The ever-iconic Saturday Night Live is still going strong at 49 seasons. Created by Lorne Michaels, the late-night sketch comedy show has been airing on NBC since 1975, with the inaugural episode hosted by stand-up legend George Carlin. The series has received a whopping 84 Emmy wins, the most out of any other television show in history, and has been hailed by many as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. The series is headlined by a supremely talented ensemble of comic performers, a host (often there to promote a new project), a musical guest, and numerous cameos.
Saturday Night Live has helped skyrocket the careers of some of the biggest names in film and television, including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Norm Macdonald, Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Kate McKinnon, and Pete Davidson; and that’s just to name a few. The sketch show has even branched out of television and has turned some of its fan-favorite sketches into feature films, such as Wayne’s World, The Blues Brothers, Coneheads, MacGruber, and most recently Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain.
While the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes led to a delayed start, Season 49 has brought in some electric hosts, hilarious and instantly quotable sketches, and some good music as well. To find out more about this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live, including who will be hosting and who the musical guest will be, here’s what we know about the next episode.
Saturday Night Live
A famous guest host stars in parodies and sketches created by the cast of this witty show.
- Release Date
- October 11, 1975
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 49
- Studio
- NBC
- Producer
- Lorne Michaels
When and Where Is the New Episode of ‘SNL’ Premiering?
Since its inception, Saturday Night Live has always aired live from New York on NBC, and that’s probably not ever going to change. Season 49, Episode 12 of the series will air on Saturday, February 24, at 11:30 pm EST/8:30 pm PST, both on NBC and streaming on Peacock. The new episode will also be available to stream on Peacock afterward, along with every other season of the show.
Watch on Peacock
Who Is Hosting ‘SNL’ This Week?
Stand-up comedian Shane Gillis is set to make his hosting debut on this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live. If that name rings a bell, Gillis was initially hired as a cast member back in 2019, but due to the re-emergence of some controversial jokes and comments he made on a podcast, he was let go from the show only four days after he was cast. Despite this, Gillis has since risen to greater fame through his YouTube web series Gilly and Keeves, where he starred alongside fellow stand-up comic John McKeever. He has released two comedy specials, the first was the independently released Shane Gillis: Live in Austin in 2021, and the second was the Netflix-exclusive Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs in 2023. Also in 2023, Gillis had a recurring role alongside former SNL cast member Pete Davidson on the Peacock dark-comedy series Bupkis, where he played Gilly.
So far the list of Season 49 hosts has included, Pete Davidson, R&B superstar Bad Bunny, stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze, Wonka‘s Timothée Chalamet, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s Jason Momoa, Poor Things‘ Emma Stone, Ferrari‘s Adam Driver, former cast-member and Barbie scene-stealer Kate McKinnon, Saltburn‘s Jacob Elordi, Madame Web‘s Dakota Johnson, and The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri.
Who Is ‘SNL’s Musical Guest This Week?
Rapper 21 Savage is set to be the musical guest for this week’s SNL. The Grammy-nominated artist has released three solo studio albums, Issa Album in 2017, I Am > I Was in 2018, and most recently American Dream in 2024. He has also released three different collaborative albums including Without Warning alongside Offset and Metro Boomin in 2017, Savage Mode II with Metro Boomin in 2020, and Her Loss with Drake in 2022. In 2021, 21 Savage released a soundtrack EP for the spin-off horror flick Spiral: From the Book of Saw, which was the ninth installment in the Saw franchise. He has also worked alongside artists such as J. Cole, ASAP Rocky, Future, Childish Gambino, Calvin Harris, the Weeknd, Usher, and Nas. The rapper also recently appeared as a playable character in the DLC for the video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.
Musical guests for Season 49 have included Ice Spice, Bad Bunny, Foo Fighters, Boygenius, Tate McRae, Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Reneé Rapp, Justin Timberlake, and Jennifer Lopez.
Who Is in the Current Cast of ‘SNL’?
As with any long-running television program, the cast of Saturday Night Live has radically changed through the years. Credited as “repertory players” for Season 49 are Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, and Weekend Update anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost. Credited as “featured players” are Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Chloe Troast, and Devon Walker. Staff writers Martin Herlihy, Ben Marshall, and John Higgins, known as the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, also appear in digital videos that appear in nearly every episode and often feature the host interacting with the three young comedians.
Who Is Set to Host ‘SNL’ After Shane Gillis?
The March 2 episode of Saturday Night Live is set to be hosted by Sydney Sweeney with musical guest Kacey Musgraves. Sweeney is most known for her role as Cassie Howard on the HBO series Euphoria and is coming off of two recent films, the romantic comedy Anyone but You and the superhero flick Madame Web; the episode will be airing a few weeks ahead of her new project, the horror flick Immaculate. This will mark Sweeney’s first time hosting.
The March 9 episode will be hosted by Josh Brolin with musical guest Ariana Grande. An Academy Award-nominated actor, Brolin has starred in numerous award-winning movies and successful blockbusters from the likes of No Country for Old Men, the Sicario films, The Goonies, Men in Black 3, and Deadpool 2, and he played the role of the supervillain Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brolin’s episode will be airing one week after the release of Dune: Part Two, where he reprises his role as Gurney Halleck. This will mark Brolin’s third time hosting the show after stints in 2008 and 2012.
