Saturday Night Live’s Season 39 has made big headlines several times recently, from hiring a slew of new cast members to nabbing excellent guest stars. This year definitively marked the end of the old guard and the start of a new one, but it’s nice to see some big names and veteran guest stars return to ensure the change happens smoothly. On Friday, NBC announced that Melissa McCarthy will be back to host an episode of SNL next month.
McCarthy is slated to appear in the February 1 episode of the series, as the slots for the next couple of shows are already filled. This week, Drake is set to host and perform on SNL and the following weekend Jonah Hill has signed on to host, with Bastille, of “Pompeii” fame, performing during the episode. McCarthy will also be joined by a musical guest during her stint and that band will be none other than Imagine Dragons, who will no doubt perform “Radioactive,” although maybe the group has some new fodder in the pipeline.
The Mike & Molly actress is no SNL novice. Her stint in February will actually be her third, following an uproarious first performance that improved the late night sketch comedy’s ratings and a reprisal last year that we called “fearless.” It’s always nice when a solid performer on the show returns, and the McCarthy announcement definitely gives us something to look forward to. She will elevate the material, go with the writers’ suggestions and please fans.
It’s not the only thing SNL fans should be stoked about, however. Following a media brouhaha in which the series was criticized for not employing any African American female players, and following an extremely funny and successful episode starring Kerry Washington, the series has signed on a brand new lady. Her name’s Sasheer Zameka, and she’ll debut in the episode as a brand new featured player. As fans of SNL know, being a featured player doesn’t necessarily guarantee screen time, but with enough determination and creativity, there’s no reason to think she won’t be a household name sooner rather than later.
That’s all in the future, however. At this point, we should all take a step back and get excited about Drake, who, in case you don’t remember, was a child actor back in the day. He starred on a little show called Degrassi, and if you’ve never seen it before, you should consider fixing that immediately.
Here’s a look at tomorrow’s episode…
NBC’s SNL airs Sunday nights at 10:30 p.m. ET.
