- 6 weeks ago
Not every celebrity was cut out for Studio 8H! Join us as we count down the juiciest behind-the-scenes revelations from SNL cast members about celebrity hosts who left plenty to be desired. From diva behavior to creative clashes and awkward rehearsals, these stories prove that not every hosting week goes smoothly!
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00:00Everybody wants to know worst.
00:02I know.
00:02I mean, we both know, dog.
00:05Yeah, it was Bieber.
00:06Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the juiciest revelations
00:11from Studio 8H stars about celebrity guests whose hosting turns left plenty to be desired.
00:17Fun fact, did you know that Adrian Brody's banned from Saturday Night Live?
00:20What are you talking about, what?
00:22Number 10, the $100 question, Paris Hilton.
00:26The socialite arrived at Studio 8H with apparently little appetite for connection.
00:32On screen, Hilton largely spoofed her familiar public image, with many sketches leaning on
00:37the persona audiences already knew.
00:40I've had a great time this week.
00:41It's been very exciting to do live TV because there are no tapes whatsoever involved, and
00:46that makes me very happy.
00:49I'd like to meet a little friend of mine named Tinkerbell.
00:51She's two years old, and just like me, she's really into fashion.
00:54Tina Fey reportedly said Hilton took herself, quote, super seriously, and Maya Rudolph recalled
01:00that nobody could draw their host into a personal conversation.
01:04Once the cast realized Hilton had not asked anyone a single personal question, Seth Meyers
01:10offered $100 to whoever received the first one.
01:14No one collected by week's end.
01:25Hilton came closest by asking someone else whether Maya was Italian, an inquiry about
01:31a castmate that still did not involve speaking to her directly.
01:34Since she asked Jody, is Maya Italian?
01:39Number 9, the baseball cap standoff, Billy Bob Thornton.
01:43Rehearsals reportedly turned tense over one stubborn wardrobe choice.
01:47Thornton's only hosting appearance opened with a monologue built almost entirely around
01:52audience members doing impressions of his Sling Blade character, immediately narrowing the
01:58comedy to one familiar performance.
02:12Seth Meyers later recalled that longtime lighting director Phil Himes objected to the baseball
02:18cap Thornton wore during rehearsal and asked somebody else to tell him to remove it.
02:23After overhearing, the actor apparently challenged Himes to address him directly.
02:27And said to someone else, somebody tell him to take his hat off.
02:31Right.
02:32And then Billy Bob Thornton basically was like, hey old man, hey old man, if you got something
02:37to say, if you got something to say, say it to my face.
02:40Yet Meyers addressed that Thornton stepped away from the stage for a private conversation.
02:45Himes seemed apologetic and the disagreement ended respectfully.
02:49Thornton ultimately kept the cap on for the live monologue.
02:52He walked off stage and he went and he talked to Phil Himes about it.
02:57Very man to man.
02:58Yeah, classic.
02:59And Phil, who I never saw do this, Phil had a real like, I apologize.
03:03Nice.
03:04Number eight, the monologue meltdown, George Steinbrenner.
03:08The businessman apparently brought strong opinions about comedy to a format that thrives on flexibility.
03:14His episode repeatedly spoofed his reputation as a domineering boss.
03:18But the sketches seemingly reinforced that image more than they transformed it.
03:23A stupid, arrogant, short-sighted owner.
03:26The kind of guy who blames everybody but himself.
03:29How would you like it if every time something went wrong, I just blamed you, the supervisor, huh?
03:35Conan O'Brien later recalled that the staff was terrified of Steinbrenner.
03:39After Steinbrenner had already rejected a monologue idea once, O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk were sent
03:45in to pitch it again, and he dismissed it a second time.
03:49And I told you, he said I don't want to do it, and I don't want to do it.
03:52And so I just, Odenkirk and I retreat out of the room, and our testicles had gone up inside our
03:56bodies.
03:57And we go and we tell Lorne.
03:59Lorne Michaels then made them return with the same concept, provoking a third angry rejection.
04:04O'Brien joked that he and Odenkirk practically passed through the wall like ghosts afterward,
04:09and that he didn't think they spoke for a week.
04:12And disappeared from the room.
04:14Like, we literally went right through the wall like ghosts, and I don't think we spoke for a week.
