Hosting Saturday Night Live is no easy gig no matter how experienced you are in comedy or performing in front of a live audience. Some hosts just fall flat, and one popular comedian admitted that he was kind of "horrible" in most sketches.
Not every Saturday Night Live host can be Donald Glover or Melissa McCarthy, a natural from the second the lights go on. Most hosts are good to OK or don't do much to disrupt the audience. But there have been a handful of absolute duds over the 50-year history of Saturday Night Live.
Comedian Dane Cook isn't exactly on the level of, say, Steven Seagal. However, Cook would be the first to admit that his initial turn as Saturday Night Live didn't go so smoothly.
"I got to feel like I was horrible in a couple of things," Cook said to hosts Dana Carvey and David Spade on the Fly on the Wall podcast. "I remember just coming off a couple of sketches being like, 'Whoa, that was bad. I hope the next one's better because that one...'"
Cook hosted on December 3, 2005. He told Carvey and Spade he knew instantly that he messed up some things in the show's live version. According to Cook, there's a "feeling in your body when you know you're missing, and you just gotta keep going."
Was Dane Cook really that bad on Saturday Night Live?
If you didn't know Dane Cook hosted Saturday Night Live, that's probably because nothing memorable came out of the episode. But that isn't a knock on Cook. Realistically, how many notable sketches, let alone episodes, come from a typical SNL season?
Perhaps the best sketch of the night was "Turtleneck." Cook held his own opposite SNL stars Rachel Dratch and Seth Meyers. He nailed the delivery on most of his lines and even managed to mix in some physical comedy as a party guest committed to wearing his brand-new turtleneck sweater.
Lorne Michaels and the rest of Saturday Night Live also approved of Dane Cook's performance. They must have, because the stand-up comedian was invited back to host the next season. Cook's second stint as SNL host came on September 30, 2006.
It was something of an honor for Cook since it was the season premiere. The episode also stands out in SNL history as Seth Meyers' first behind the "Weekend Update" desk and the first show directed by legendary director Don Roy King.
In his second turn, Cook got to perform in a "Digital Short." He went to battle with Bill Hader in the over-the-top bit "Cubicle Fight."
It's been nearly 20 years since Dane Cook hosted Saturday Night Live, and it's unlikely he'll be back for a third turn. But Cook should be a little easy on himself. He certainly wasn't "horrible" as a host, and few people can say they hosted the show in back-to-back seasons. You don't get that honor without making the right people laugh.