Saturday Night Live is set to close out its November run this weekend with one of its most reliable repeat hosts as former staff writer John Mulaney returns for his seventh turn, joined by musical guest Phoebe Bridgers. Mulaney co-stars in Madden, arriving November 18 on Prime Video, while Bridgers is touring behind her latest album, Lost Weekend.
It’s Bridgers’ second solo booking and third visit to Studio 8H overall, counting her 2023 appearance with boygenius. For Mulaney, it’s his first time hosting since November 2024—and another chance to revisit some traditions of his own.
Here are five storylines we’ll be tracking Saturday night:
Where’s John Now?
John Mulaney’s SNL monologues have gradually become autobiographical checkpoints.
In the early ones, he could get a laugh out of how he talked to his then-wife or what he’d once been willing to do for drugs. By his fifth hosting stint in 2022, he was walking the audience through his intervention, the surprisingly delicate business of breaking up with his drug dealer, and the birth of his son. Two years later, he had a newborn daughter and a household in which he was suddenly a giant by comparison.
The question Saturday is whether Mulaney continues the more autobiographical streak of his recent SNL monologues or returns to the observational material that defined his earlier visits. His current Mister Whatever tour mixes both, so either version—or some combination of the two—would be in keeping with where his stand-up is now.
After the controversy over Shane Gillis’ monologue last month, we all could use a great stand-up set in this spot. There’s a particular pleasure in settling in for a Mulaney story knowing that some detail you barely registered on the way in is probably going to get the biggest laugh on the way out.
The New York Musical Streak
It started with Pete Davidson ordering lobster at a diner. The waiter could have warned him off it. Instead, out came Kenan Thompson in a lobster tank, singing for his life to the tune of Les Misérables.
Each of Mulaney’s six hosting appearances has featured one of his increasingly elaborate New York musicals. By the time Davidson tried to buy milk at the Port Authority Duane Reade in 2024, everyone watching knew exactly what kind of trouble he was in for.
Then came SNL50. Mulaney supersized the formula for the show’s live anniversary special, taking New York from 1975 through the present with a cast that included Adam Driver as a hot dog and Nathan Lane sending up The Lion King. It was bigger, more retrospective, and more star-packed than any installment before it.
Which raises a fair question: was that the finale?
If Mulaney has another New York musical in him, Saturday would make seven for seven as host. But after turning the whole series into a 50-year retrospective, figuring out where to take it next may be the toughest challenge yet.
Back to the Vault
One advantage of coming back to SNL as host is getting another crack at the sketches that never made it past dress—or even the table read. Few alums have taken better advantage of that arrangement than Mulaney.
The New York musical streak itself was famously born that way. Mulaney and Colin Jost originally wrote “Diner Lobster” in 2010, but it didn’t make it to air until Mulaney resurrected it for his hosting debut eight years later.
But that’s hardly the only old idea Mulaney has brought back with him. In 2009, he, Simon Rich, and Marika Sawyer wrote “Rocket Dog,” in which Tracy Morgan plays a director whose family film requires an alarming number of in memoriam tributes.
That sketch made the show, but as Rich later told LateNighter, its follow-up, “Switcheroo,” did not. Mulaney revived it for his hosting debut in 2018, and that, in turn, inspired 2024’s “Sitcom Pioneers.”
“Toilet Death Ejector,” which aired during Mulaney’s second hosting visit in 2019, followed a similar path. Mulaney’s fifth hosting stint, in 2022, gave him and Rich a chance to rework another old idea as “Monkey Trial,” with Mulaney himself presiding over the courtroom as the monkey.
So what sketches still need a chance to see the light of day? If they’ve run out of scripts, “Rocket Dog” did end with the promise of a follow-up interview about the director’s next movie. Seventeen years later, I’d still like to see Scuba Pig.
Kenan’s Mulaney Bump
Kenan Thompson is the only member of today’s cast who was also in the cast during Mulaney’s years on the writing staff, and Mulaney episodes have traditionally been very good nights to be Kenan.
Across Mulaney’s first five hosting appearances, Thompson ranked second among cast members in screen time twice, third once, and first twice. Five episodes, five top-three finishes.
That streak finally broke when Mulaney returned in 2024, with Thompson logging just 2:55, despite memorable turns as an opossum in “Port Authority Duane Reade” and Little Richard in “Sitcom Pioneers.”
That run makes sense when you look at the material. Mulaney’s premises often need someone who can walk into an absurd situation and immediately make it feel like it has existed for years. Few performers are better at that than Thompson.
So after a relatively quiet sixth Mulaney episode, we’ll be watching to see whether No. 7 brings back the old pattern.
Cameo Watch
Each of Mulaney’s six hosting stints has brought memorable cameos, including Ben Stiller (twice), Robert De Niro, Larry David, Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, Tina Fey, and, yes, Kamala Harris.
This week offers no shortage of possibilities. Stiller and De Niro are out promoting their new Fockers movie alongside SNL favorite Ariana Grande, while Mulaney’s wife, Olivia Munn, has somehow never appeared on the show.
Then there’s Mulaney’s friend circle. If he were assembling a real-life “Fav 5,” Nick Kroll, Pete Davidson, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Natasha Lyonne, and Bill Hader would all seem like natural candidates.
Hader would be the real event. It’s been seven years since he last appeared in Studio 8H, and he’s spoken openly about his reluctance to return. Not for nothing, though: that last appearance came during Mulaney’s second hosting stint. With the guy who co-created Stefon back in the building, the timing is at least enough to get fans hoping.
This weekend’s Saturday Night Live airs Saturday, November 14 at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.
Join us at LateNighter.com immediately after for the Saturday Night Network’s live after-show, where SNL experts and superfans share their hot takes on the night’s best and worst moments.
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