Top 10 SNL Hosts Who Spoke Out Against the Show
#10: Donald Trump
The tone was very different for celebrity businessman Donald Trump’s second time hosting “Saturday Night Live.” It was an obvious ratings stunt as he was closing in on the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2015. “SNL” has since ousted Trump as difficult to work with and relentlessly skewered his presidency. He has responded by regularly lambasting the show’s quality and political bias, perhaps not unfairly. Critics from various perspectives observe that the show’s modern incarnation usually spoofs liberal politics in bad faith, with mean-spiritedly superficial satire overall. Trump and sometimes-ally Elon Musk do have two things consistently in common: they’ve both hosted “SNL,” and they’ve expressed on social media that it betrayed them.
#9: Tiffany Haddish
Seth Meyers was eager to talk with Tiffany Haddish about hosting “SNL” during her 2018 appearance on “Late Night.” She was eager to talk about how she met Meyers during her first audition for the show in 2009. Haddish brought a photo she took with him and a janitor, supposedly the only other Black person she encountered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. When she met Lorne Michaels as host eight years later, she thanked him for not hiring her. The rejection helped motivate Haddish to build a career on her own terms, with the platform to mock “SNL’s” storied issues with diversity. She was the first Black female comic to host the show, 43 seasons in.
#8: Patrick Stewart
February 1994 was many fans’ introduction to the funny side of stage and “Star Trek” legend Patrick Stewart. He wrote in his 2023 autobiography “Making It So” that hosting “SNL” wasn't the honor he was expecting. The Shakespearean actor went so far as to call his opening monologue one of the worst in the show’s history. He partly blamed the pressures with trying to sell the lame “Star Trek” jokes and find chemistry with the comedic cast. Stewart knowingly exemplified “SNL’s” cynical habit of forcing trendy hosts into the show’s potentially alien dynamic. While Stewart has since proven himself to be as gifted in comedy as he is in drama, it was a trial by fire.
#7: Larry David
This comedy mastermind worked his way up to hosting “SNL” from the writer’s room in the mid-1980s. Larry David has mentioned in several interviews that it was no dream job behind the scenes. He hated the backstage politics, graveyard hours and cutthroat competitiveness among writers. And all he had to show for it was one sketch making it to air. The biggest highlight of David’s one season was him quitting after a fight with producer Dick Ebersol, then quietly returning after the weekend. This would be the inspiration for George Costanza’s storyline in the “Seinfeld” Season 2 episode “The Revenge.” Great things can come from great hardship, but David will tell you that triumph is sometimes more trouble than it’s worth.
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#6: Eddie Murphy
The only active cast member ever to host “SNL” ended up avoiding the show for nearly 35 years. Eddie Murphy has said in several interviews that he had his personal reasons. In a 1995 edition of “Hollywood Minute,” David Spade displayed a photo of the then-professionally struggling Murphy, and quipped, [“Look, children. It's a falling star. Make a wish.”] It took decades for him to reconcile with Murphy, but the cruel jab wasn't really Spade’s fault. Murphy explained in the Netflix documentary “Being Eddie” that his intimate knowledge of how “SNL” approves jokes made this betrayal feel systematic. The cast and crew can sometimes push the envelope too far, even with one of their own.
#5: Norm Macdonald
A lot of viewers were heartbroken when Norm Macdonald was fired from “Weekend Update” in early 1998. This was apparently contrary to the perspective of NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer. As Macdonald explained it in his host monologue on October 23, 1999, Ohlmeyer told him that he just wasn't funny enough to be a part of “Saturday Night Live.” The superstar comedian ironically returned a year-and-a-half later with a theory: [“I haven’t gotten funnier… The show has gotten really bad!”] Macdonald got the last laugh by weaponizing NBC’s own logic against them. And considering that it was the biggest laugh from the audience that night, his theory might have held some merit.
#4: Charles Grodin
Just the myth of being banned from “Saturday Night Live” can follow someone throughout their career. Charles Grodin was actually invited back to the show after his disastrous 1977 appearance. It wasn't until a 2009 interview with The A.V. Club that he explained why he declined. He was overwhelmed by the pressure of having to work with scripts and teleprompters that were subject to frequent changes, yet being forbidden from improvisation. Grodin’s attempt to compromise with the running gag of deliberately flubbing his lines was slammed by critics as a masterclass in self-sabotage. The comedy legend may have survived “SNL,” but he knew very well how risky its process can be.
#3: Frank Zappa
“SNL’s” experimental early years seemed well-suited to rock provocateur Frank Zappa. But Lorne Michaels wasn’t very amused by him deliberately mentioning the cue cards, breaking character, and facing the wrong cameras. Zappa later told interviewers how little he was bothered by his 1978 ban from the show. The notorious perfectionist skipped rehearsals out of frustration with the set’s chaotic work environment. His antics during the final show were in protest of the demoralizing writing and hectic production process. His reports of hostility toward true experimentalism align with accusations of the show becoming less daring over time. “SNL” did become more reluctant to take on mavericks like Zappa, though it could have had something to do with their propensity for sabotage.
#2: Richard Pryor
“SNL” changed television with its seventh episode, but not in the way Richard Pryor had hoped. His episode was famously broadcast with a tape delay in case the censors needed to cut obscene language. The 1995 autobiography “Pryor Convictions” not only lamented that this was done without the edgy Pyor’s knowledge, but that it was not done for his White predecessors. He had already alluded to his resentment in 1977 with the first sketch of “The Richard Pryor Show,” in which John Belushi captains a ship carrying Pryor to enslavement under NBC. As if that wasn't a blunt enough indictment of the network’s exploitative practices, “Pryor Convictions” airs the legendary comedian’s thoughts on its hypocrisy completely uncensored.
#1: Chevy Chase
“Saturday Night Live’s” first breakout star didn’t completely leave Studio 8H, until he was banned in 1997. Chevy Chase carrying backstage hostilities from the show’s inaugural cast to eight hosting stints alluded to his feelings about the production. Then, in a candid Washington Post interview in 2018, he remarked that “SNL’s” humor had regressed into the worst in the world. He observed that Lorne Michaels’s pandering is a sad reflection of the current generation’s taste overall. Granted, Chase’s open disdain for his old colleagues tends to be mutual. But after decades on the air, if “Saturday Night Live” hasn't plummeted in quality, it's definitely collected critics on both sides of the screen.
Do these people on the inside have strong points about “SNL’s” weaknesses? Take your jabs in the comments below.
