Caitlin Clark, and the best athlete hosts ever on "Saturday Night Live"
Live from New York....
In case you spent the weekend on another planet, Iowa hoops star (and soon-to-be #1 WNBA draft pick) Caitlin Clark appeared on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend.
That clip already has more than 2 million views. Which is less than this amazing “Beavis and Butthead” skit from Saturday night — but still damn good!
Clark’s presence on “SNL” is indicative of the fact that she is not just a famous athlete but a full-blown cultural superstar. (The minute-long applause she gets when she appears on screen is a pretty good indicator of how popular she is too.)
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There are very few athletes — male or female — who transcend their sport or, really, athletics more generally, to become that sort of a cultural figure.
Who makes that cut? I did some digging! There have been less than three dozen athletes who have hosted “SNL” since it started in 1975. (I know Clark didn’t host — at least not yet!)
The first athlete to host “SNL” was then Minnesota Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton, who hosted the show in its 2nd year of existence. (There’s a whole podcast about this episode!)
The only video I could find on YouTube from the episode is this one — where John Belushi plays a football coach — and Tarkenton only appears briefly (playing himself) at the very end. (A very young Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray are in the sketch though!)
As Deadspin wrote of his appearance on the show:
The first-ever athlete-host, Tarkenton seems an odd choice, even if he was a perennial Pro Bowler coming off a Super Bowl loss. He wasn’t exactly a national superstar, was two years removed from winning league MVP, and six years removed from being the quarterback of the New York Giants. Still, Tarkenton didn’t flop as host. Obviously, it was expected that he wouldn’t have the acting chops that the cast members and previous hosts did, but that disadvantage was minimized as Tarkenton was only asked to play himself in nearly every sketch he appeared in.
The last athlete to host the show was Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in March 2023. And this was months before we found out he was dating Taylor Swift! (Swift has been on “SNL” a ton but only hosted once — in November 2009.)
Here’s Kelce’s monologue from that night:
In the 47 years between Tarkenton and Kelce, there have been some classic athlete hosts and, um, some forgettable ones. I searched through YouTube for some of the best and worst. They’re below.
Yes, John Madden hosted “SNL”! I know, I am as shocked as you are! And he was kind of a joker! Here’s then “SNL” producer (and later NBC sports head honcho) Dick Ebersol recounting a moment with Madden before the dress rehearsal for the show:
Madden was just about to rehearse the monologue when he called out to Ebersol, who was tucked away under the audience bleachers.
"I stuck my head around the corner so he could see me," Ebersol recalled. "He said, 'Come here a minute.' I came to about halfway to the stage area with a full house, whatever it is, 300-plus for dress [rehearsal]. And he said, 'I just want to tell you now I'm going to finish this dress rehearsal and then I'm going to leave. I'm not happy with how things have been going, and I'm enough of a trouper to finish it for this audience, but then I'm outta here. This is just the pits.'"
Ebersol was stunned. "I'm standing there and I'm dying," he said. "And he lets about two or three seconds go and then he gets the biggest smile on his face in the world and he said, 'You know I'm a practical joker, don't you?' The place went nuts. But in the meantime, I had just about had a heart attack."
I couldn’t find Madden’s opening monologue unfortunately. But here’s Madden playing a sports broadcaster doing locker-room interviews. (Also, Eddie Murphy is the best.)
Who says pro wrestling ins’t a sport? (Not me!). This was the one and only hosting gig for both men and, if you watch the opening monologue, you’ll know why. Fun fact: The musical guest that night was The Commodores!
Sometimes it feels like 1987 was 100 years ago. Like, I remember that this opening monologue by Montana, the legendary San Francisco 49ers QB, was a massive hit when he delivered it back in the late 80s. But, the jokes about Montana’s concussion don’t hit nearly as well in the age of CTE. (Also: Debbie Harry was the musical guest of this episode!)
The tennis superstar was the first female athlete ever to host “SNL.” (She is one of three ever — along with Nancy Kerrigan and Ronda Rousey.)
Evert later recounted a conversation she had with “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels. “I said I might fall on my face and completely make a foo of myself. And he said ‘Good. That’s what everyone wants.’”
Jordan was coming off his first NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls. (The team would go on to three-peat, winning in 1992 and 1993 as well.) His opening monologue was forgettable —except for the green jacket and the shades — but his “Daily Affirmations” skit with Stuart Smalley (aka Al Franken) was absolutely brilliant. (Sidebar: This might have been the best musical act of any episode hosted by an athlete; Public Enemy was the musical guest.)
Long before he was “Coach Prime,” Deion Sanders was a mega-star in the culture. Despite his comfort in the spotlight, he was, um, an awful “SNL” host. How Stuff Works ranked him the 6th worst “SNL” host of all time, writing:
Fresh off back-to-back Super Bowl wins with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, Deion Sanders was then the hottest athlete in America. He also played professional baseball, which is pretty cool. However, Deion Sanders fell into the trap of taking himself way too seriously on the show. Which is surprising for a guy whose self-proclaimed nickname is ‘Neon Deion.’ He also insisted on performing not one, but two songs off his 1995 rap album while on SNL. What, you’ve never heard of Deion Sanders’ rap album? Trust us, there’s a reason for that.
Watch his monologue. It’s brutal.
The best “Deion Sanders” ever on “SNL” was when Kenan Thompson played him in 2023.
If you ever watched Dwayne Johnson wrestle — or, more importantly, cut a promo — you knew this guy was destined for bigger things. Superstardom came calling for The Rock in 2000 — the first of his five times hosting the show. (Johnson is the only athlete who is a member of the Five-Timers Club. Charles Barkley has hosted four times.)
Here’s his first opening monologue:
And, just for way of comparison, here’s The Rock’s opening monologue when he hosted the show for a 5th time in 2020.
Back in 2007, most people only knew Manning as a very, very good quarterback. No one had any idea dude was funny. But that all changed when he hosted “SNL” — and with this skit in particular.
Yes, by the time he hosted “SNL” Eli Manning had won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants (2007 and 2011). But for lots of people he was still known as Peyton’s little brother. Eli played that role to the hilt during his hosting gig — including this amazing “Little Brothers” sketch.
Whoops Caitlin with a C
Kaitlin Clark: pretty classy chick!