Druski made SNL history on Nov. 7 by becoming the first digital content creator to host the long-running sketch comedy series. The comedian headlined Saturday Night Live alongside musical guest The Strokes, and as he told Marcello Hernández, it was better than any childhood dream:
Druski rose to fame producing comedy shorts for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. He’s best known for the character of Pastor Dru, a money-loving megachurch preacher who will be the basis of the new Netflix series Collect & Praise, premiering on Dec. 1.
Here are the best moments from Druski’s first hosting gig.
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COLD OPEN
Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) and Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) were in a celebratory mood after the blue tsunami of Nov. 3. Although democrats won big on election night, it was republican President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) who took all the credit for their victories. Trump was in anything but a celebratory mood after the election results, which signaled a return to the millennial cringe of the New Girl era. One person who was excited was democratic senator-elect James Talarico, who crashed Trump’s monologue after helping turn Texas blue. After reminding viewers that he was the guy who kept texting them every day to donate $5, Talarico showed a willingness to work with the President on the most pressing issue facing the country: SNL cold opens.
OPENING MONOLOGUE
From the moment he stepped onstage, Druski assured the audience that SNL wouldn’t water down his comedy. There were a few concessions, however, like no cussing or white-face, which the comedian couldn’t promise he’d abide by considering that accounts for half of his material. He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity, and couldn’t believe his good luck over the past year. He’s just finished shooting his first movie with Emma Stone, who showed up to support his opening monologue. Druski revealed he’s playing Stone’s love interest in the movie, which was news to the Oscar-winning actress (although it did clear up why he kept looking at her like that throughout shooting). He also told Stone that he loved her in Bugonia, not because he actually liked the movie, but because he wanted to be the first black person to say that.
WASHINGTON IN FOCUS
BET hosts Marcus James (Thomson), Lamar Woods (Druski), and Audrey Tuck (Saidah Belo-Osagie) broke down Tuesday’s election results with Daniel Roth (Andrew Dismukes) from The Atlantic. The hosts were thrilled by the number of newly-elected black representatives, including Georgia governor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Ohio senator Sherrod Brown. When Roth tried to tell the hosts that Brown is actually white, they couldn’t believe that anyone with the name “Sherrod” could possibly be caucasian. Even a photo of the incoming senator could change their minds, as they zoomed in on a vibrantly-dressed African American man playing a saxophone in the background. And don’t get us started on recently-outed FED chair Jerome Powell, who couldn’t possibly be white (and was most certainly that same sax-carrying man).
DRU CAN SEE EVERYTHING
The movie everyone is talking about is You Can See Everything, in which comedian Nathan Fielder spent time with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (Jane Wickline) and her husband, Billy Evans (Ben Marshall), in the days before Holmes went to federal prison. But before Fielder showed up, Druski spent time with Holmes and Evans for another documentary, Dru Can See Everything, which was released on Instagram Reels as a multi-part series called “Crazy White Lady Skit.” Whereas Fielder got The Dropout star Amanda Seyfried to play Holmes in dramatic re-enactments, Druski donned the white lady makeup he used to play Erika Kirk (see, it didn’t take long for him to break that promise).
WEEKEND UPDATE
In the wake of the midterms, Colin Jost asked Elon Musk (Jeremy Culhane) how it felt to dump over half-a-billion dollars into the election only to have Texas turn blue… after he had moved all of his operations to the state to avoid paying income taxes. Suffice to say, Musk wasn’t too pleased with the results, although he tried his best to hide it. In much higher spirits were two people who had just hooked up (Dismukes and Ashley Padilla), whose post-coital double entendres were reminiscent of the bickering between Democrats and Republicans. Here’s hoping everyone in Washington gets together as well as these two.
Druski is the fifth host for Saturday Night Live‘s 52nd season, following Jalen Brunson (with musical guest Katseye) on Sept. 26; Dakota Johnson (with musical guest Turnstile) on Oct. 3; Shane Gillis (with musical guest Rosalía) on Oct. 10; and Inde Navarrette (with musical guest Gracie Abrams) on Oct. 31. Next up on the SNL stage will be John Mulaney (with musical guest Phoebe Bridgers) on Nov. 14.
SNL added two new featured players to its roster for Season 52: Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter. All of the Season 51 cast members are returning except for Chloe Fineman, plus Bowen Yang, who departed after the Christmas episode. Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline have been promoted to repertory players this season. SNL just won another Emmy in September, bringing its record-holding total to 114.
