"Saturday Night Live at Home" refers to the final three episodes of the 45th season of the late-night comedy program Saturday Night Live. Whereas SNL typically consists of sketches performed live in-studio, these "at Home" episodes were recorded remotely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television; none of the sketches were performed live for any of these episodes, and none of the participants in any sketch from these shows were in the same physical location.
The first episode aired on April 11, 2020. The episode was hosted by Tom Hanks, and its musical guest was Chris Martin. A segment also paid tribute to Hal Willner, music producer for SNL from 1980 until his death from COVID-19four days before the episode. It was received positively by critics. The second episode aired on April 25. The episode did not have a credited host, but Brad Pitt appeared in the cold open and introduced the episode's musical guest, Miley Cyrus. The third episode aired on May 9 and acted as a Mother's Day-themed episode as well as the season finale. The episode's host was Kristen Wiig, and its musical guests were Boyz II Men and Babyface.
In contrast to regular episodes, where the host would have been involved in most sketches of the night, and where the host and musical guest were in-studio with the cast members and crew, the involvement of the host for these episodes was scaled down to the bare minimum, and only Kristen Wiig participated in any of the show's sketches on the night she hosted. Also, by contrast, where studio episodes allowed the musical guests to perform at least twice, the remote episodes only featured a single performance from each week's musical guest.
Background
At the time that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was in a previously scheduled two-week production hiatus. On March 16, in the midst of the break, production of the show was temporarily suspended. The suspension impacted three previously announced episodes: March 28, April 4, and April 11. The host and musical guest for the March 28 episode had been previously announced as John Krasinski and Dua Lipa respectively. The episode would have been Krasinski's first hosting appearance and Lipa's second musical guest appearance since 2018, with Krasinski's appearance tied to the since-delayed release of A Quiet Place Part II from March 2020 to April 2021, while Dua Lipa was promoting her third album Future Nostalgia, released as scheduled on March 27. The March 28 and April 4 episodes were replaced by reruns. It was announced in early April that the show was scheduled to resume production on April 11, with cast members remotely appearing from their individual homes. SNL returned with this remote set-up after almost all American late night programs had already made accommodations to return to air.
Long-time music producer Hal Willner died of the disease during the hiatus. Additionally, host Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson had also been infected by coronavirus but recovered.
During an episode of The Strokes' radio series with guest Colin Jost, it was revealed that the band was scheduled to perform on the April 11 episode, in promotion of their new album The New Abnormal. It would have been The Strokes' fourth appearance as musical guest and first time appearing on the show since 2011. The band eventually had their fourth musical guest appearance during the October 31, 2020 episode of the 46th season.
Lastly, Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon, who had been cast members at the time since 2012, were originally planning on leaving at the end of the season, but the pandemic ruined those plans and thus having them stay for two more seasons, and left in 2022.
Cast roster
Repertory players Beck Bennett Aidy Bryant Michael Che Pete Davidson Mikey Day Heidi Gardner Colin Jost Kate McKinnon Alex Moffat Kyle Mooney Chris Redd Cecily Strong Kenan Thompson Melissa Villaseñor
Featured players Chloe Fineman Ego Nwodim Bowen Yang
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
April 11 episode
Sketches The cold open features the cast members using Zoom to do a variation of the "Live from New York..." quote. The opening credits music is then performed by Lenny Pickett and the Saturday Night Live Band, who all perform from home, with the cast recreating their opening credits shots from their homes. Tom Hanks does his opening monologue, opening up about coping with COVID-19. He also takes questions from the "audience" (actually Hanks dressed as a Frenchman and an Australian man). Pete Davidson is featured in a music video doing a generic Drake song parody from his mother's basement. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Kate McKinnon) shows her workout regimen from her home. Some office co-workers (Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Chris Redd, and Heidi Gardner) attempt to conduct a meeting via Zoom, but two receptionists (McKinnon and Aidy Bryant) have some difficulty. Bernie Sanders (Larry David) explains why he has decided to drop out of the 2020 United States presidential election. A parody ad for MasterClass: Quarantine Edition, featuring Timothée Chalamet, JoJo Siwa and Carole Baskin (all portrayed by Chloe Fineman). Hanks introduces Chris Martin, who does a cover of Bob Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm" from his studio, made to look like the Studio 8H stage. Colin Jost and Michael Che host Weekend Update, alongside some Zoom audience members. They conduct a phone interview with Donald Trump (voiced by Alec Baldwin), and Che pays tribute to his grandmother, Martha, who died due to COVID-19. Bailey at the Movies (Gardner) posts a new YouTube video, reviewing movies that were released before the quarantine. Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles – An animated sketch parodying the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon shows the Turtles in their middle-age. Michelangelo (voiced by Kyle Mooney) is about to be divorced from his wife as he doesn't want to give up his kids. Donatello (voiced by Kenan Thompson) gets a call from a doctor who informs him that there was a suspicious lump on his spine and the test results state that it was a benign cyst. Donatello is relieved with the news. In the park, Raphael (voiced by Beck Bennett) informs Leonardo (voiced by Day) that Shredder died. Leonardo states that they can go to the wake but not the service. When Leonardo gets annoyed that Raphael is asking for money again, Raphael weeps that he has to stop betting on golf which he doesn't watch. Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles was written by Steven Castillo, Mooney and Dan Bulla. Cam Playz Dat (Day) shows how bad he is at playing video games on Twitch. British sportscaster Bob Tisdale (Moffat) does commentary on mundane things to make up for sports cancellations. Mooney, Bennett, and Fred Armisen remix their FaceTime chats. Bryant leads a "visualizations" seminar. How Low Will You Go? – A game show parody hosted by Alex Burpee (Bennett) that showcases dating during quarantine featuring three female contestants (Ego Nwodim, Gardner, and Bryant) and three male contestants (Day, Davidson, and Thompson). Nwodim does a makeup tutorial using only Crayola markers. Davidson does another hip-hop music video parody showcasing his $2,000 in cash and calling himself "Andre 2000". Past and present SNL cast members and writers, including Armisen, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Bill Hader, John Mulaney, Paula Pell, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, and Emily Spivey, pay tribute to long-time music producer for the show, Hal Willner, who died from COVID-19, by sharing stories about him, and singing Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". Hanks bids the audience goodnight and tells everyone to stay safe, as the credits roll over a still photograph of the empty Studio 8H. In a cut for time sketch, stand-up comedian Bruce Chandling (Mooney) attempts to audition for an Easter special named Elmer's Easter Adventure.
Critical reception Writing for The A.V. Club, Dennis Perkins gave the episode a B− for the effort put into the episode, Chris Martin's performance of "Shelter from the Storm", John Mulaney's tribute to Willner, and the creativity of several of the skits, summing up this "outlier" episode by writing, "There wasn't anything revelatory, or even especially memorable about it, except that it existed... In fact, this version of the show seems constitutionally preordained to settle precisely in the middle, no matter how long SNL eventually runs. But we could all use some reliable institutions right now, and having SNL back—even if the future of this season, like so many other things, is deeply uncertain—was surprisingly affecting." Travis Andrews of The Washington Post praised the experiment, summing up his overview of the episode, "The inventive episode, born of necessity, gave us much more than [something to do for a little while]. It gave us both the opportunity and excuse to turn off the news and laugh—even if just for a bit." Both Andrews and Bill Keveney of USA Today positioned Saturday Night Live as a unique television institution that has helped America process national tragedies such as the coronavirus pandemic or September 11, 2001 attacks; he characterized it as "strange" but offering comfort. Andy Hoglund of Entertainment Weekly said the episode was "an interesting cultural footnote—both in the history of the show, as well as for the historians taking stock of how the U.S. coped during the 2020 global pandemic", adding the show's limitations allowed them to go "full TikTok this episode. Not a bad thing. The show has been addicted to its high production values/capabilities for a while—this liberates the cast to just be weird." Matthew Dessem of Slate praised the episode for the sentiment in Willner's tribute and how well several of the sketches worked logistically. Ethan Anderson of /Film wrote that many of the sketches worked, with only three failing, "a tear of joy came to [his] eyes" at several points.
Writing for NPR, Eric Deggans conceded that while "there weren't many laugh-out-loud moments during" the episode, the effort put into the production and risk-taking made up for some of the weaker content, and particularly praised Martin's performance and the musical ode to Willner. Several other reviewers noted the uneven comedy but were happy to have the show return as a tribute to Willner and an attempt at normalcy: IndieWire's LaToya Ferguson characterized the episode as a "rocky return, despite timely humor and a touching tribute" and Judy Berman of Time called it a "weaker-than-average episode... Yet, as I watched what the cast and writers managed to put together, prepared to be disappointed by SNL as usual, an unexpected sense of gratitude blindsided me." For The Verge, Julia Alexander noted that, while not every segment worked, the series "rarely produces a show with nothing but outstanding sketches". Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "pretty good" all things considered but "all things not considered, it was pretty good, too", summing up, "it's good to have it there, being more or less itself". Vultures Matthew Lowe went even further, calling Saturday Night Live "as much a public service as it is a show", writing that this episode was "less a risk than a gesture of solidarity". In The Guardian, Zach Vasquez called parts of the episode silly and endearing, summing up that it was a "valiant effort and a welcome distraction from the larger troubles of the world".
Ratings This was the second highest-rated episode of season 45, after the Eddie Murphy-hosted December 21, 2019 edition, with an average 6.7 million total viewers and a 1.46 rating, winning the night for broadcast television networks in its time slot. This episode won the 18–49 demographic among broadcast networks with a 2.1 in 25 markets with local people meters and a 4.6 Live+Same Day household rating in the 44 local metered markets.
April 25 episode