Saturday Night Live is welcoming back former writer John Mulaney to helm the show for the third time on Saturday. In anticipation, the show shared a hilarious montage of some of the comedian’s greatest moments to Instagram. The comedian will serve as host alongside legendary musical guest David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads.
A former writer for the series, John previously hosted the late-night comedy sketch series on both April 14, 2018, and March 2, 2019. He was Emmy-nominated for both his writing work and hosting skills 11 times. He won once in 2011 for penning Justin Timberlake’s monologue. His co-writers for the skit, who also won a golden statuette, were Justin, Seth Meyers, and Katreese Barnes.
He is the fourth SNL writer after Conan O’Brien, Louis C.K., and Larry David that has taken the reins of the series as host. None of the aforementioned men were ever a formal cast member.
The fun social media clip opens with John introducing himself to the audience of Studio 8H, stating he “hosts every week.”
The writer and comedian then gave a quick back history of his story, stating he once was a writer of the show and now he is hosting. John also said with pride that as a host, he gets to introduce the musical guests. Within the clip, John is also seen in a succession of several of his most hilarious character portrayals.
Fans of the series always enjoy it when John returns to the show. They shared their excitement about his hosting gig in the comments section of the video.
“Yes!!! My favorite cast member who isn’t a cast member!” said one viewer of the series.
“He’s back! The last two years he has hosted have been hilarious,” noted a second fan on the social media site.
“The world can never have too much Mulaney,” remarked a third fan.
“This will be one of the greatest episodes ever. Can’t go wrong with that combo!” said a fourth follower.
During the writer’s last turn as a host, his episode scored a ratings high, reported Deadline . That episode also featured musical guest Thomas Rhett, Ben Stiller reprising his Michael Cohen impersonation, and a return of former SNL star Bill Hader.
John and Bill have a close relationship, creating and writing for the iconic character Stefon, who regularly appeared on the segment “Weekend Update.”
John once revealed in an interview with Conan O’Brien that he loved to make Bill laugh during the live shows. John would unknowingly place new jokes on the cue cards between the dress rehearsals and the live shows. Bill never knew when this would happen, and his fans began to look forward to his reaction to the sometimes strange jokes during each appearance.
Throwbacks aren’t just for Thursdays when you have a ? pic of @mulaney and @ColinJost . #MulaneyOnSNL pic.twitter.com/bRkF5W11X9
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 13, 2018
It is unclear how much writing input, if any, John will have in this week’s episode.
He will star in sketches alongside the cast, which includes Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, Ego Nwodim, and Bowen Yang.