20 SNL Hosts the Cast Hated

#20: Morgan Wallen

Wallen’s 2025 appearance didn’t explode into a headline-grabbing feud, but it certainly set the rumor mill ablaze. The country superstar created a buzz when he abruptly exited the stage during the live “goodnights.” His subsequent cryptic Instagram post did little to douse speculation, nor did his team’s attempts at damage control, insisting there was no drama, especially after whispers surfaced that Joe Jonas was called in to step into a sketch Wallen allegedly refused to do. Wallen later told an interviewer he was “just ready to go home. I had been there all week.” That doesn’t exactly sound like something someone who had a good time might say now, does it?

#19: Jeremy Irons

Irons’ 1991 hosting gig might not have set the ratings on fire, but behind the scenes, it created quite the storm. Apparently, Irons clashed with the writing staff, most notably a young Bob Odenkirk. he was reportedly less than thrilled with the monologue penned by Odenkirk and Rob Schneider, and he let his displeasure be known in a tirade so memorable that Odenkirk actually recorded it for posterity. That tape has reportedly made the rounds among comedy insiders. In retrospect, Odenkirk admits the material was subpar, but credits Irons as a “trooper” for delivering it live. Still, it’s safe to say that even Scar showed more subtlety when dishing out insults.

#18: Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul may not have hosted “SNL,” but her 2005 guest appearance is infamous for all the wrong reasons. Just ask Tina Fey. The sketch in question poked fun at tabloid rumors swirling around Abdul’s “American Idol” tenure. Amy Poehler played the judge, even though the real Paula was right there on set. That odd choice was reportedly Abdul’s own, much to the cast’s exasperation. Fey didn’t mince words, later describing the experience as “awful” and “disastrous…in the way she generally appears to be.” Years later, Fey recalled locking eyes with Abdul on a plane and seeing her expression change with recognition, as though it brought back the less-than-pleasant memory. “Cold-hearted” indeed!

#17: Louis C.K.

In 2019, Pete Davidson pulled back the curtain on one of his own uncomfortable experiences with a host. During his stand-up special, he shared that Louis C.K. allegedly tried to get him fired. Davidson, who had looked up to this host as a comedy heavyweight, was blindsided when the host reportedly called a meeting with Lorne Michaels and other staff to air grievances about Pete’s, erm, recreational habits. Davidson was summoned to Lorne’s office, bracing for the worst, but getting away with a very mild slap on the wrist at most. The irony, of course, is that C.K. himself would soon face a very public reckoning over his own conduct.

#16: Adrien Brody

Brody’s one and only hosting gig is remembered for a single jaw-dropping moment that instantly entered the show’s hall of infamy. The trouble peaked when Brody, without any heads-up to the writers or Lorne Michaels, introduced musical guest Sean Paul while sporting fake dreadlocks and delivering a painfully tone-deaf Jamaican Patois accent for nearly a minute. That unscripted stunt was just the tip of the iceberg. Brody had apparently already spent the week shooting down sketch after sketch while pitching his own ideas that failed to land. But it was his rogue Sean Paul intro that sealed his fate, reportedly earning him a permanent spot on Lorne’s unofficial blacklist.

#15: Martin Lawrence

When Lawrence took the “SNL” stage at the height of his sitcom stardom, no one could have predicted just how off-the-rails his monologue would go. What began as a routine opener quickly spiraled into a graphic, unfiltered rant about feminine hygiene. Not only did “SNL” apparently ban him, but the network itself stepped in as well. Word is, Lawrence had already tested the material in rehearsal and had been warned to steer clear, but went rogue anyway. The fallout backstage was palpable, with cast members reportedly uncomfortable and frustrated by his disregard for the rules. Phil Hartman is even said to have called it a betrayal, claiming Lawrence had “stabbed us in the back.”

#14: Tom Green

If you want to guarantee a rocky start at “SNL,” try showing up with your own writers and treating the show like an extension of your personal brand. Tom Green did just that, resulting in an episode that most fans would rather forget. Green’s offbeat, anarchic humor clashed with “SNL’s” ensemble spirit, and according to cast member Horatio Sanz, he seemed more invested in pushing his own agenda than collaborating with the team. Green himself later admitted he was “aggressively trying to deconstruct everything that I encountered,” a strategy that didn’t exactly win hearts backstage. Still, to his credit, Green has expressed a willingness to try again, even if just to make amends.

