Saturday Night Live: Who is hosting SNL this week?

Saturday Night Live returns on 2 March with actor Sydney Sweeney making her hosting debut on the show, alongside Kacey Musgraves as musical guest.

Last week saw comedian Shane Gillis take the hosting reigns, with 21 Savage as the show’s musical guest.

Gillis was initially hired to join the show’s cast back in 2019, but was fired within a matter of days after clips surfaced of him making racial slurs and homophobic comments.

Despite this, five years later, he returned to the show and even alluded to the scandal during his opening monologue: “Thank you very much. I’m here... Most of you probably have no idea who I am.

“I was fired from this show a while ago. But... don’t look that up. Please. If you don’t know who I am, please don’t Google that. It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it,” he joked.

Gillis joined other cast members in a series of skits, notably one where he had the chance to show off his Donald Trump impression, mimicking the former president while poking fun at Mr Trump’s new line of golden high-top sneakers.

Next week, Dune: Part Two actor Josh Brolin will host the show and will be joined by pop star Ariana Grande for a musical performance.

Here is everything you need to know about the next episode of SNL:

Who’s hosting this week?

Sydney Sweeney is hosting the show this week. Many will recognise the 26-year-old actor from her iconic role as Cassie in the HBO drama Euphoria, but has also had success in a number of projects such as The Handmaid’s Tale and The White Lotus.

In movies, Sweeney has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring alongside another SNL host this season, Dakota Johnson, in Madame Web. She also recently co-starred with Glen Powell in the romantic comedy Anyone But You.

Off the back of her recent rom-com triumph, SNL introduced Sweeney to Studio 8H in a ‘meet-cute’ skit alongside cast member Michael Longfellow.

Longfellow walks into the studio reading through various jokes he is considering – “not funny, not funny, too funny” – when he bumps into Sweeney who is reading and walking on set.

Sweeney, engrossed in Haruki Murakami’s novel Kafka on the Shore, lets out a yelp as she collides with Longfellow, dropping her book.

Longfellow apologises, but Sweeney insists, “No, it’s my fault, I’m sorry.”

“Oh my god, Kafka on the Shore,” Longfellow says, picking up Sweeney’s book, while a purple hue befalls on Longfellow as fanciful music starts to play.

“This is one of my favourite books of all time. This is crazy, uh, but would you ever, maybe wanna, Oh, she left a while ago, cool,” he says as the camera pans to Sweeney speed-walking out of the set. “Whatever. I didn’t like this book anyways.”

After Longfellow has been let down from what he thought would turn into a meet-cute with the actor, the purple lighting plunges once again onto him, with the whimsical music striking up once more.

“No. It’s… she said no! Didn’t work. Thank you, though,” Longfellow said in disappointment.

Who’s performing this week?

Singer Kacey Musgraves is set to perform on this episode of SNL.

Musgraves has performed on the show twice before, having previously had the gig in 2018 and 2021.

Her new album, Deeper Well, is set to be released on 15 March, following the release of her singles “Too Good to be True” and the title track.

The singer is set to go on a world tour for her new album release throughout the rest of the year.

Apart from her new album, she also appeared on the song “She Calls Me Back” in 2023 with another musical performer from this SNL season, Noah Kahan.

What time does SNL air?

SNL airs at 11.30pm ET (10.30pm CT, 9.30pm MT and 8.30pm PT) on Saturday nights.

How can I watch?

In the US, the live show will air on NBC each Saturday.

The show can be caught up on NBC’s streaming service Peacock the next day.

The sketch show is available in the UK on the Sky Comedy channel at 9pm on Sunday evenings.

Highlights and sketches from the show will appear on the SNL YouTube Channel.