Posted on by tanster

Rainn Wilson to host SNL on Feb. 24

Moving this back to the front page to remind you this is tonight!

As GMMR reported today, Rainn Wilson is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on February 24!

Arcade Fire is the musical guest.

Can’t wait to see what Office parody they come up with …

Source: TV Guide and TV.com. Tipsters: Stacey, Gruel omelette.

123 comments

  1. Such ****ing great news. SNL still has some magic left as shown by the Timberlake episode a few weeks ago and I think Rainn will be great in showing a range of characters thanks to his stage backround

  3. I love Rainn so much! This is wonderful! Do we think other Office cast members could cameo? That’d be the perfect SNL!

  6. Tanster…do you think Amy Poehler will play Pam? I bet she can pull some great Jenna moves after making that movie with her this summer.

    And I think that guy that does Weekend Update will play Jim.

  7. Amy Poehlor would have to play Pam[also because she co stars with Jenna in Blades of Glory], Andy Samberg would probably be Jim, and my best guesses for Michael would likely be either Bill Hader or Jason Sudeikis. Maybe Maya Rudolph as Karen?

  9. Ah! This is so exciting!

    Okay, here’s who should play who in an Office spoof:
    * Darrell Hammond- Michael
    * Andy Samberg- Jim
    * Maya Rudolph- Karen
    * Seth Meyers- Ryan
    * Amy Poehler- Pam
    * Fred Armisen- Oscar or Toby
    * Will Forte- Dwight (if Rainn doesn’t)
    * Kenan Thompson- Stanley
    * Kristen Wiig- Angela (or Jan)

  10. I love how NBC supports its own shows. While we all know who Rainn is (and how great he’ll be as a host), he is a moderately well-known actor on a moderately well-known TV show. My guess is that if he was on ABC or CBS, he probably wouldn’t be getting the hosting gig. I’m not complaining at all, don’t get me wrong-this just makes me love NBC and SNL a whole bunch. :)

  11. CTF, I see Amy Poehler playing Angela and Kristen Wiig as Pam. (Kristen plays the Kmart lady and one half of that annoyingly clueless boyfriend/girlfriend pair.)

  14. Best. News. Of all time. Ever.
    Rainn Rules. SNL (for the most part) Rules. 2+2=4 baby.

    P.S. I love Kristen Wiig, she is hilarious! Like Molly Shannon, Gilda Radner hilarious.
    P.P.S. That math was irrelevant, yet appropriate.

  15. Can we now allow ourselves to get greedy and hope that Jenna will be the next Office SNL guest, coming on to promote Blades of Glory?[assuming that Will Ferrell or Jon Heder can’t do it- but I’d be okay with Will Arnett coming on to promote it if he was offered]

  16. Parody of a mockumentary. It has never been attempted, and the whole universe may implode due to it, but at least we get to see Rainn on SNL.

  18. I would say Jason Sudekis as Jim, if anyone saw 30 rock last night when he made a cameo… he kinda is an older version of Jim, plus he makes the faces.

  19. Tanster, I totally imagined Amy playing Angela as well. It would be funny to see Amy with Dwight!

  20. Oh SNL..may God bless you with better writers…but anyway, whatever they give Rainn he’s going to do great…I mean come on! He’s Rainn freaking Wilson! :)

  23. OH I cannot wait, I hope they parody the show. I love Rainn; he’s just so hilarious and a good actor all around. I can’t wait for his monologue. I could so see Amy as Angela though for some reason, that would be hilarious. I guess I’ll be staying up that night, too!

  24. Angie – that’s what I wanna know! I wished SNL was live during the summer, b/c he could do it when his new movie comes out with Mandy Moore.

    I praying for a cameo … :-)

  25. OH MY GOD. I literally read this and started screaming. My cat is looking at me like I’m the devil.

  29. I’ll go down the list:
    Fred Armison – Michael or Oscar
    Will Forte – Michael or Toby
    Bill Hader- shoein for Dwight, Creed maybe
    Darryl Hammond- Creed, Kevin
    Seth Meyers – Ryan, Toby
    Amy Poehler- KELLY!!!
    Maya Rudolph – Jan-Karen maybe
    Andy Samberg – Ryan
    Jason Sudeikis- top-runner for Jim if he just mugs to the camera, maybe Andy
    Kenan- of course, Phyliss
    Kristen- Pam or Angela (could be funny if she did both , like Jan Hooks did in the Twin Peaks parady years back)

    My all-time prediction: No Office parody sketch, just comments on the show in the monologue. And this is a show I look very forward to, and they usually end up tanking. Not the host’s fault, maybe the writers and false expectations not met (look at the time Steve hosted, very lame, showed none of his range at all).

    In any case, Rainn will be great (fingers crossed), I still look forward to it… and maybe Mindy, Schur and Greg will come back to guest-write.

  32. Wow this is great! They never get anyone I like to host SNL!
    And Rainn is ACTUALLY funny unlike most of the people they get.
    I’m psyched!

  35. Awesome news! I don’t think I’ve watched SNL since Steve Carell hosted but I’ll definitely be watching this.

    Also, I’m curious as to why the Did She Or Didn’t She poll and comments were closed so quickly. I wanted to vote & comment but now I can’t.

