SNL Sets McCarthy, The Rock and More for Season 42, With Live West Coast Twist
If perhaps SNL seemed to be sleeping on the job with its two-hosts-per-month in 2017, they had good reason. Not only have the final four hosts been announced, including Jimmy Fallon, Melissa McCarthy and The Rock, but shows will air live across the country for the first time in history.
UPROXX made the historic announcement, in the process revealing that Jimmy Fallon will follow Louis C.K. for the April 15 show, with Chris Pine taking the stage on May 6. Frequent host-turned-political contributor Melissa McCarthy will host the penultimate Season 42 episode on May 13, while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will close out the year on May 20.
Most notably, all four shows will be broadcast live in every time zone, including 11:30 P.M. Eastern, 10:30 P.M. Central, 9:30 P.M. Mountain, and 8:30 P.M. Pacific. Typically, SNL is only live on the East Coast, while NBC said in a statement:
SNL — enjoying its most popular season in two decades — is part of the national conversation, and we thought it would be a great idea to broadcast to the west and mountain time zones live at the same time it’s being seen in the east and central time zones. That way, everyone is in on the joke at the same time. Kudos to Lorne Michaels, the producers and cast for making SNL one of the most relevant and anticipated shows in the zeitgeist.
No word on musical guests just yet, but will SNL’s live experiment become a permanent one?
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