Mikey Madison, Best Actress Oscar Winner For 'Anora', Heads To 'SNL'; Jack Black, Jon Hamm To Follow

Morgan Wallen, Elton John and Brandi Carlile, and Lizzo will be the musical guests on March 29, April 5 and April 12

We’re in the final third or so of the milestone 50th season of Saturday Night Live. Just hours after the sketch comedy series’s most recent episode saw Lady Gaga pull off double duty rather spectacularly, Neon’s Anora had a victorious night at the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing for Sean Baker, but most pertinently of all, Mikey Madison nabbing Best Actress. Now, just three weeks later she will be heading to Studio 8H to host for the first time and lead a crop of hosts that also sees the returns of Jack Black and Jon Hamm that covers March 29, April 5, and April 12.

Madison’s win for the film that began streaming on Hulu (and Disney+ through it) on Monday made her the first Ghostface actor of the Scream franchise to win an Oscar, having played Amber Freeman in 2022’s fifth film. Her breakthrough role was as eldest daughter Maxine “Max” Fox on the Pamela Adlon FX series Better Things for its full 2016-2022 run. She also appeared in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her musical guest is Morgan Wallen, who was first scheduled to be Bill Burr’s musical guest for the second episode of season 46 on October 10, 2020, before he was dropped for violating COVID-19 mask and social distancing protocols. He was given a second chance just 5 episodes later, on December 5, where the host was Jason Bateman. His racist rant that Streisand Effected him thanks to conservative bigots happened after this. He’ll soon be touring again with his new album I’m the Problem. Am I happy about it? No but this is the season that already brought back Dave Chappelle (twice) and Shane Gillis, seems like popularity is all that matters and not the context of how they’re popular. No foot put down these days. Maybe the spine will be back another.

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Black returns as host for the fourth time, after a surprisingly long absence of nearly 20 years. With a sketch comedy history going back to being a bit performer on the HBO series Mr. Show, he first appeared for a non-headlining musical performance as part of Tenacious D in the May 2, 1998 Matthew Broderick/Natalie Merchant episode, before hosting on January 19, 2002 with musical guest The Strokes to promote Orange County, October 4, 2003 with musical guest John Mayer to promote School of Rock, and December 17, 2005 with musical guest Neil Young, promoting the King Kong remake. That episode is the one that debuted the “Lazy Sunday” digital short (which admittedly he is not in) and truly thrust the show into the Internet age. He had one more musical guest gig nearly a year later, as Tenacious D served for Matthew Fox’s hosting gig on December 2, 2006, performing “Kickapoo” and “The Metal”. Recently appearing in Dear Santa, Borderlands, and Kung Fu Panda 4, the The Super Mario Bros. Movie star is playing Steve in A Minecraft Movie, which opens on his hosting weekend.

Black actually has two musical guests this time: Elton John and Brandi Carlile. John was musical guest on April 17, 1982 to host Johnny Cash, and they infamously switched outfits, performing “Empty Garden” and “Ball & Chain”. He then returned for double duty on April 2, 2011, performing “Hey Ahab” and “Monkey Suit”. Carlile most recently performed “The Joke” at the SNL50 Homecoming Concert, and was musical guest for Jason Sudeikis’s October 23, 2021 episode performing “Broken Horses” and “Right on Time”, and the Steve Martin and Martin Short December 10, 2022 episode with “The Story” and “You and Me on the Rock”. The duo have recorded a joint album Who Believes in Angels? also releasing that Friday. It was announced Tuesday that their March 26 concert in London will be recorded as a new concert special An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile that will air Sunday, April 6 at 8 PM on CBS.

Hamm, currently starring on Fox’s animated series Grimsburg and the recently-renewed Paramount+ drama Landman, most recently participated in the 50th anniversary special, both in the Audience Q&A and playing General Fairfax in the “Close Encounters” sketch. He’s cameoed over a dozen other times, but they’ve all come after his three hosting gigs, October 25, 2008 with musical guest Coldplay, January 30, 2010 with musical guest Michael Bublé, and October 30 that same year with musical guest Rihanna. Two of his cameos were late last season, in the April 6 Kristen Wiig/RAYE 5-Timers Club-commemorating monologue, and the penultimate sketch of the Jake Gyllenhaal / Sabrina Carpenter season finale. Like with Black, the project he’s likely promoting (even above his ongoing gigs), in his case starring in and executive producing the Apple TV+ series Your Friends and Neighbors, premieres on the Friday of his hosting week.

His musical guest is Lizzo, who amidst her own controversies returns to serve in the role for the fourth time. She started as musical guest for Eddie Murphy’s triumphant December 21, 2019 episode with “Truth Hurts” and “Good As Hell”, did double duty on April 16, 2022 and returned for Austin Butler on December 17 with “Break Up Twice” and “Someday At Christmas”. She recently released the single “Still Bad” from her upcoming album Love in Real Life.

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Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter