Bobby Moynihan came back to Saturday Night Live this weekend with a skeleton suit and a drink. Next time, he should come back with a monologue.
His Halloween return reunited him with Tom Hanks and Mikey Day for a brief David S. Pumpkins revival in the cold open, before bringing Drunk Uncle back to the “Weekend Update” desk to celebrate the Milwaukee Brewers’ World Series win. Both were welcome reminders of what a great performer Moynihan was during his nine seasons at SNL.
They also raised a question: Why hasn’t this man hosted yet?
Moynihan has the résumé. He has the characters. He even has an NBC series to promote, starring alongside Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe in The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
But the best reason to give him an episode may be the relationship he built with the people watching at home. Few cast members have made the journey from SNL superfan to SNL mainstay feel as personal as Bobby Moynihan.
For those of us who grew up imagining what it would be like to walk into Studio 8H, Bobby Moynihan always felt like one of us who actually made it. As he once told LateNighter’s Mark Malkoff, Moynihan camped out for standby tickets as a fan years before he joined the cast. (He did not get in.)
When he became a cast member in 2008, he joined a show already populated by performers who would help define an era: Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg, and Will Forte, among others.
Over time, Moynihan became one of the people who made that ensemble work. Then, as those stars departed, he helped hold the next version of SNL together. By his final season in 2017, he was sharing the stage with Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Leslie Jones, and Day.
That’s a significant part of his legacy. Moynihan belongs to more than one generation’s idea of what SNL looked like. His nine-season run connects casts that fans often discuss as separate eras, yet he fit naturally into all of them.
Across hundreds of sketches, he could be the oddball at the center of a premise or the supporting player who made somebody else’s bit land. His impressions ranged from Snooki to Guy Fieri to Chris Christie. His physical commitment could sell a joke before he said a word. And there was a generosity to his work that made even small parts memorable.
Then there’s “Weekend Update,” where I would rank him among the best character performers the segment has ever had.
Drunk Uncle alone would put him in that conversation. Moynihan could turn a mangled reference, a sudden grievance, or an unexpected burst of emotion into a laugh, often cycling through all three before Seth Meyers or Colin Jost could regain control. Add Anthony Crispino, the secondhand news correspondent confidently reporting information he barely understood, and Riblet, Michael Che’s friend who kept demonstrating that he could do Che’s job, and and the depth of Moynihan’s “Update” bench is undeniable.
Each character had a different comic rhythm. Each gave Moynihan a different way to take over the desk. And “Update” was only one part of what he brought to the show.
I’d love to see what a full week in the writers’ room produces for him now.
There is a useful precedent in Will Forte, whose first hosting appearance came nearly 12 years after he left the cast. The wait became the premise of his monologue, as Forte ran through the former colleagues who had already received their invitations.
For fans who had spent years appreciating his particular brand of comedy, the occasion offered something more: the pleasure of seeing a favorite finally get the stage to himself.
Moynihan’s own fandom would make it even more meaningful. When someone has loved SNL for as long as Bobby has, you understand that the invitation would mean more than another booking.
When I interviewed Bobby for the Saturday Night Network’s SNL Stories series in 2022, he told me he’d thought for a long time about what his monologue would be if he ever hosted. After nine seasons in the cast and multiple welcome returns, he’s more than earned the chance to deliver it.
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