As Saturday Night Live wraps up its 51st season, who better to host the finale than Will Ferrell? One of SNL‘s most famous alums, Ferrell returned to Studio 8H on May 16 alongside musical guest Paul McCartney.
Although the cast was certainly excited to share the stage with Ferrell, he wasn’t particularly keen on sharing it with Andrew Dismukes… or, at least, someone he thought was Andrew Dismukes.
Ferrell was one of SNL‘s most prominent players from 1995-2001, gaining fame for his impersonations of George W. Bush, Neil Diamond, Robert Goulet, James Lipton, and Alex Trebek, to name a few. Although he left the series to star in such comedy hits as Old School (2003), Elf (2003), and Anchorman (2004), he’s often returned to 30 Rock for cameo appearances, as well as taking on hosting duties in seasons 30 (2005), 34 (2009), 37 (2012), and 45 (2019).
Ferrell has earned 21 career Emmy nominations, including one for SNL in 2001. He’s won six trophies from the Television Academy: three for Succession (Best Drama Series in 2020, 2022, and 2023), two for Live in Front of a Studio Audience (Best Live Variety Special in 2019 and 2020), and one for Quiz Lady (Best TV Movie in 2024). He earned Golden Globe nominations for his supporting performance in the movie adaptation of The Producers (2005) and for his lead turn in Stranger Than Fiction (2006), and competed at the SAG Actor Awards as part of the ensemble for Barbie (2003). Ferrell will next be seen in the comedy series The Hawk, which will premiere on Netflix on July 16.
Ferrell is the 20th person to host SNL during this 51st season, following Bad Bunny (with musical guest Doja Cat) on Oct. 4; Amy Poehler (with musical guest Role Model) on Oct. 11; Sabrina Carpenter (who was also the musical guest) on Oct. 18; Miles Teller (with musical guest Brandi Carlile) on Nov. 1; Nikki Glaser (with musical guest Sombr) on Nov. 8; Glen Powell (with musical guest Olivia Dean) on Nov. 15; Melissa McCarthy on Dec. 6; Josh O’Connor (with musical guest Lily Allen) on Dec. 13; Ariana Grande (with musical guest Cher) on Dec. 20; Finn Wolfhard (with musical guest A$AP Rocky) on Jan. 17; Teyana Taylor (with musical guest Geese) on Jan. 24; Alexander Skarsgård (with musical guest Cardi B.) on Jan 31; Connor Storrie (with musical guest Mumford & Sons) on Feb. 28; Ryan Gosling (with musical guest Gorillaz) on March 7; Harry Styles (who was also musical guest) on March 14; Jack Black (with musical guest Jack White) on April 4; Colman Domingo (with musical guest Anitta) on April 11; Olivia Rodrigo (who was also musical guest) on May 2; and Matt Damon (with musical guest Noah Kahan) on May 9.
SNL recently added 11 Emmy Awards to its shelf in September, bringing its overall tally to 112.
Here are Will Ferrell’s best moments from his latest hosting gig:
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COLD OPEN
After recounting the exploits of his recent China trip to J. D. Vance (Jeremy Culhane), President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) took a nap on the White House desk, only to be visited Ebenezer Scrooge-style by the ghost of his old friend, Jeffrey Epstein (Will Ferrell). Decked out in chains à la Jacob Marley, Epstein granted Trump visions of what his cabinet members will be up to in the future. Kristi Noem (Ashely Padilla) has started selling products to clean up after your dog that’s much more efficient than shooting them, while Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and Kash Patel (Aziz Ansari) are filling up a giant gauntlet with their favorite liquors. Epstein reassured Trump that he’d be alright as long as they had each other, and the pals serenaded each other with a duet of “Just the Two of Us.”
OPENING MONOLOGUE
Before Will Ferrell had time to shed his Jeffrey Epstein costume, his dead ringer, Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Chad Smith, showed up to announced himself as the nights host. When Ferrell did show up, Smith tired to usurp musical guest duties from Paul McCartney. Hoping for a reset after such a bad start, Ferrell decided to do the one thing a host does when they can’t think of anything else for the monologue: take questions from the audience. First up — McCartney, who thought he was still talking to Smith and demanded Ferrell… er… Smith… get back behind the drums.
SURGERICAL MIX-UP
What should’ve been a routine surgery turned into a nightmare for Mikey Day, who awakened to discover that his doctor (Ferrell) had accidentally removed his penis. Day was shocked, to say the least, as was his wife (Padilla), who couldn’t understand how such a mixup could occur. But the real victim here was the doctor, since the mistake ruined his lunch at Benihana.
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
As a group of high schoolers anxiously await the posting for the cast list of Grease, their theater teacher (Ferrell) torments them by prolonging the announcement. Before the students can find out who’s playing who, the cast list has to be approved by the choreographer (Kenan Thompson) and the musical director (Molly Shannon), who needs to make sure the men can hit those high notes to her satisfaction.