#13: Kanye West

You know why Ye is here. We don’t think anyone will ever forget. However, we’re here to discuss those events from the perspective of the cast, some of whom reportedly walked off stage in protest. Kenan Thompson later revealed that he felt like they had been “held hostage” while the rapper went rambling on, adding that he mostly felt bad for everyone who just had to stand there and endure it. Michael Che even confronted Kanye backstage during an interaction that later appeared in the documentary “In Whose Name?” Then there was Pete Davidson, who addressed the entire situation head-on during “Weekend Update” with his usual brutally honest humor.

#12: Robert Blake

Blake’s hosting gig is a masterclass in how to alienate an entire writing staff in record time. Apparently, he rejected nearly every script handed to him, reportedly going so far as to crumple one up and hurl it back at writer Gary Kroger, complete with a few choice words about where he could stick it. That moment alone sealed Blake’s reputation among the staff. Writer Tim Kazurinsky later joked that Blake became the benchmark for testing a host’s sense of humor, while David Sheffield didn’t hold back, calling him the “worst host” they’d ever had. For fans, this episode was a prelude to his later infamy, and it’s no surprise he was never invited back.

#11: Louise Lasser

There are plenty of “SNL” milestones to aspire to, but being the first host ever banned from the show probably isn’t one of them. That’s the legacy Louise Lasser left after her one-and-only hosting gig in 1976. Behind the scenes, Lasser was reportedly unpredictable and difficult to work with, refusing to collaborate with certain cast members and frequently forgetting her lines. Her closing monologue didn’t help matters, sealing her fate as “SNL’s” original persona non grata. Looking back, we wonder whether she would’ve been met with a little more sympathy nowadays. Still, she has since admitted that her erratic behavior was a deliberate protest against sketches she wanted cut but was forced to perform.

#10: Donald Trump

When Donald Trump hosted “SNL” in November 2015, he had only launched his presidential campaign a few months prior and wasn’t yet the Republican frontrunner. Nevertheless, the decision to have him host reportedly caused an uproar among the show’s cast and writers because of his controversial statements. Former cast member Taran Killam, who appeared with Trump in the opening monologue, later said Trump was “not an enjoyable person to be around.” He also called the decision to platform him “embarrassing and shameful.” Additionally, it was reported in a book written by journalist Susan Morrison that writer and former cast member Tim Robinson said that showrunner Lorne Michaels had “lost his mind” for inviting Trump to host.

#9: George Steinbrenner

The best “SNL” hosts show up as a blank slate and fully commit to whatever is thrown their way. The worst, like New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, do the exact opposite. According to Conan O’Brien, who was a writer at the time, Steinbrenner came in with his own ideas of what he found personally funny. As a result, he shot down many of the staff’s material and insisted on doing only what he liked. Unsurprisingly, the humor of a 60-year-old businessman didn’t have wide appeal. As a result, most of the sketches fell flat, with Steinbrenner fumbling his way through them. The episode ended up being disliked, not just by the cast and writing staff, but also by the audience.

#8: Frank Zappa

Just like George Steinbrenner, musician Frank Zappa apparently showed up to his hosting gig with a list of sketch ideas, and dished out orders to the cast and writers to develop them. Throughout the episode, Zappa tossed his professionalism out the window, possibly because he felt hosting the show was beneath him. This behavior began during rehearsals but got even worse during the live telecast. Zappa spent the entire night making funny faces at the camera, which was a huge distraction to the cast, and even ad-libbing lines. It was almost like he was deliberately trying to ruin the sketches. By the end, the cast was pissed off, Lorne Michaels was furious and Zappa was banned from ever returning to the show.