04:20Number seven, he didn't get the jokes, Donald Trump.
04:24A high-profile booking apparently generated more discomfort than comic chemistry.
04:29The world is waiting for you to be president, so why are you hosting Saturday Night Live?
04:35Why?
04:36And the answer is, I have really nothing better to do.
04:39Reviews called Donald Trump's episode flat and cautious, while Taron Killam later said most cast members and writers had not
04:47been excited about the host's arrival.
04:49He recalled that Trump seemed similarly unenthused, and believed the appearance felt like a ratings move for both sides.
04:56In my experience, didn't have a great sense of humor, didn't really understand a lot of the intention of the
05:03jokes or the sketches or the premise.
05:05Killam said Trump struggled to read during the table read, and did not understand the jokes.
05:11By Killam's account, the problem was not one disastrous sketch, but a performer who seemingly never connected with the comedy.
05:18What was he like when it was on live and he's working a skit?
05:22Um, stiff.
05:24You know, stiff.
05:25You can go back and watch it.
05:29Not a natural sense of timing.
05:32Number six, the worst host, Chevy Chase.
05:36A returning legend reportedly left several generations of SNL colleagues with remarkably similar complaints.
05:50Will Ferrell called Chase the, quote, worst host, recalling that he made a sexual remark to a female writer that
05:57left Lorne Michaels visibly embarrassed.
05:59Bill Murray also revealed that resentment over Chase's departure from the show may have contributed to their backstage fight shortly
06:06before his season three return as host.
06:09What happened was Billy jumped up from this couch they were sitting on, lounging on, and charged me at the
06:15door.
06:15And I immediately got into a fight stance, which is, I boxed a lot, and I was ready to level
06:21him.
06:21John Lovitz later recalled Chase asking Terry Sweeney whether he was gay, then answering the cast member's polite offer to
06:28help with a crude remark.
06:29These incidents suggest the tension persisted well beyond a single difficult week.
06:34Like, Chevy and I are rather, you know, we're both good-sized fellas, and my brother is smaller than Robin.
06:40Right.
06:40And he broke up the fight, so that's how serious it was.
06:44It wasn't a real fight.
06:44Don't touch my face.
06:45Number five, taking over the show, Tom Green.
06:49One night of live comedy apparently bent around its guest-established persona.
06:54Chris Parnell named Tom Green his least favorite host, saying the comedian effectively turned the episode into the Tom Green
07:02show.
07:02Through!
07:04Oh, God, she's coming!
07:07Horatio Sands similarly recalled that Green brought several of his own writers, and seemed more concerned with maintaining his rebellious
07:15public image, an approach Sands believed made the broadcast suffer.
07:20I was late for dinner, because I'm a fireman, okay? There was a fire. I was fighting a fire. I
07:27fell down a shaft!
07:29The finished episode certainly followed Green's preferred wavelength, from a promised on-air wedding to Drew Barrymore to recurring bathtub
07:36appearances with Lorne Michaels.
07:38Parnell stressed that Michaels fully supported the experiment, but said the humor did not work for him at all.
07:45Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,
07:53quack!
07:55That's funny.
07:56Number four, leaning into the joke, Sydney Sweeney.
07:59Some reviews found the first-time host more comfortable in pre-taped pieces than in several live sketches, where shifting
08:06accents and frequent glances toward the cue cards disrupted her delivery.
08:10If that failed, I also presented them with a backup plan. Next slide.
08:17The episode also repeatedly returned to her public image, making its Hooters Waitress sketch feel especially predictable.
08:25Bo and Yang later offered important context, saying Sweeney understood how audiences viewed her and actively urged the writers to
08:33build jokes around her appearance.
08:34He said her willingness to embrace that perception made their work easier.
08:38I understood how she was being consumed and perceived already.
08:45Like, she came and she was like, please, everyone make jokes about my boobs.
08:49Like, she was practically begging everybody.
08:51Chloe Fineman likewise revealed that she pitched the Hooters sketch to Sweeney, who later contacted her about writing it.
08:58The recurring angle may have limited the episode, but these accounts suggest its host participated in the choice.
09:05Like, we're getting an intimacy coordinator, and if you're at any point uncomfortable, you know, you can tap out.
