Long-running late night hit Saturday Night Live returned to the studio for Season 46, and while we've had some amazing guest hosts over the past several months, the number of people who were likely looking forward to the appearance of Schitt's Creek funny man Dan Levy are probably innumerable. Plenty of viewers praised Levy's work on the show, but fans were even more impressed when it seemed like he started a lovely new tradition behind the scenes. Now, though Levy has come clean about the hosting tradition, and revealed who really began it.
Dan Levy took the stage as a Saturday Night Live guest host for the first time on February 6, in Episode 11. He decided to leave a lovely note behind for the next week's host, Regina King, and not only did the move make headlines, but it sparked what seemed to have been a new tradition. In subsequent weeks, host King left a note for Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page, who in turn left a sweet missive for Nick Jonas. But, it turns out that Levy got the idea from someone else, and was definitely not the first to make such a kind gesture.
Apparently, he spotted an old note in his dressing room from Woody Harrleson to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, from last season, thought it was a great idea and decided to do the same. As he told Today:
I feel the need to clarify this… I didn’t start (the tradition). I kind of continued it. So I asked if I could leave a note for Regina because the process is such a strange experience. Strange, wonderful and intimidating experience that like, a little note from the person that had just done it felt like such a sweet vote of confidence.
I don't know about you, but I think this makes Dan Levy an even sweeter person. Not only did he decide to fess up about his move to leave a lovely note behind for the guest host after him being an idea he got from Harrelson, but he also thought it was a great tradition to start again. He could have easily kept quiet and let us all go on believing that no other SNL host in the history of the show had considered such a thing, but he told the truth. And, picking the gesture back up, when there had been several hosts between when Harrelson took the gig and when we saw Levy do it, also just makes him a stand up guy, in my opinion.
Of course, it should be noted that just because we know for a fact that Woody Harrelson, Dan Levy, Regina King, Regé-Jean Page, and Nick Jonas made this move, it doesn't mean that the literally hundreds of other celebrities who've hosted haven't done the same thing or something similar for the guest host after them. I mean, I can totally see Blake Shelton making sure that J.K. Simmons had some nice flowers in his dressing room before he hosted, can't you?
Saturday Night Live will be back with a new episode on March 27, with returning former cast member Maya Rudolph stepping in to host. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to 2021 TV premieres!
