Host Glen Powell during Promos on Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images
Glen Powell made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut with fellow first-timer, musical guest Olivia Dean.
The Running Man star previously appeared on an episode in March 2024 with host Sydney Sweeney. However, it feels surprising that Powell hadn’t hosted before. The night felt overdue. Powell not only did a great job as a first-time host, but he also seemed to be having a lot of fun, which was infectious.
Cold Open
Karoline Leavitt (Ashley Padilla) has to dodge questions about the Epstein Files in this week’s political Cold Open. This sketch is fine; however, it almost feels like it doesn’t go far enough. James Austin Johnson joins the press briefing as Donald Trump. It is a fine Cold Open, but after so many of these that center on Johnson just speaking as the president, it leaves the audience wanting more.
Monologue
Powell talks about his long career, his big break in Spy Kids 3-D and how he was actually supposed to host the show four years ago. Powell recounts that he was set to host to promote Top Gun: Maverick. However, when the film was delayed due to COVID-19, Lorne Michaels called Powell to rescind the offer, saying, “Without Top Gun, no one will know who you are.”
Powell tells this story in his monologue, along with a story about taking a selfie with a UPS driver when he thought he was going to host four years ago. In a twist, he brought the actual UPS driver to Studio 8H. It is a charming monologue and arguably one of the best of the season. Powell has an easy confidence that really sells the whole thing.
AI Photos
An AI app can bring grandma’s photos to life, but the question is, should it? Powell appears as her long-deceased father, as the AI poorly renders him into strange and surreal scenes. This is a really fun sketch that is made by its visuals (great work by the props department).
I Miss My Ex’s Dad
Ben Marshall and Tommy Brennan sing a surprisingly catchy country song about missing the one that got away, their respective exes’ dads played by Powell and Kenan Thompson. Marshall is great at pre-taped songs, and his experience comes through here. It all really works; however, it is sad that without Ego Nwodim this season, there is no one in the cast to play Thompson’s daughter. It is an absence that is especially felt in sketches like this.
Sebastian Maniscalco
This sketch has no business being as funny as it is. The premise is simple: it’s Powell’s bachelor party, and he invites his friend, comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Sketches that revolve around an impression can be tricky to pull off (especially when the impression is of someone who might not be very familiar to a larger audience). However, this sketch is hilarious, and a lot of that has to do with a great impression by Marcello Hernández. Powell also shines in this sketch. In the end, it is an excuse to do an impression with an ending that doesn’t really work, but there is something very funny about it.
Norwegian Movie
Two Norwegian actors (Powell and Chloe Fineman) are on set for the new devastating drama Scent of a Marriage, and between takes, they know they are really doing something here. Part of this sketch hinges on the joke, “Wow, aren’t Scandinavian accents weird,” but it goes a lot further than that in moments, which makes the sketch work. Johnson also delivers a great impression of Stellan Skarsgård.
MacGruber: Epstein Files
Will Forte returns to play his iconic character, MacGruber, who just happens to be on the Epstein list. The character of MacGruber first appeared on the show in 2007 before being made into a cult classic movie in 2010. It was fun to have the retro character and Forte back. Fineman does a great job stepping into the Kristen Wiig role. There were a lot of Epstein jokes on the episode, and this felt like the most inventive.
While this was later uploaded as a single video, during the show it was shown as a three-part interstitial. The third part was the last sketch of the night. It was great to see SNL bring back a running bit.
Bob Army
Andrew Dismukes is a soldier who has been transferred to a new battalion. However, instead of buzz cuts, this squad has bobs, and they are serving their country in a different way. This sketch heavily references the ball culture of the 1990s, the documentary Paris is Burning and the gay slang that is often co-opted from Black women and trans folks. Likely this sketch will work better for those at least aquatinted with LGBTQ+ culture. This is another sketch of the night that Nwodim’s presence feels missing from.
Olivia Dean performs
Olivia Dean performed ‘The Man I Need’ and ‘Let Alone the One You Love,’ from her second album, The Art of Loving. Dean is very talented. While ‘The Man I Need’ is fun, she really showcases what she can do in her second performance.
Weekend Update
This might be the shortest Weekend Update in years. Colin Jost and Michael Che tell one segment’s worth of jokes about the Epstein Files, the end of the penny and Hitler’s DNA. This week, there are no characters or segments, and yet, Che thinks it might be his “favorite episode ever.”
Taken: Airport
Some people think Powell is the next Tom Cruise, but here he proves he can also be Liam Neeson. This is another sketch that feels a bit like an excuse to do an impression (it was an impression-heavy episode), but this one has more going for it. Powell does a convincing Neeson as he reconnects with his ex-wife after saving his daughter from being taken by sex traffickers in Paris (also a sex trafficker-heavy episode this week). Dismukes is great as Fineman’s new husband, and Powell seems to be having a lot of fun.
Hair Cut
Padilla gets a haircut from a famous salon, and she has to love it even though she knows it looks terrible. This sketch works because of how talented Padilla is. Her delivery in this sketch is bulletproof. It is wonderful that she is getting space to shine this season, even if it is in the second silly wig-based sketch of the night.
SNL returns December 6 with Melissa McCarthy and Dijon.