Saturday Night Lives Returns for First New Episode in Month

By Adam Barnhardt

At long last, Saturday Night Live is returning to 30 Rock for a batch of new episodes. After an extended holiday hiatus, the cast and crew have descended upon Studio 8H for its first new episode since before Christmas, featuring Aubrey Plaza making her hosting debut. In addition to the Agatha: Coven of Chaos star making her first appearance, Sam Smith is making their third stop on the series as musical guest.

The episode airing tonight, January 21st, will be the first of three episodes before the live sketch comedy's next break. Next week's episode features Michael B. Jordan and Lil Baby before the February 4th episode has yet to reveal its attached guests. The show will then take a two-week break before returning with more new episodes on February 25th.

Funny enough, Plaza revealed earlier this month she once auditioned for a spot on the Saturday Night Live cast, striking out with casting directors before even reaching a final audition with Lorne Michaels himself.

"I didn't make it to the big, Lorne [Michaels] audition, the famous final audition, but I did a preliminary first-round showcase at UCB," Plaza revealed during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show. "I did some characters. I remember one character I did was kind of like a Puerto Rican news reporter that was always trying to make all of the news stories like sexy, even if they were horrific news stories. I was just trying to like sex up the news or something."  

She added, "And then the other one was, I was a pill-popping housewife that had my own talk show, called 'Celebri-tails,' where I would just name celebrities and name what kind of tail they would have if they were --if they had a tail. Like, I would say, like, ' Lindsay Lohan would have a bushy squirrel's tail.' Or, like, ' Bill Clinton would have, like, a polar bear's nub.' Or 'Oprah Winfrey would have a dragon's (tail)'.' I mean, I didn't get on the show.

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How to watch Saturday Night Live

Throughout the remainder of Season 48, currently expected to run through next May, NBC is simulcasting new episodes live on both NBC and Peacock. Peacock also serves as the streaming vault for all SNL episodes from its inception, with new episodes being added the day after they air.

Virtually every SNL episode, other than the select few locked away for good because of a variety of reasons, is now available to watch on the streaming service.

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