After watching Andrew Garfield nail his impression of Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live this past week, it really makes you appreciate how much more fun the show is when there are talented hosts who are game for pretty much anything. Performing on a live sketch comedy show is a true test of acting ability, and a lot of otherwise skilled actors flopped when it was their turn in the spotlight. But other celebrities were surprisingly at home with the live elements of the show, and fit right in with the cast like theyd been there forever. Theres nothing more cringeworthy than actors who show up for the program and are very clearly out of their element, playing the straight man in every scene theyre in and blatantly reading off cue cards. But conversely, it really makes you appreciate Saturday Night Live when people come on and nail it. Here are some of the very best hosts Saturday Night Live has had (excluding former cast members, of course - that would be cheating)...
10. Justin Timberlake
Remember how surprised we all were when we discovered that Justin Timberlake was actually funny? That was huge. He was just this pop singer that everyone expected to be just another mediocre celebrity host (despite his experience with sketch comedy circa 1995 on The Mickey Mouse Club), and the dude comes out with Dick in a Box? Come on. That's probably one of the best public persona reinventions there's ever been (not that it was so horrible to be Justin Timberlake before that). His early appearances on Saturday Night Live were instrumental in getting him new opportunities in the acting realm, because people started seeing him in a totally different light. He proved that he had a good sense of humor and didn't take himself so seriously. But more than that, he gave Saturday Night Live a jolt of adrenaline, giving them a new reliable host that could be trusted to come back over and over again, now that all the trusted guest hosts from the 80s and 90s are getting up there and most likely won't be able to feature on the show as frequently.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
