Live From New York, It's... Deadpool? 'SNL' Host Campaign Tops 50K Signatures
Support grows at Change.org to give the Merc With a Mouth a shot at ‘Saturday Night Live’ (Photo: Joe Lederer/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. via AP)
Fans of Deadpool are apparently not content to have their pop-culture-riffing, profanity-spewing hero dominate the box office. A lot of them would also like to see him host Saturday Night Live.
As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, a Change.org petition urging SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels to have Ryan Reynolds host the show in character as Deadpool has started to pick up some steam. Though the online effort was launched four weeks ago by a fan named Andrew Stege, signatures supporting the Deadpool-as-SNL-host campaign have swelled to above 50,000 as of this morning.
Related: Who Is Deadpool? Get Up to Speed on the Merc With a Mouth
The idea of having a fictional character preside over the sketch comedy mainstay is an intriguing one, but it’s hard to imagine Michaels taking the effort very seriously. For one, the wording of the petition does not exactly go out of its way to flatter the man: “I have not watched a full episode of SNL in years because I just haven’t been able to stomach an entire episode,” it reads, “but having Deadpool host, star, and be all over the episode would get the DVR set so I can watch it again and again!!!” For another, Deadpool’s sensibility and language are exceedingly blue, even for a show that airs in the wee hours of the morning.
Fans might be on more solid ground hoping for Ryan Reynolds to be invited to host again; he’s only done it once, back in 2009, shortly after he played Deadpool for the first time in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. If he receives a second invitation, maybe he can do his opening monologue or a sketch in character. But as for the whole show, it’s a safe bet his reps would prefer that his face not be hidden under a mask for 90 minutes.
Watch: James Gunn’s viral ‘Deadpool’ rant, examined:
