Olivia Rodrigo hosted SNL for the first time and starred in seven sketches that made it to air Saturday night (May 2) in an episode that had her pulling double duty as musical guest. Following a political cold open and Rodrigo’s monologue, the show launched with a terrifically absurd sketch that set the tone for an evening of quirky comedy.
SNL‘s writers played on Rodrigo’s musicality this week: The You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love artist sang in two top sketches, as well as in her monologue. (This was all in addition to her first televised live performance of the giddy new single “Drop Dead” and her debut of the emotionally turbulent ballad “Begged“).
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Throughout the episode, Rodrigo portrayed a weird assortment of roles including soap opera villain, human teen trapped in an zoo exhibit on Bug Planet, girl obsessed with her ex at a friend’s birthday, lava cake maker blissfully unaware of how her goods look, main character in an Isley Brothers “Busted” parody, witness of the next greatest white Rasta artist, and TikToker with an unexpected employer. (Dress rehearsal attendees report on Reddit that the production also tested at least two more sketches with Rodrigo, one on situationships and another that had her as a guest on a Kenan Thompson-hosted daytime talk show. At press time, no cut-for-time sketches have been made available online.)
Studio 8H brings out nerves in even the best performers. Naturally delivering late rewrites via cue card isn’t an everyday skill, unless you’re full-time cast.
Rodrigo’s previous TV work — from little girl in an Old Navy commercial to Disney Channel series regular — and the stage command she’s developed over countless nights on tour as a musician — served her quite well in preparing for the chaos of Saturday Night Live. Or “Saturday Night Liv,” as she quipped on Instragram post-show.
The night was a milestone moment for Rodrigo, who’d only performed as musical guest before (twice, in 2021 and 2023).
In fact, probably still abuzz from the afterparty, on Sunday she called it the “best night of my mf life!!!! such a dream come true!!!” She thanked Lorne Michaels and the SNL team in her social update — “for being so welcoming and brilliant. will remember this forever!!!!”
Here’s a ranking of every sketch Rodrigo was in on the show that aired Saturday night. Watch all seven sketches from the May 2 episode of SNL below.
