# SNL controversial hosts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** talk-variety-show\ **Created:** [April 11, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160 "2024-04-11T16:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/21 "2024-04-11T16:57:11Z")
Kevin Spacey hosted twice. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/22 "2024-04-11T17:04:34Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > This was posted in the O.J. thread, and there were a lot of hosts! > My first thought was Richard Pryor. Controversial, yes, also a great host. > My second thought was Dice Clay. I think that Clay was only considered “controversial” because his appearance was at the same time as an HBO Comic Relief special - well, that, and Sinead O’Connor declined to be the musical guest that week, plus that chant from some protestors in the crowd (Clay paused his monologue for it - in fact, he pretty much signaled them to start by putting on a jacket from one of his specials - but the audio was turned down so you could barely hear them, and you could then hear a fan or two of his in the crowd supporting him). One that I consider to be controversial: Louise Lasser - IIRC, it got to the point where she was in only one sketch, plus the opening and closing monologues (closing monologues were a regular feature in the first season). I think it was made out to be more controversial than it was; I am convinced that the entire opening monologue incident, where she panicked and went back into her dressing room, was planned that way the entire time - either that, or it was an incredible coincidence that she came out at exactly the right moment to say, “We’ll be right back.” Reportedly, she and Milton Berle are the only two hosts that not only would Lorne Michaels say he would never invite back, but made it a point to not air their episodes in reruns; I’m not sure they were even made available on video. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/23 "2024-04-11T17:08:13Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I think that Clay was only considered “controversial” because his appearance was at the same time as an HBO Comic Relief special - well, that, and Sinead O’Connor declined to be the musical guest that week, plus that chant from some protestors in the crowd It wasn’t just some scheduling issue or retrospective changes in public opinion. Clay was considered to be misogynist at the time. Cast member Nora Dunn refused to appear in the episode Clay hosted. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/24 "2024-04-11T18:36:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Cast member Nora Dunn refused to appear in the episode Clay hosted. She didn’t just refuse to appear on that episode, she quit the show altogether because of Clay hosting. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/25 "2024-04-11T19:42:02Z")
Al Gore hosted the show. Did he have enough personality to be controversial? Since OJ is the theme, I checked and found [32 other athletes had hosted](https://www.businessinsider.com/every-athlete-who-has-hosted-saturday-night-live#the-last-athlete-to-give-it-a-go-was-nfl-star-jj-watt-who-appeared-on-the-february-1-2020-episode-32), including the famed cheater Lance Armstrong. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/26 "2024-04-11T19:43:08Z")
At the time in 2004, musical guest Ashlee Simpson’s (no relation) botched lip syncing was a big deal. I thought her little guilt jig at the end was kind of cute. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/27 "2024-04-11T19:45:51Z")
Steven Seagal. I’ve heard more bad stories about his hosting than anyone. [Far Out Magazine](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/steven-seagal-banned-saturday-night-live-painful-reason/#:~:text=Seagal%20hosted%20the%20show%20on,the%20%E2%80%9Cworst%20host%20ever%E2%80%9D.): _Seagal hosted the show on **April 20th, 1991** , and gave perhaps the most excruciatingly painful performance as host. In fact, it was so outright car-crash terrible that Lorne Michaels, a man famed for his strict control over the show, labelled him the “worst host ever”._ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/28 "2024-04-11T19:52:27Z")
Not a host but when Dakota Johnson hosted earlier this year, Dave Chappelle appeared on stage at the close. Bowen Yang, for one, looked _really_ uncomfortable and stayed on the other side of the stage. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/29 "2024-04-11T19:53:18Z")
