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‘Hosting is like jumping into an ice bath.’
Josh Brolin returned for his third hosting gig at Saturday Night Live last night, and Scarlett Johansson made a cameo appearance.
Josh Brolin hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the third time last night, so he knows a thing or two about hosting at this point.
He likened it to jumping in an ice bath, calling it scary and exhilarating, before actually jumping in an ice bath himself live on stage during his monologue.
Brolin is coming off the hype of “Dune: Part Two,” which premiered a couple of weeks ago, but he’s been acting for decades — he’s also known for “No Country For Old Men,” “The Goonies,” and “Deadpool 2.” He first hosted SNL on Oct. 18, 2008, and then again on April 14, 2012.
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Ariana Grande joined him as the musical guest last night. The pop superstar was musical guest for the first time in 2014, and then performed as both host and musical guest in 2016.
She just released her seventh studio album on Friday, March 8. Still, she has something potentially even bigger in the pipeline — the trailer for the live-action “Wicked” movie, in which she plays Glinda, came out recently.
Cold Open
It’s Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, and he just pounded a Celcius. But this sketch is really about the Republican rebuttal video to the speech, and Alabama Sen. Katie Britt is played by Scarlett Johansson. She gives a pretty accurate impression, down to her exaggerated facial expressions. She’s speaking from a strange, empty kitchen, and she’s even selling her necklace on QVC.
Monologue
Josh Brolin last hosted SNL 12 years ago. He says that a couple of guys in the band are different, but for the most part, it’s all the same. The first time he hosted, the musical guest was someone he’d never heard of before — Adele. The second time, it was Gotye. He reads a couple of poems he’s written recently about Timothée Chalamet and Kenan Thompson. And at the end of the monologue, he strips down and steps into a real ice bath on stage, which apparently he’s been doing for years. “Hosting is like jumping into an ice bath,” he says. “Surrender to the discomfort!”
Bank Robbery
Robbers (James Austin Johnson, Devin Walker, Marcello Hernandez) are trying to rob a bank, and a couple (Heidi Gardner and Josh Brolin) are kind of ruining the whole thing because they want to hook up with the robbers. That’s just about the whole sketch.
People Pleaser Support Group
A group of people struggle with people-pleasing, and the leader of this support group (Gardner) helps them try to overcome that. They’re trying to avoid phrases like “No worries!” Mike (Brolin) tried to break up with his girlfriend, but he proposed instead. And we saw Ariana Grande’s first cameo of the night — she role-plays a work situation with Brolin and Bowen Yang, and they all end up losing their jobs. “We are both smart and stupid.”
Wine and Cheese Night
Sarah Sherman and Andrew Dismukes are hosting a wine and cheese night for their friends. The house cat, Tiger, curls right up on Brolin’s lap — he must have good energy, even though he closes down nursing homes and turns them into Top Golfs for a living. But Brolin can’t handle it when the cat chooses Walker to sit on, too. He gets increasingly unhinged. “I’m eating cheese and wine. I’m not allowed to rip a little ass?”
Shrimp Tower
It’s late 19th-century Vienna, and an aristocrat named Kinski has just invented the shrimp tower. He’s so excited about his creation, in fact, that he neglects his true object of the evening — asking for the hand of the Arch-Duchess Sofie. He’s worried she’ll knock over the shrimp tower. Shrimp are, after all, “the thinking man’s mozzarella sticks.”
Shonda Talk Show
A woman (Gardner) on Shonda’s talk show is worried her husband (Brolin) is cheating on her, and the audience is on her side. Until Brolin comes on stage in a motorized wheelchair because, apparently, his wife broke his neck. The audience members slowly trickle out.
Ariana Grande
The pop star performed two songs off her recent album, which just came out on Friday — “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” and “imperfect for you.” For the latter, she was introduced by her mother, Joan.
Weekend Update
Anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost make jokes about some of the week’s top stories, like the State of the Union address, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt’s video response, Mitch McConnell endorsing Trump, a Netflix livestream fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, and two male humpback whales that were photographed for having sex.
Moulin Rouge
Ken Burnt (Mikey Day) is hosting PBS’s “Movie Musical Masterpieces,” and they’re looking back at one of the only musical movies ever nominated for best picture, 2001’s “Moulin Rouge.” He takes a look at the movie’s original love medley — Ariana Grande and Bowen Yang play the main characters, and they embark on an intense medley featuring musical theater, pop, and classic rock hits alike, with a cute reference to “Wicked” at the end.
Lisa From Temecula: Sports Bar
Ego Nwodim reprises her “Lisa From Temecula” character for this sketch, and this time she’s treating her friends to dinner at a sports bar. The bathroom has the good soap, the server adds “gratatouille” to the bill, and Yang is “negrodivergent” — and he breaks pretty severely.
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