Top 10 Worst Saturday Night Live Hosts
For this list, we'll be looking at some of the most awkward, bumbling, unprofessional, and unfunny hosts in “Saturday Night Live” history. We'll be ranking our picks based on a combination of factors, including, but certainly not limited to, their awkward stage presence and terrible acting.
#10: Frank Zappa
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Frank Zappa may be a stellar musician, but a suitable host he is not. Zappa hosted way back in October of 1978, and he made a total fool of both himself and the show. While we understand that “SNL” is meant to be funny, there is still an expected level of professionalism, and Zappa did not adhere to it. He constantly broke the fourth wall and even addressed the cue cards, which resulted in his ban from the show. Zappa came across as an extremely uncomfortable and risky presence that could undermine the show at any moment, and the crew allegedly hated him for it.
#9: Milton Berle
Mentioning the Milton Berle episode to a cast member of the 1979 season may just give them unwanted flashbacks. Berle was allegedly a massive pain both in front of the camera and backstage. He had no qualms with completely taking over the show and tended to both hog the camera and upstage his fellow cast members. He also insisted on ad-libbing, made outdated jokes, including doing spit-takes. He then ended the show with a mushy performance of September Song and a pre-planned standing ovation, much to the anger of Lorne Michaels. In short, everyone involved seemingly hated him, and he was never invited back.
#8: January Jones
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January Jones is often considered to be one of the weakest links of the otherwise stellar cast of “Mad Men,” but you could argue that Betty Draper is meant to be rather emotionless and boring. However, even January’s most diehard fans had trouble defending her “SNL” hosting gig. She carried the show with the same bland personality. And while that may work for Betty, it doesn’t work for live comedy. If her rather uninspired live delivery wasn’t bad enough, she also stumbled over lines and showed audible confusion regarding the cameras. Critics thought she sucked the energy out of the show, earning her place in history as one of “SNL’s” most awkward personalities.
#7: Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is a terrific case in proving that drama and live comedy require completely different talents. While Brody may be an acclaimed, Academy Award-winning actor, he is easily one of “Saturday Night Live’s” worst and most awkward hosts. While he wasn’t particularly funny throughout the whole show, it was his introduction of musical guest Sean Paul that really angered people. Brody allegedly went off-script and introduced Paul while wearing fake dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent, a joke that was not approved or even known about. To make matters worse, it proved to be unfunny and offensive. The joke reportedly got Brody banned from the show and he has since become a part of “SNL” legend.
#6: Tom Green
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Tom Green is certainly an acquired taste. The crass Green was invited to host back in November 2000 when he was at the height of his popularity, and it went about as poorly as you’d expect from the infamously odd performer. While we suppose the producers knew they were taking a risk when hiring the controversial comedian, it certainly didn’t pay off. Green brought his brand of low-brow, uncomfortable humor to the live sketch show, and the two types of comedy failed to mix. Next to his practiced sketch comedian co-stars, Green’s farcical approach to acting came across as childish and unfunny.
#5: Lindsay Lohan
What makes Lindsay Lohan’s terrible hosting gig from 2012 so outlandish is that she’d already proven that she could do it well. Lohan had hosted “Saturday Night Live” three times going into this gig, so expectations were fairly high, despite the state of her career at the time. What could have been a big win for the actress instead went down as another missed opportunity. She had next to no energy throughout the night, and her line delivery was extremely stilted and boring. To make matters worse, it was clear that she was reading off cue cards. And, like anyone obviously reading from a card, Lohan was emotionless, stiff, and horrifically boring to watch.
#4: Paris Hilton
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Paris Hilton was a bit of a controversial pick, as many people were hesitant regarding her lack of acting or comedic experience. They were right to hesitate. Hilton was not only unfunny and incredibly unprofessional, but she was also allegedly a huge pain behind the scenes as well. Tina Fey told Howard Stern that Hilton was “a piece of shit” who took herself too seriously and was “proud of how dumb she is.” She also told him that Hilton was just generally difficult.. You must be really unprofessional to have the otherwise sweet Tina Fey say something like that about you. Again… her words, not ours.
#3: Donald Trump
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We’re not adding Trump to this list solely because he’s Trump. People thought he was truly terrible on the show and so he earned the spot. Trump hosted the show twice, once in 2004 and again in 2015 while he was running for president. And while the episode garnered very high ratings, Trump simply couldn’t let go of his ego for an hour and have some fun. The episode seemed far too sterilized and pre-planned, as if the people in his team had vetoed 90% of the material the writers must have surely come up with. Critics also felt Trump made for a dreadful host due to his horrible comedic timing.
#2: Justin Bieber
While it may have been popular to hate on Bieber in 2013, we like to think that viewers kept an open mind when it came to his hosting of “Saturday Night Live.” However, even the most open-minded viewers must admit that his gig was horrific. Bieber acted like he was the hottest thing on the planet (which, admittedly, he kind of was), and came across as if he did not care at all about his performance or his cast members’ comfort. Bill Hader allegedly called out Bieber’s diva behavior, deeming him difficult to get along with and singling out his enormous entourage who doted on his every move. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. -Louise Lasser -Michael Phelps -Rudy Giuliani
#1: Steven Seagal
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Action stars don’t often make for great comedians. However, that didn’t stop “SNL” from hiring Steven Seagal as host back in 1991. Seagal was never known for his acting chops, and sadly, when taking the spotlight on SNL, he didn’t surprise anyone. Bad acting is one thing, but he was an alleged pain in the butt behind the scenes. He apparently complained about not understanding the jokes that were given to him, pitched terrible and inappropriate sketch ideas, and was reportedly rude to both the cast and writers. When it comes to horrible “SNL” hosts, no one competes with the boring and misguided mess that was Steven Seagal.
