John Mulaney’s back in town. On Thursday, NBC announced that the comedian will host the April 14 episode of Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Jack White. It’s a full-circle moment for Mulaney, who kicked off his career as a staff writer on the iconic sketch show back in 2008. He also occasionally popped up during “Weekend Update” segments, and later picked up his first Emmy statuette for his work on the series in 2011.
This will be Mulaney’s debut as a Saturday Night Live host. The episode will arrive just a few weeks before the May 1 debut of Mulaney’s next Netflix special, Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, one of many forthcoming projects thanks to his new multi-special deal with the streaming platform.
Shortly after NBC’s S.N.L. announcement, the comedian posted the news himself on social media with a simple caption: “Oh boy.”
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As an amuse-bouche to the hosting gig, Mulaney made a nostalgic return to S.N.L. in mid-March, popping up for a cameo during a Stefon sketch in which he played an attorney and conceptual piss artist named Shy. Mulaney co-created the party-animal character alongside cast member Bill Hader, which made the cameo all the more perfect. If you’ve loved watching Hader break character in the ridiculous Stefon sketches all these years, you can thank Mulaney; the comedian made a habit of changing lines of dialogue at the last minute in order to surprise Hader on live television. Cue Stefon’s signature move of hiding behind his hands because he’s laughing too hard to carry on.
The April roster for S.N.L. thus far also includes Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther himself, hosting the week before Mulaney, with musical guest Cardi B. Both stars will be making their S.N.L. debuts; it’s especially perfect timing for Cardi, as her highly anticipated debut album, Invasion of Privacy, is slated for an April 6 release. The show tried its hand at a silly Black Panther-themed sketch during the Sterling K. Brown-hosted episode (in the Marvel movie, Brown plays King T’Challa’s rebellious uncle, N’Jobu)—but now that they’ve got T’Challa himself, you can guarantee that there’ll be plenty of Black Panther-themed gags in the monologue alone, plus a sketch dedicated to parodying the splendor of Wakanda.