#7: Andrew Dice Clay

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, comedian Andrew Dice Clay made a name for himself with his controversial brand of humor. When he was billed to host “SNL” in May 1990, the network even instituted a five-to-seven-second delay out of concern for his famously foul mouth. Some of the cast members also had their own concerns, most notably Nora Dunn who objected to Clay’s sexist, racist and homophobic jokes. On principle, she refused to appear in the episode. This also led the scheduled musical guest, Sinéad O’Connor, to drop out as well. It was the first and only time a cast member had taken such a stand, and it reportedly led to Dunn’s contract not being renewed for the following season.

#6: Milton Berle

When he hosted “SNL” in 1979, long after his days as the face of “Texaco Star Theatre,” Milton Berle was a celebrated figure in comedy. But that meant he arrived with a huge ego, which he forgot to check at the door. All week, Berle was reportedly condescending to the cast members, questioning their comedic chops and insisting his own ideas were the only ones worth using. Then, during the telecast, he allegedly tried to upstage the cast and slipped in old comedy bits that no one had rehearsed. He even reportedly flashed writer Alan Zweibel and cast member Gilda Radner in his dressing room. After capping the show with an arranged standing ovation for himself, Lorne Michaels banned him from ever hosting again.

#5: Justin Bieber

The Biebs had a notorious reputation in the early 2010s for his public behavior. That behavior seemed to spill over when he hosted “SNL” in 2013. According to former cast member Bill Hader, Justin Bieber lived up to every bit of the hype, and not in a good way, calling him the worst behaved host he saw during his tenure on the show. Bieber reportedly came surrounded by an entourage so huge they made it impossible for the team to actually talk to him and build the sketches. The consequences of that were painfully evident in the live telecast. Bieber looked terribly unprepared and often resorted to winking at the audience whenever a sketch started to tank.

#4: Paris Hilton

During Paris Hilton’s hosting gig in 2005, Seth Meyers placed a bet with his fellow cast members. He’d give a hundred bucks to anyone who Hilton asked a personal question. Turns out he got to keep his money. Indeed, Hilton’s unbothered energy was glaring throughout the week, as she showed very little desire to engage with the cast. According to Tina Fey, Hilton was a real piece of work who took herself too seriously and barely put any effort into the sketches. The writers apparently noticed this and adjusted the sketches so she wouldn’t appear long enough to tank them. It’s no surprise, then, that she is regarded as one of the worst hosts in the show’s history.

#3: Elon Musk

Just like his political ally Donald Trump, the announcement that Elon Musk would host “SNL” wasn’t well-received by the show’s cast. Their feelings didn’t improve after the episode. If anything, they got worse. In an August 2024 interview, Bowen Yang revealed that an unnamed male host once made multiple cast members cry during the table read because he hated their ideas. A few months later, Chloe Fineman confirmed that the host in question was Musk, explaining that he had ridiculed a script she wrote for him. Musk later admitted on Twitter that he lashed out because he was worried his “SNL” appearance would be unfunny. Well, he wasn’t wrong, and it wasn’t necessarily for a lack of good material.

#2: Chevy Chase

It’s an unfortunate irony that one of “SNL’s” original breakout stars, Chevy Chase, became one of its most reviled hosts. After leaving the show in its second season, he returned to host eight times, each appearance more contentious than the last. Will Ferrell called Chase the worst host ever as he often yelled at them and made inappropriate comments to female staffers. He also targeted Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay cast member, with so many homophobic remarks that Lorne Michaels forced him to apologize. Most infamously, Chase and Bill Murray got into an actual fistfight in 1978, just moments before Chase was set to deliver the opening monologue. Chase hasn’t hosted since 1997, and the cast probably sleeps better for it.

#1: Steven Seagal

Depending on what era they were on the show, cast members tend to give different answers when asked who the worst “SNL” host was. But nearly everyone who was around when Steven Seagal hosted agrees that only he deserves that title. Tim Meadows recalled that Seagal didn’t understand the jokes and criticized the cast and writing staff. Likewise, David Spade shared that Seagal took himself way too seriously and never followed the plan, which often ended with him arguing with everyone on set. Spade even remembered producers debating, for the first time ever, whether they should replace the host altogether. Apparently, the only person who thought Steven Seagal did a great job on the show and was loved by everyone was Steven Seagal.

Did we miss any behind-the-scenes clashes? Let us know in the comments