Chris Rock And Saturday Night Live Cast Conduct Socially Distanced Read-Thru

Saturday Night Live is launching its 46th season soon, and it’s kicking things off with a big-time host in Chris Rock. This will be Rock’s third time hosting the late-night staple, but this will by far be the most unique hosting gig he’s had on the show thus far. This will be the first non-virtual show for Saturday Night Live in a while, and as such NBC is taking plenty of precautions behind the scenes, which you can see in the latest Instagram post from the show. The new photos from Mary Ellen Matthews show Rock at the read-thru wearing a mask, and the second photo shows the rest of the cast and crew socially distanced with tables of their own, and you can see it below.

The photo was posted with the caption “Read-thru with @chrisrock! 📸: @maryellenmatthewsnyc”

Rock will be hosting the season 46 premiere alongside musical guest Megan Thee Stallion, and it should be a great show. We especially can’t wait for Rock’s monologue, as he’s never shied away from topical content during his monologues in the past.

During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Rock joked that he wasn’t sure how they were going to pull this off (via THR). “I’m not sure how we’re even going to do it,” Rock said. “I don’t know if I’m in the studio. I don’t know if I’m in my house. I don’t know if I’m gonna do it from a hospital, I don’t know.”

The 46th season will also feature the return of the entire cast from last season, as the only change is Ego Nwodim’s transition from featured player to repertory player. The full cast includes Kate McKinnon, Davidson, Kenan Thompson Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Alex Moffatt, Kyle Mooney, Chris Reed, Cecily Strong, Melissa Villaseñor, and Nwodim as main players. Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang are still featured players this season, but both have shown that they are already headed to becoming staples of the show moving forward.

Are you excited for Rock on SNL? Let us know in the comments and feel free to talk all things Saturday Night Live with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!