Eddie Murphy Hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ In December, Woody Harrelson Takes Season 45 Premiere
By Ethan Anderton/Aug. 26, 2019 11:30 am EST
NBC sent out a press release and and update to Twitter with the hosts already locked down for SNL:
Live from your timeline, we’ve got some news. #SNL pic.twitter.com/7HrcoM8OPg
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) August 26, 2019
The season premiere will take place on September 28 with host Woody Harrelson. This will be the fourth time Harrelson has hosted SNL, but the last time he graced the stage of Studio 8H was back in 2014, so he’s long overdue for a return, especially since he’s enjoyed quite a career resurgence throughout those years.
Harrelson will be be joined by musical guest Billie Eilish, the 17-year old chart-topping singer/songwriter sensation who has made waves with her single “Bad Guy,” which just hit #1 on the Billboard charts.
Waller-Bridge will be joined by musical guest Taylor Swift, making her third appearance as a musical guest. Her new album Lover just hit shelves, and she’s also appearing in the upcoming big screen adaptation of the musical Cats. We’re hoping she also gets in on some of the sketch fun, as she’s been known to do even when she’s not hosting the show.
Also making their hosting debut this season will be Stranger Things star David Harbour on October 12. It sounds like starring in the Hellboy reboot earlier this year didn’t make him any less of a desirable candidate for host, and he’ll likely be extremely pumped to take on an opportunity like this. This is long before he makes his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Red Guardian oni Black Widow next May.
Harbour will be joined by Camila Cabello, who is also make her debut on Saturday Night Live as musical guest. She recently hit the #1 spot on iTunes worldwide with her new song “Senorita” featuring Shawn Mendes, and she also broke Spotify’s record for the biggest debut from a male/female artist.
Kristen Stewart only recently hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time back in 2017, and she’s already returning for her second round on November 2. Stewart will be hosting just under a couple weeks before she stars in the new big screen take on the classic TV show Charlie’s Angels. As of right now, she doesn’t have a musical guest attached, but that will come in time.
After Kristen Stewart, there will likely be one or two more hosts in November, and then a couple more in December. But it’s the host closing out the first half of the season and wrapping up 2019 who fans will really be excited about.
Eddie Murphy is hosting on December 21, the Christmas episode of the 45th season. This is always a big star-studded show, but this one is bound to be an even bigger deal since it’s been 35 years since Murphy last hosted the show.
SNL counted Eddie Murphy as a cast member from 1980 through 1984, his last show being in February of that year. But Murphy would return in December of 1984, following his starring turn in Beverly Hills Cop. Funnily enough, Murphy actually hosted the show for the first time in 1982 while he was still a cast member. His 48 HRS co-star Nick Nolte was slated to host, but he got sick the week of the show, and Murphy ended up filling in.
Since 1984, Murphy hadn’t returned to the series, and one of the main reasons was because of a grudge he held with the show after one of David Spade’s jokes about him during rubbed him the wrong way. He ended up getting over it and returned to the series during the show’s big 40th anniversary special, but him returning to host has never been on the table until now. It’ll be interesting to see how he meshes with the current cast and if he brings back any of his signature characters like Gumby, Buckwheat or Mr. Robinson.
Murphy has his Netflix movie Dolemite is My Name coming this fall.
