Actors Who Have Never Hosted SNL

Saturday Night Live is on its 50th season now, which means for five straight decades it has served not only as a platform for up-and-coming comedic talent, but also as a platform for established talent to promote their latest project. Some have even hosted the show many times – e.g. Alec Baldwin (17 times), Steve Martin (16 times), John Goodman (13 times), Tom Hanks (10 times), Scarlett Johansson (6 times), and Woody Harrelson (5 times). But, on the opposite side of the coin, there are well-established performers who have never been the host of SNL, no matter how long their career has been. Those are the actors that follow – and this list isn’t even all of them.

However, it is of note that if the actor has ever had a cameo on the sketch comedy show, they were far less likely to be included. That means no Jessica Alba and no Mark Wahlberg – both of whom have made appearances, the first in a Lonely Island video, the second next to Andy Samberg as he does an impression of the actor talking to animals. Both are worth watching. Furthermore, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk was excluded because he wrote for SNL from 1987 to 1991.

Some of the actors on our list might really surprise you, though. Starting with…

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock is essentially the queen of ’90s and ’00s romantic comedies. Yet, like fellow rom-com queen Julia Roberts, she’s never been tapped to be the host of Saturday Night Live.

Bullock’s is a particularly shocking omission, given that she’s so naturally adept in the genre, including in straightforward comedies (whereas Roberts has pretty much stuck to the rom-com). She has come close, however, as she’s played around with SNL vet Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

Chris Evans

Chris Evans is as comfortable with comedic material as he is with action (see: Not Another Teen Comedy), and more often than not those two cross over (see: DC’s The Losers). His performances as Fantastic Four‘s Johnny Storm skewed comedy even before he was brought onto the set of Deadpool & Wolverine; he made a few funny cameos as Captain America in Thor: The Dark World and Spider-Man: Homecoming, and even embraced dark humor with Knives Out.

In other words, Evans is comfortable with multiple forms of comedy. He’s also comfortable poking fun at his star-spangled nice guy image, cultivated over eight years of MCU appearances, which is probably something SNL would ask him to do. That said, it’s really up to him, considering he told ET Canada that he’s avoided hosting duties “like the plague” (via Variety).

Denzel Washington

Plenty of Denzel Washington impressions have been done on Saturday Night Live, but he himself has never appeared. Considering he is an NYC native, and has been working steadily since the early ’80s, that’s pretty surprising. One would assume that when he made his directorial debut with Antwone Fisher back in 2002 NBC would have given him the hosting opportunity.

He’s recently spoken of considering retirement, so perhaps when the third Black Panther film (in which he’s confirmed to appear) comes out, he could finally pick up the mantle of host. Until then, the closest thing we have is Jay Pharoah’s take on the Hollywood legend in “Give Us All Our Daughters Back.”

Morgan Freeman

One of the hardest working actors there ever was, Morgan Freeman has been in a ton of movies. A few of those movies have either been straightforward comedies, such as Bruce Almighty, while even more of them are genre-blenders with a comedic slant, such as Going In Style, Red, The Bucket List, and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

A true thespian, Freeman can do anything – yet he’s never hosted SNL. That said, he did appear on a “What’s Up With That?” sketch alongside the late Ernest Borgnine. He basically just had to sit there and soak up the madness, but he was there!

Cate Blanchett

For the most part, Cate Blanchett has stuck with arthouse drama films. Though, for every Elizabeth there is a Thor: Ragnarok or Middle-earth adventure, so it’s not as if she hasn’t had massive projects to promote. Yet not even when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out did she put in so much as a cameo appearance on SNL.

She’s certainly not opposed to the comedy genre, considering she has appeared on Family Guy twice, The Simpsons once, and scored some laughs in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. She even gave her all in Borderlands, a movie which attempted to be funny, even if it was a box office flop.

Harrison Ford

Is Harrison Ford known primarily for his action-focused and dramatic roles? Absolutely, but he’s also shown himself to be comfortable in the comedy genre with the show Shrinking as well as the general humorous charm that came with playing Indiana Jones and Han Solo.

But the greatest sign that he could be great on SNL is the fact that this is the man who played a werehyena in the climactic battle of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (alongside fellow never-hosts Will Smith, Marion Cotillard, James Marsden, and Sacha Baron Cohen). If that doesn’t display a game attitude, nothing does.

Tom Holland

Neither Spider-Man‘s Tom Holland nor Venom himself, Tom Hardy, have ever hosted SNL. When it comes to Hardy, that’s not too surprising: it doesn’t seem like it would be within his comfort zone. But for the chipper Holland, it would probably make for a nice fit.

With multiple MCU films under his belt, including three Spidey solo ventures, it’s a big surprise that he’s never gone onto the show to promote his latest round of web-slinging. He still has more of those web-slinging adventures to come, so he’ll likely lose his spot on this list in time.

Allison Janney

Like her former Mom co-star, Anna Faris, Allison Janney is a natural in the comedic space. Unlike Faris, however, Janney has never hosted SNL. It’s a bit of a shock, especially while the long-running Mom was on the air.

Jean Smart is another fan-favorite, seasoned performer and she made her SNL debut as the host of Season 50’s premiere, so it’s not unthinkable that Janney would be offered the gig at some point. Perhaps Janney could be in a sketch alongside Heidi Gardner as the latter does her impressive impersonation.

Al Pacino

It’s surprising Al Pacino didn’t dip his toes in the sketch comedy pond back in, say, the ’90s, perhaps to promote Scent of a Woman. One of the most prolific and well-respected actors of his generation or any other, Pacino is a versatile talent. For the most part, though, he’s kept that versatility away from comedy.

The one time he did star in a straightforward comedy, it was Jack and Jill – arguably the worst studio comedy of the 2010s. At this point in his career, it’s unlikely he’ll ever end up hosting SNL.

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt mostly sticks to dramatic material, but the A-lister dips his toes into comedy every now and then. His take on Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds is funny, his cameo in The Lost City is funny, and his work in Burn After Reading is also one of the most hysterical performances to ever be in a Coen brothers movie.

All that said, Pitt isn’t entirely unfamiliar with Studio 8H, as he’s put in two cameo appearances. The first was back in 1998, when he played a therapist opposite David Spade. The other was more recent, when he played Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020.

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Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep is almost universally regarded as the best performer of her generation, maybe of all time, yet she hasn’t been in very many straightforward comedies. Some have come close, e.g. rom-com It’s Complicated and genre-blender Death Becomes Her, but not many movies where the sole purpose is to make the viewer laugh. For that matter, her Death Becomes Her co-star, Goldie Hawn, has never hosted (nor has Hawn’s husband, Kurt Russell).

Given her proclivity for comedy, Hawn is a bit more surprising than Streep, but the latter is still the performer most widely known for being able to play just about anything. So, why she hasn’t brought her chameleonic nature to SNL is a bit of a mystery. It’s doubtful Streep will ever retire, so she very well may take the hosting gig in the future. It would be a shock were she to do so, but Streep is the champion of challenging herself.

Zendaya

Like with real-life and onscreen boyfriend Tom Holland, Zendaya hosting SNL seems pretty likely. An extremely talented and likable performer, Zendaya has shown that she’s particularly adept in the world of sly, deadpan humor. This was seen in the Spidey movies, particularly Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Zendaya’s presence would make for a ratings smash, so Saturday Night Live should try and bring her on for a week if she ever has a relatively free one. It would be an even bigger win for NBC than it would be for her, but she’ll likely have at least one new movie to promote on an annual basis for the foreseeable future.