‘Saturday Night Live’: Mikey Madison joins the White House’s group chat, and more best moments
Mikey Madison's Oscar might soon have some company in the form of an Emmy for Saturday Night Live. Fresh off her Best Actress win earlier this year, the Anora star made her hosting debut on the long-running sketch comedy series. Given the frequency with which SNL hosts have competed in the comedy guest acting categories at the Emmys, Madison's awards season run might be far from over. Here are the best moments from Madison's first hosting gig, from the opening monologue to the best sketches.
COLD OPEN
You could've bet money when "Signal Gate" broke that it would be satirized in Saturday Night Live's cold open. Madison's teenage group chart is accidentally invaded by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Andrew Dismukes), Vice President J.D. Vance (Bowen Yang), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández), and The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg (Mikey Day). An utterly confused Madison tells the new members she has to go because her date, Matt, has arrived to pick her up. "Gaetz?," Hegseth asks. "Actually, yes," she says.
OPENING MONOLOGUE
"It's been a crazy few months," Madison said of her whirlwind Oscar campaign for Anora, so come April, she's planning on going to bed. Oscar season may be over, but that doesn't mean Madison has dropped character, as she showed off the pole dancing skills she learned in order to play the stripper with a heart of gold (well, at least we think that's Madison, considering she seemed to grow some manly muscles when the camera cut to her on the pole). She also poked fun at her high-strung screen persona with a montage of clips from her other films, including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream, in which she's bruised, beaten, and blow-torched. "To be clear, those are two separate characters who got set on fire," she said. "That's range."
ACTING CLASS SKETCH
Speaking of range, Madison showed hers off by playing ... a bad actress taking classes in a local strip mall for $2,000 a session. She's a favorite of her acting coach (Hernandéz), despite being unable to remember Forrest Gump's famous line about life being like a box of chocolates. On the other hand, she is the only one in the class who's booked work so far, albeit on reality TV shows like Survivor and Love Is Blind (she didn't like what she saw when the blindfold came off), so he has her show off her skills by playing a football player in an athletic commercial. "Great work," her teacher gushes. "Thanks," she replies. "Maybe I'll win an Oscar one day."
pop had so many dreams pic.twitter.com/LTqU7G5wef
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) March 30, 2025
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MOB WIFE SKETCH
Madison gave us a glimpse of a potential future for her Anora character, playing the wife of a mobster (Dismukes) who's just been gunned down by his rival (Day). As he bleeds out, he confesses to his sons (Hernandéz and James Austin Johnson) that his biggest regret in life is that he never tried standup comedy. He rattles off some subpar observational humor ("Why do pigeons walk? Why do buses have signs telling you not to hit the driver?") as his leopard-fur adorned wife (Madison) comes to his side. Not only does mom have some jokes of her own ("Why do they make you put on different shoes when you go bowling?"), but she also helped their dad come up with his catchphrase: "Make that make sense." Make that make sense, indeed.
if SpongeBob is an euphoria-based HBO series #SNL #SaturdayNightLive #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/8knQswKTqg
— iJermaine360 LIVE (Nintendo Switch 2 HYPE!) (@iJermaine360) March 30, 2025
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"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS" SKETCH
One of the best sketches from Madison's first SNL appearance was pre-recorded, and for good reason. Madison shows up in the writers room dressed as Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants (as if you needed further proof she's a child of the early 2000s), complete with blue makeup and a giant nose. She pitches a sketch that brings the popular underwater cartoon to life, with human actors playing the animated characters in an HBO dramady about a group of sea creature friends navigating life in The Big Apple called Treading Water.
DATING GAME SHOW SKETCH
The trials and tribulations of online dating are brought to horrifying life in the new game show, So... Like... What Are We? Madison hosts the show, where the contestants are all guys she's matched with on dating apps. Tonight's "contestant" is Jeremy Hinge (Michael Longfellow), who's grilled by the host as to why he hasn't returned her calls and won't tag her in a photo on Instagram. Next time you'd better think before you swipe right, unless you want to end up competing on So... Like... What Are We?
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