09:13Like, if, you know, if we make out and you hate it, no problem, we can cut it.
09:16And she goes, Bo, and I'm on euphoria.
09:18Number three, pitching to a stunned room, Adrienne Brody.
09:22The actor's attempt at live sketch comedy was ultimately overshadowed by an infamous musical introduction.
09:28Thank you very much.
09:31I'm so excited to be here tonight, you know.
09:33Yeah.
09:34You're hot.
09:35Ah, you're hot.
09:36Wearing fake dreadlocks, Brody adopted an exaggerated Jamaican accent before bringing out Sean Paul, stretching a routine announcement into roughly
09:4540 seconds.
09:46He later denied being formally banned from SNL, explaining that the bit had been rehearsed and allowed, although he believed
09:53Lorne Michaels disliked his embellishments.
09:56And, uh, Sean Paul was the musical guest, and when he introduced him, he came out in this, like, Bob
09:59Marley wig and, like, this whole reggae act and, like, improvised it, which Lorne Michaels hates, and they banned him
10:04from ever coming back on the show again.
10:06Former writer T. Sean Shannon stressed that Brody was not mean, describing him instead as a, quote, harmless goof who
10:13apparently overestimated his comic instincts.
10:16Brody himself admitted people at the show were left, quote, literally agape by his pitches, suggesting the creative disconnect began
10:24well before airtime.
10:26It's such a small thing if you think about it, like, that amount that's allocated.
10:31Yeah, I mean.
10:31It'd be such a shame if we lost it, and obviously there's so many people that are supportive of it.
10:37Number two, backstage bottleneck, Justin Bieber.
10:41JB's first hosting turn drew criticism for hesitant delivery, heavy cue card reliance, and characters that rarely moved beyond his
10:49public persona.
10:51I'm so excited to be here hosting SNL, especially in February, you know, because February's that special time of year.
10:59That romantic time of year, you know, Black History Month.
11:03Bill Hader and Jay Pharoah later agreed he was their worst guest, though Hader cautiously suggested Bieber may have been
11:10exhausted or in a difficult place.
11:13Hader also recalled roughly 20 people accompanying the singer, which made it difficult to move around and change backstage.
11:19Yeah, Bieber was, yeah, he just was in a bad place.
11:23Maybe he's in a better place, but then he was in a very, it was rough.
11:28The comedian further remembered a dress rehearsal sketch in which part of the stage set up nearly struck Bieber, who
11:35broke character to clarify that the mishap was unscripted.
11:38The sketch never reached to the live show.
11:40Yeah, Bieber was the only one that, in my experience, and it was just, I think he just, he just
11:45seemed like exhausted or just at the end of a rope or whatever.
11:49He was just so huge.
11:51Number 1.
11:52Bruising Feedback
11:53Elon Musk
11:54The spectacle surrounding this tech mogul's arrival proved more compelling than much of the comedy on screen.
12:01Chloe Fineman later said that Musk made her cry after she stayed up all night writing a sketch, only for
12:07him to tell her it had not made him laugh once.
12:09I just can't hold it any longer, Uli. I'm in love with you. Please, will you be my girlfriend?
12:17Aw, Ragnarok, you're so silly, but no.
12:20She recalled feeling as though he were firing her from Tesla.
12:24Feynman added that the sketch ultimately aired and that she enjoyed performing it with him.
12:29Okay, girls, go ahead.
12:31Be my girlfriend.
12:34I have a little pair of money, but lots of goats and ponies.
12:37Okay, I love ponies. They're very, very cute, but still, a hard no.
12:42Musk responded that in his view, none of the material began earning laughs until the Thursday before the broadcast,
12:49leading him to fear the episode would be disastrously unfunny, though he said it eventually came together.
12:55Taken together, their accounts describe a week shaped by blunt criticism and sharply mismatched comic instincts.
13:02And I'm Awario.
13:03And we are two misunderstood Italian-Americans.
13:08Well, I'm actually Japanese, but okay.
13:12Which celebrity do you think would create the most chaos during an SNL hosting week?
13:16Spill your dream booking or nightmare scenario in the comments.
13:20Spill your dreamplants.
13:21Right.
13:21You.