Saturday Night Live with Elon Musk: What to watch for

Tonight, Saturday Night Live makes its long-awaited return to air with its season’s most controversial host, Tesla founder Elon Musk. He’ll be joined by musical guest Miley Cyrus.

In the days leading up to tonight’s episode, the controversy surrounding Musk as host had flooded news publications both in the entertainment and business industries.  Certain cast members of the late-night sketch show were less than thrilled about the announcement. But this didn’t stop Musk from telling his 53 million Twitter followers of possible sketch ideas that they might see on air as well as asking them to “invest with caution” as his media attention sparked conversation surrounding the cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.

It’s obvious that Musk is not a traditional host for the program and while the media certainly seems to agree, there are some people who don’t have a problem with it. SNL’s “Weekend Update” anchor and head writer Michael Che and cast member Pete Davidson did not speak unfavorably of Musk after being asked about him in interviews. Talk show host and former SNL writer Conan O’Brien explained why Musk was a “dream guest.”

Outside of former President Donald Trump, the Tesla founder has been the most recent host whose work comes from outside the entertainment industry. The news of Musk’s upcoming appearance comes as his SpaceX travel venture launched its second operational flight of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Will host Elon Musk be able to keep up on Saturday Night Live?

As for Musk’s formal experience in entertainment, there’s not really much to note. Last year, it was announced that Musk will be a producer in an untitled film starring Tom Cruise that is scheduled to shoot in October of this year. He has also made several cameo appearances in films and television shows including Iron Man 2, Machete Kills, Why Him?, and Men in Black: International. You can also see Musk as an animated fictionalized version of himself in an episode of Rick and Morty.

That being said, there’s not much to comment on when it comes to Musk as a performer. It’ll be interesting to see how SNL utilizes Musk as a feature in sketches. With Musk’s presence on the show, there is no question that there will be at least one sketch mocking the mogul’s impact on the world of tech. There’s a chance we might even see him do an impression or two.

Miley Cyrus Makes Her Return to Saturday Night Live

Miley Cyrus will be returning to Studio 8H for another musical guest appearance. She will be appearing alongside rapper TheKidLaroi with whom she just released a single last month. The last time the singer-songwriter was on the show was during a Saturday Night Live at Home episode in April 2020.

Her first appearance occurred on March 5, 2011 when she appeared as both host and musical guest. She then hosted and was the musical guest on October 3, 2015. Since then she has made cameo appearances and has been impersonated by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer. Cyrus has done a few impersonations of her own of public figures including politician Michelle Bachmann and singer-songwriter Justin Bieber. There’s no doubt that Cyrus will be seen in a few sketches aside from her musical performance.

What are your predictions for this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live with Elon Musk and Miley Cyrus? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to check back with Last Night On for a full recap of the best sketches.