and of all the people who have both hosted the show and run for president, he had to be the one to win. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/30 "2024-04-11T20:01:08Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Millard Fillmore? He does bear a resemblance to one of the show’s more frequent hosts: > **[Alec Baldwin Is President Millard Fillmore's Doppelgänger](https://boingboing.net/2016/08/05/alec-baldwin-is-president-mill.html)** > > When Lillian Cunningham, host of the podcast Presidential, offhandedly mentioned that Alec Baldwin resembles 13th President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, it didn't prepare me to find a photograph… ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/31 "2024-04-11T20:06:39Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Seagal hosted the show on **April 20th, 1991** , and gave perhaps the most excruciatingly painful performance as host. In fact, it was so outright car-crash terrible that Lorne Michaels, a man famed for his strict control over the show, labelled him the “worst host ever”. Some years later, Nicholas Cage hosted, and started the monologue intentionally ineptly (over the top sexist comments IIRC). When someone (Lorne?) pulled him aside on-camera and told him he needed to tone it down, Cage became contrite and apologetic: “Gosh, I’m so sorry! You must think I’m the worst host ever!” Lorne replied, “No. That would be Steven Seagall”. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/32 "2024-04-11T20:09:38Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I think that Clay was only considered “controversial” because his appearance was at the same time as an HBO Comic Relief special - well, that, and Sinead O’Connor declined to be the musical guest that week, plus that chant from some protestors in the crowd how I first heard about him was hed just been banned from MTV permanently for doing the nursery rhyme bit on the Music Awards which was live… then he was famous for about 2 years in which he had been called the most over hyped SNL host in recent memory and after Ford Fairlane came out and flopped he disappeared until the late 90s trying out a short-lived sitcom saying he changed his ways only to say “Just kidding” After the sitcom flopped also ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/33 "2024-04-11T20:19:32Z")
Martin Lawrence spent a portion of his opening monologue making crude comments about feminine hygiene, which were replaced in subsequent airings with an onscreen message summarizing the routine in family-friendly language and noting that it “nearly cost us all our jobs.” He’s never been invited back. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/34 "2024-04-11T20:32:14Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@What\_Exit](#): > > > > I would give Andrew Dice Clay and Musk strong mentions. > > Oh yeah, forgot Musk, another one I should have thought of off the top of my head. He wasn’t nearly as controversial then, but I remember how stiff and alien-like he seemed while hosting. Yeah, and for anyone who didn’t see the SNL episode with Musk, just watch any interview with him. It was the same weirdness. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/35 "2024-04-11T21:14:25Z")
There was controversy around Sam Kinison hosting in '86; a couple episodes earlier he’d done a stand-up routine as a guest and told a couple of jokes about drugs and the Crucifixion that had not been cleared with NBC and have been censored out of all rebroadcasts since. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/36 "2024-04-12T02:59:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > She didn’t just refuse to appear on that episode, she quit the show altogether because of Clay hosting. That’s not my understanding. Dunn only refused to appear on the episode where Clay hosted. She was back on the show the following week (when Candice Bergen hosted). But the Bergen episode was the final show of the fifteenth season. And Lorne Michaels decided to make some cast changes during the off-season, one of which was letting Dunn go. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/37 "2024-04-12T03:05:36Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Steven Seagal. I’ve heard more bad stories about his hosting than anyone. [Far Out Magazine](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/steven-seagal-banned-saturday-night-live-painful-reason/#:~:text=Seagal%20hosted%20the%20show%20on,the%20%E2%80%9Cworst%20host%20ever%E2%80%9D.): > > _Seagal hosted the show on **April 20th, 1991** , and gave perhaps the most excruciatingly painful performance as host. In fact, it was so outright car-crash terrible that Lorne Michaels, a man famed for his strict control over the show, labelled him the “worst host ever”._ I’ve heard that Michaels was also very upset with Frank Zappa when he hosted. Zappa apparently didn’t take the show very seriously and mugged at the camera and went off-script during its broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/38 "2024-04-12T03:41:59Z")
I think there’s probably a meaningful distinction between bad hosts (Milton Berle, Louise Lasser, Steven Seagal) and controversial hosts. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/39 "2024-04-12T03:58:14Z")
I have heard that the show that Frank Zappa hosted is also unavailable on video. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160/40 "2024-04-12T04:00:51Z")
There was also the 1988 program where musician Paul Simon was the host, and presidential candidate Paul Simon walked out with him at the beginning of the show. “I thought they wanted me!” “Really? I thought they wanted me instead!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snl-controversial-hosts/1000160.md?page=3)