Current:Home > InvestAriana Grande hosts ‘SNL’ for the first time since the last female presidential nominee -Wealth Evolution Experts
Ariana Grande hosts ‘SNL’ for the first time since the last female presidential nominee
View
Date:2025-04-13 16:33:14
Ariana Grande took the New York 30 Rock stage at “Saturday Night Live” for the third time as host and found herself in familiar circumstances.
“The last time I hosted was in 2016, and we were right on the verge of electing our first female president,” the 31-year-old singer and actor said in her monologue. “So, I guess, second time’s the charm?”
Grande, who first hosted in 2014, was doing it for the first time without also serving as musical guest — a role that fell to Stevie Nicks — and promised not to sing, before breaking into a song.
The theme continued as she vowed during the tune not to do her signature impressions of Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani, before throwing out a bit of each. She would do a much longer version of Celine Dion in a sketch later in the show.
Grande hosted in promotion of her movie musical “Wicked,” the “Wizard of Oz” prequel set to be released next month.
She said playing the good witch Glinda as she does in the film is the dream of every theater kid like her, after “losing their virginity.”
Grande’s episode comes amid a ratings spike for the sketch institution, likely brought on by its 50th season, and election season. Last month’s season premiere brought in the most viewers since 2020.
Just as in the first two episodes of the new season, Maya Rudolph played Vice President Kamala Harris in the night’s cold open, leading a group of former cast members returning as guest stars, including Andy Samberg as Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden.
They teamed up for an election edition of “The Family Feud,” taking on team Trump.
Kenan Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member in the show’s history who began in 2003, reprised his long-running role as “Feud” host Steve Harvey and asked Rudolph-as-Harris about her recent media blitz.
“It’s been a hell of a week,” she said. “I went on Howard Stern to reach the horny cab drivers, I went on ‘The View’ for the horny moms, and I also went on the podcast ‘Call Her Daddy’ because I have a message for young women: You need to go to the ballot box if you want the government out of your ballot box.”
Current cast member James Austin Johnson returned as Donald Trump, saying his opponent is “going to be horrible at this game. She’s a very low IQ person. The whole world is laughing at her because they don’t respect her.”
The 76-year-old Nicks was the “SNL” musical guest for the first time in more than 40 years. She opened with her brand new single, “The Lighthouse,” but the look of the performance was classic Stevie, with an abundance of rings and scarves and the singer draped in black. For her second song, she reached back with “Edge of Seventeen” from 1981.
Michael Keaton is set to host next week with musical guest Billie Eilish. John Mulaney and Chappell Roan are set for the following Saturday.
The onset of season 50 already has brought reflection and nostalgia in many forms, including “Saturday Night,” a movie comedy dramatizing the minutes before the first episode of the Lorne Michaels-helmed sketch institution on Oct. 11, 1975.
A three-hour primetime special on Feb. 16 is set to serve as the official 50th season celebration.
veryGood! (856)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- You Know You Love Blake Lively's Reaction to Ryan Reynolds Thirst Trap
- Delaware judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit stemming from fatal police shooting of mentally ill woman
- Hurricane Beryl roars toward Jamaica after killing at least 6 people in the southeast Caribbean
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Virginia certifies John McGuire’s primary victory over Rep. Bob Good, who says he’ll seek a recount
- Screenwriter Robert Towne, known for 'Chinatown' and 'The Last Detail,' dies at 89
- 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' to open Venice Film Festival
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- What is my star sign? A guide the astrological signs and what yours says about you
Ranking
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Japanese airlines outline behaviors that could get you kicked off a plane
- Lily Allen Starts OnlyFans Account for Her Feet
- Jamaica braces for 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Beryl: Live updates
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- What was the ‘first American novel’? On this Independence Day, a look at what it started
- Pope Francis formally approves canonization of first-ever millennial saint, teen Carlo Acutis
- An Ohio apartment building, evacuated after a deadly explosion nearby, could reopen soon
Recommendation
Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
2 injured, 1 missing after ‘pyrotechnics’ incident at south Arkansas weapons facility
Defending Wimbledon women's champion Marketa Vondrousova ousted in first round
Cheez-It partners with Hidden Valley Ranch to create new zesty, cheesy snack
How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
In Chile’s Southern Tip, a Bet on Hydrogen Worries Conservationists
Governors in the West Seek Profitability for Industrial and Natural Carbon Removal Projects
Usher and Janet Jackson headline 30th Essence Festival of Culture