How many times has Jake Gyllenhaal hosted Saturday Night Live?

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most respected actors of his generation. He has an Oscar nomination for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, and depending on who you ask, he should have several more. He also has a little bit of Nicolas Cage in him, which is to say, he can get silly when he needs to.

Gyllenhaal may be best known for taking on dramatic roles, but the actor is always ready to make fun of himself and his public persona. This is what makes him such an exciting choice to close out the last episode of Saturday Night Live's 49th season. Gyllenhaal will host, while Sabrina Carpenter will be the musical guest.

Gyllenhaal will be hosting SNL for the third time

When someone of Gyllenhaal's stature gets tapped to host SNL, the questions naturally arise: has he ever done it before? Is he going to know how to navigate the show's unpredictable changes? Well, the answer is yes to both. He's actually hosted SNL twice before. His hosting stints have, however, been spaced out over several decades.

Jake Gyllenhaal made his SNL debut when he hosted season 32, episode 10 in 2007. The actor was fresh off his Oscar nomination, and he was on the bill with the band The Shins (perhaps the most 00s band we could have thought of). The episode went over pretty well, with most critics commending his commitment to some of the more absurd moments.

Gyllenhaal returned to SNL to host season 47, episode 17 in 2022. The actor has just played the main villain in the Marvel film Spider-Man: Far from Home, and he joked about much time had passed since he was last on the SNL stage during his monologue.

The Oscar nominee hosted in 2007 and 2022

"That was like 400 Marvel movies ago," Gyllenhaal joked. "To give you an idea of what it was like in 2007, in the show I hosted, there was a George W. Bush sketch, there were jokes about the first iPhone, and this is a photo of me from my monologue." The photo in question? The actor in drag, spoofing the acclaimed musical Dreamgirls.

Gyllenhaal is currently coming off the success of the action remake Road House, so one can only assume there will be a sketch that pokes fun at his newfound tough guy image. Either way, we know the actor will do a good job.