Night Live stage in May 2022, along with a slew of others including Pete Davidson and Aidy Bryant, the clock immediately began counting down to her return. Davidson had the honor of being the first among that departing cohort to host, earlier this season, but McKinnon got her chance last night, closing out the year with SNL’s annual Christmas episode. As she discovered, it’s one thing to steal the scene and quite another to steer the show.

“I’ve always felt more comfortable in a weird costume,” she admitted in her opening monologue, referring to the many oddball personalities she played on SNL. Since leaving, she jokingly confessed, she’s been struggling to figure out who she is apart from those roles, quipping, “I’ve been trying to assemble a human personality.” (Her spin as Weird Barbie in the blockbuster Barbie film perhaps complicated that effort.) Indeed, McKinnon’s turn—well earned after 11 seasons that made her one of the show’s longest-running female cast members, and easily one of its most popular—revealed the disparity between the spotlight of hosting and the camouflage of ensemble comedy. McKinnon didn’t seem entirely comfortable breaking away from the unity of the cast to assertively claim the audience’s attention. It made for a night that was less a victory lap than a reminder of the delights of collaborative live performance.