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What better way to continue one of SNL’s weirdest seasons ever by bringing on one of the world’s most popular singers as the host, and not the musical guest?
Sure, Justin Timberlake hosts, but he has acting credits going back to childhood. Many musicians have done the host/musical guest double, dating back as least as far as Garth Brooks and more recently Halsey and Ariana Grande. The most recent musician to host and not sing/play is Chance the Rapper, but it’s not much of a stretch for him to go into comedy, and he’s very good at it.
Not that having a musician host should be any different than having an athlete or a Republican politician (Trump, Giuliani, McCain) host. Some will do well, some won’t.
Adele did well. She cracked up a couple of times, but her biggest loss of composure actually rescued an otherwise dreary sketch about middle-aged divorcees going to Africa to play around. Her monologue, like Issa Rae’s, focused a bit too heavily on how cool and nerve-wracking it is to host SNL, but she settled right into a fun sketch about a psychic reading in 2019 that featured Kate McKinnon warning people they’ll fall out with friends in 2020 over wiping down bags of Doritos or eating indoors at a restaurant.
But would SNL figure out a way to get her to sing without contorting itself into some…