Hot off of "Lady Bird" we get Saoirse Ronan as host with U2 as the musical guest... and Kenan being himself.



<fieldset style="width: 500px; margin: 0px auto; font-size: smaller;"><legend>Season 43 (2017-2018)</legend>
SNL (S43E01) -- 09/30/17 -- H: Ryan Gosling -- MG: Jay Z
SNL (S43E02) -- 10/07/17 -- H: Gal Gadot -- MG: Sam Smith
SNL (S43E03) -- 10/14/17 -- H: Kumail Nanjiani -- MG: P!nk
SNL (S43) -- 10/28/17 -- The David S. Pumpkins "Animated" Halloween Special
SNL (S43E04) -- 11/04/17 -- H: Larry David -- MG: Miley Cyrus
SNL (S43E05) -- 11/11/17 -- H: Tiffany Haddish -- MG: Taylor Swift
SNL (S43E06) -- 11/18/17 -- H: Chance The Rapper -- MG: Eminem
SNL (S43E07) -- 12/02/17 -- H: Saoirse Ronan -- MG: U2
SNL (S43E08) -- 12/09/17 -- H: James Franco -- MG: SZA
SNL (S43E09) -- 12/16/17 -- H: Kevin Hart -- MG: Foo Fighters

Note: They moved the "David S. Pumpkins Animated Halloween Special" out of the season production numbers and labeled the Larry David/Miley Cyrus episode as #4
</fieldset>

Saoirse Ronan is pretty


A good host and a awesome band I can't wait.

The musical guest star power has way outstripped the guest host so far this season.

i'll record it, but i don't know what she can do with with their stuff. she seems to me like a delicate flower. love U2 and will def. watch them...

I was disappointed when that wasn't a Teen Wolf sketch

I like Saoirse Ronan, but these sketches are just horrible.

This episode was awful - most of the sketches were mediocre and underwritten (except for Kate McKinnon's Theresa May, which was brilliant). Saoirse Ronan looks almost unreal, like a wood nymph or a fairy. What a face. That name though...I looked it up and I still think I spelled it wrong!

That was a bad episode, but was not the fault of the host at all, she did fine with what she had to work with.

That was the first full episode of SNL I’ve watched in probably 10 years. Saoirse Ronan really is stunningly beautiful! No funny sketches at all but also no complete stinkers either.

I’m sure it’s been suggested before but with every SNL thread criticizing how unfunny the show has become over the years, have they ever considered taking the “Live” part out? It seems like the pre-recorded stuff is always good, and they’re usually the skits that become popular after the fact, so why not just eliminate all the terrible “live” skits and have an entire episode of pre-recorded skits?

I guess the show would just be called Saturday Night.

I expect going to an all pre-recorded format would be a lot more time consuming and expensive to shoot. They would also lose some reaction time, if something especially newsworthy happened on Thursday or so.

MadTV, Chappelle Show and even In Living Color we’re better overall shows being recorded and not live.

I think SNL relies TOO much on ‘breaking events’ as they get lazy and the skits are essentially just re-enactments of the real life events. By taping the show, I think you can develop the skits better and expand more then just current events.

I suppose it's to preserve the "anything can happen because it's live" vibe - but anything rarely happens, particularly laughs.

A pretaped show might work but SNL is unique for being a live show which is something rare.

God U2 is embarrassing to watch. That first song was horrible, it was like watching a full blown mid life crisis.

I thought the Kmart returns sketch was pretty good. And the office fastest runner short was decent. I just wish they could have used the music from Risky Business and Vacation, instead of just mimicking it.

It originally was. Hence the opening line, "Live from New York it's Saturday Night!"

It was the music from Teen Wolf, thus my earlier post.

U2's first song was the theme to Teen Wolf? Sweet!

No doubt the selling point to SNL anymore is that it is live, and who is hosting and the music guest. But I have been saying for years this is essentially what brought the show down. Most Guest Hosts are terrible and just read off the cue cards (everyone once in awhile you get someone like Peyton Manning who does a good job). That is why Chappelle and In Living Color were better shows because they could focus on the cast more and the skits would be better overall. The Guest Host on SNL usually brings down a skit because either they are not a comedian or you get someone like DeNiro who does no preparation and is literally reading off cue cards.

As for Live TV, the show has never been about improvising (except for Eddie Murphy as he would be the only one who would jump out of character and chastise the audience if he messed up. His skit on Black History Month and how George Washington Carver invented the peanut was hilarious because he kept messing up and started taunting the crowd for laughing at him.) The show literally relies on the first 2 skits for the past 15-20 years (usually a political skit or something pop culture) and then the rest of the show flat out sucks after that.

They only recently started airing SNL live on the West Coast, so I guess I never got the appeal of the Live part of it. I mean, I like some of the off the cuff reactions, sure, but I agree that the move towards pre-recorded stuff that is actually decent has really exposed some of the limitations they have with the rest of the show. But then, I like skit shows and that's the draw to me.

Saoirse Monologue/Song
Saoirse
Bachelor Auction
Kmart

Weekend Update. Meh
U2 Wow

From what I've read, this is actually something that is actively encouraged by Lorne Michaels because they often literally change the scripts between dress rehearsal and the actual show an hour later. Some hosts are just better at hiding the fact.

yes, the cast and guest hosts are not supposed to memorize the script because it is being changed right up til the show starts and sometimes even as the show is happening.

Probably nobody noticed but Greta Gerwig appeared in one of the digital shorts

Kate was really cute in this moment.