Every SNL host who was banned from the show

In its 50-year history, Saturday Night Live has seen all kinds of hosts. Some are absolute geniuses on the show, have huge hits with the audience, and come back multiple times. Others were “flash in the pan” stars whose gigs are mostly forgotten. And then there are hosts who were absolutely terrible and never invited back.

Some go the extra mile and are openly banned by SNL, although it’s sometimes tricky to figure that out. Contrary to opinion, Charles Grodin wasn’t banned, but it was his own choice not to return as he didn’t feel he worked on the show. Many bans are for the musical guests, but these stand out as the SNL hosts were so awful they were banned from returning, and some big names on this list. 

Steven Seagal

In the annals of SNL, Steven Seagal lands near the top of the worst hosts ever. When he hosted in 1991, Seagal was at the top of his game as an action movie star, and they had skits sending up his image. From day one on set, Seagal was hated for refusing to do anything that would mock his image. His big idea was a skit of him as a therapist taking advantage of Victoria Jackson.

The weekly run-throughs were so bad that the cast seriously considered just dumping Seagal and going without a host that week. From his strange opening song to bad sketches and inability to show comedic chops combined with his outrageous ego, it’s no shock Seagal was banned and still talked of in bad terms by anyone in SNL. 

Martin Lawrence

By his own admission, Martin Lawrence’s fame came with a price as he was overwhelmed by addiction issues and crazy behavior. That was shown in his 1994 hosting gig where his opening monologue had viewers shocked. And not in a good way. It was outrageous, with jokes way too much for the network censors of the time, and had to be edited in reruns and online broadcasts.

The rest of the show wasn’t much better, with Lawrence ad-libbing jokes, including curses that threw off the other performers. In fact, the ban was so huge that cast members wouldn’t even mention Lawrence by name and for a while, his episode basically never existed to show how crazy his appearance was. 

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Louise Lasser

Mostly forgotten today, Louise Lasser was known in 1976 for her starring turn in the daring comedy Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was the penultimate host for the first season of SNL and by all reports (including her own), she was a total mess at the time. The show even hinted at it with the opening sketch of Chevy Chase as the Land Shark coaxing her out of her dressing room.

The skits were rough to watch and Lasser’s problems were clear. She denies the claims of a ban, yet the fact that her episode was taken off the air in syndication for years indicates that many in SNL weren’t happy with how her run turned out. 

Milton Berle

The first TV star, Milton Berle was an icon in the comedy world with his classic jokes and snide humor. That should have made him a dream host for SNL, but instead, it became a nightmare. Berle acted like it was still his 1950s show, mugging for the camera, tired jokes and a bad backstage attitude. While some folks like John Belushi idolized him, Berle’s arrogance rubbed others the wrong way.

The clincher was him finishing the show with a song and then a pre-arranged standing ovation that Lorne Michaels never approved of. “Uncle Miltie” was banned, and the episode was unseen for years as this TV pioneer was a bad fit for SNL.

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Chevy Chase

It’s been said that Chevy Chase was universally hated by his fellow SNL stars, but that wasn’t the case. They did get along with Chase as the show began although he was the first to depart for a solo career. When Chase returned to host in Season 3, he brought up some old beefs that led to a backstage fight with Bill Murray. 

Amazingly, Chase hosted the show a total of nine times but each one had conflicts with the cast over his ego and inserting bad sketch ideas. The final straw was his 1997 gig, where he reportedly smacked Cheri Oteri, argued with Will Ferrell, and earned the ban. Chase made a few appearances, but his antics since (such as his Community controversy) seem to have made the ban permanent. 

Frank Zappa

Despite his reputation as a flaky person, the reality was that Frank Zappa was staunchly anti-drugs. He smoked and used weed but never anything harder, so he wasn’t happy about the abundance of drugs regularly used by the SNL cast in 1978.

That was likely why his stint hosting was bad, mugging for the camera, making no secret he was reading from cue cards and acting like the entire thing was beneath him. That Zappa wasn’t comfortable on television didn’t help either. Put it all together and the show was a true mess with Zappa never asked back and more than happy to leave SNL behind. 

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Robert Blake

Mention Robert Blake and most will automatically think of his trial for murdering his wife. In that regard, his SNL stint may seem a low-key crime but in its own way was pretty awful. A big movie and TV star in 1982, Blake had a bad attitude from the start. He complained during story meetings with the tale of crumbling up a script and throwing it in the writer’s face.

To no surprise, his hosting gig was ugly to watch, Blake was not comfortable with the comedy, and he had no chemistry with the rest of the cast. In retrospect, it was a hint to Blake’s dark side how his SNL stint was so ugly. 

Adrien Brody

This is a bit tricky. The Oscar-winning actor hosted the show in Mary 2003, just after his shocking Oscar win. He did okay for most of it before the standard intro for musical guest Sean Paul. Since Paul was from Jamaica, Brody thought it’d be funny to wear a faux dreadlocks wig and do the intro in a lame accent. 

This was bad first for the obvious impression of a Jamaican by a white actor. There was also how it wasn’t planned and Lorne Michaels infamously hated folks going off-script. That supposedly led to the ban, but both Brody and the show say it doesn’t exist, and just a coincidence Brody has never hosted again. Yet it’s not hard to imagine what could get Brody kicked off SNL.