Over the past week, Deadpool has proved to be a massive hit among critics and fans, already drawing in over $315 million worldwide. Unlike most other superhero movies, Deadpool isn’t merely an action flick, but also equal parts comedy, from Wade Wilson mocking his adversaries to constantly breaking the fourth wall. The movie’s marketing campaign has been further proof of how funny the character is, and now a select group of fans want to take it to the next level by having him host an episode of Saturday Night Live.
Directed towards Ryan Reynolds, SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels and the rest of the sketch show’s cast and crew, there’s a petition at Change.org keen on having Reynolds host SNL as the Merc with a Mouth. The statement explains that Deadpool’s brand of humor would be great for sketches, though it would obviously need to be toned down from the big screen, R-rated fare. They even go so far as to suggest that depending on the musical guest, it might be fun to have Deadpool do some “interpretive dancing” while the music plays. At the time of this writing, the petition that gathered over 27,000 supporters.
So how exactly would Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live work? Would he be wearing the costume and mask the whole time? If he took off the mask, would Reynolds’ face have to look scarred like it was in the movie? Assuming the Deadpool suit stays on the whole time, that means Ryan Reynolds would simply wear the clothes and costumes for each individual sketch over it, right? While the idea sounds fun, it sounds too difficult to pull off in execution. That said, if one of the current writers could somehow insert the anti-hero into the sketch show (or a fake version of it in one of the Deadpool comics), I would be most appreciative.
As for real life, the easier course of action would be to simply have Ryan Reynolds host the show as himself, without the constraints of staying in character the whole time. The actor’s next movie, Criminal, is coming out in April, so Saturday Night Live could easily schedule him for hosting sometime in late April or early May. The latter might work better since it’s near the end of the season, which is usually when the show brings out the big guns. With Deadpool’s success coupled with Reynolds’ natural comedic talent, it makes sense to have him host for the second time (the first happened in 2009). Then the show could feature at least one sketch where he plays Deadpool. The costume he uses might not look as good as the movie’s, but at least we’d get more of the Merc with the Mouth’s wackiness for at least five minutes.
You can catch Deadpool in theaters now, and Deadpool 2 has already been green-lit for a future release.