  38. OOO I hope we get Jenna and John soon too! Both have movies coming out, but John’s come out during the summer…But Jenna is in a movie with Amy Poehler, and on NBC…so!!! You know what I want! SNL WITH THE WHOLE OFFICE CAST HOSTING! Most of the cast of SNL stinks anyway, just keep Maya, Amy, the new girl Kristin, and…that’s…

  40. I’m excited about this awesome news! I will looking forward for him to host on SNL. :D

    Anyway, according to epguides.com- Musical Guest on Feb. 24 will be Carla (no last name)

    so here’s my prediction for Office Sketch on SNL-

    Fred Armisen- Ryan or Oscar
    Will Forte- Michael.. it’s perfect for him
    Bill Hader- Dwight, look at him.. he look like Rainn! :D
    Darrell Hammond- Toby or Kevin
    Seth Meyers- Andy lol i would like to see that
    Amy Poehler- Pam or Angela
    Maya Rudolph- Jan or Karen
    Andy Samberg- Roy
    Jason Sudeikis- Jim
    Kenan Thompson- Stanley
    Kirsten Wiig- Meredith

  41. Yay!!! Rainn Wilson is a natural for this kind of stuff. I hope they ask John Krasinski to host!!!!

  42. No, that would be Ciara, not Carla. I almost forgot about Bill Hader. He would make a good Jim too since he is an impressionist and can pretty much take on anyone.

  47. oops. sorry, i made a mistake about musical guest’s name. thanks for notice, Amy.. if you are referring to my previous comment.

    Anyway, Bill Hader probably can do Ryan, too :)

  48. Wheeee! I am SO excited! Rainn is going to be amazing on SNL!! Scrantonicity should be the musical act that night, lmao. I can’t wait to see an Office skit because you know they have to do one! Yay!! I hope he comes out in character as Dwight for his monologue, that’d be hilarious, hahaha.

  50. Sweet!!!

    It’s about time they had someone from the office on their, and Rainn is the perfect one to be on there.

  51. Rainn is a hotty. :)

    How is his name pronounced? Rayne? or… Rah-inn almost like Ryan.

    Sorry I’m stupid. ;(

  52. Word is…Arcade Fire is the musical guest.

    Fits better with Rainn, don’t you think?

  53. i think, and this is only speculation, if the band’s name is Arcade Fire, good band, will he say the line “STAY BELOW THE SMOKELINE!!!”

  54. HOLY CRAP. RAINN + THE ARCADE FIRE = ME LITERALLY CRYING WITH JOY.

    Oh my god, I can’t breathe.

  62. i read an article about not having ANY expectations for anything, so then you’ll never dissapointed.
    So my mind is set on rainn getting into traffic and not being able to make the show.
    And then if he gets there, the audience will not laugh at anything.

    (I have a feeling im going to be.. pleasantly surprised)

  66. OMG!! THey are doing the Office right now!!

    Karen(Rashida Jones) just appeared, seirously she’s all over the place lately…

    But this is sooo funny! But it doesn’t make me want to watch SNL(as it stunk lately) it makes me want ot watch the Office!!

  73. That was sooooo hilarious! I loved the Jim face that guy did. I need to see that whole thing again…..

  74. That was hilarious. They did an entire Office parody during the monologue. Everyone from the SNL cast appeared as Office workers, and Rashida Jones even showed up for a random 2-second cameo.

    This is shaping up to be a good episode.

  76. RASHIDA JONES HAS TO STAY ON THE OFFICE!

    (She even said she “isn’t leaving” on the radio interviews!)

  77. Put she’s in a pilot for another show….if that goes through, she can’t be on two shows on two different networks..

  78. If you aren’t all watching this episode of SNL yet…

    please do.

    Rainn is hilarious, the writing on SNL is somehow back to funny
    —

    amazing.

  80. The opening host segment was really a trip to watch. And a trailer of The Last Mimzy, wow. SNL has been weak for a while, this will be the first episode I watch in a while.

  81. Apparently, all they need to do to make this show great again is put Rainn Wilson in every single segment.

    Having the Arcade Fire as the musical guest can’t hurt either.

  82. I have to say, I’m a bit dissapointed. The opening with the Office skit was HILARIOUS, but the rest of the show was not so great. I don’t think the problem is Rainn (because I love him dearly), but I just think it’s the skits that they’re doing. They’re too slow-moving and I think they could be so much funnier. I mean, c’mon! It’s Rainn Wilson! They could do soo many things with that!

  83. White Possum scream? Hilarious! I will take Rainn in tighty-whities and a cutoff t-shirt, chained to a table ANYDAY.

    The opening monologue- hilarious. They got the looks to the camera down pat…. I was just hoping that “Jim” would prank Rainn.

  84. Kristen Wiig’s impression of Pam was the best part of this episode

    Rainn was so great!

  85. I thought Rainn was great but the material wasn’t as good.

    Arcade Fire was awesome!!!!

  86. ok… that band SUCKED. seriously, they were horrible. loved the beginning with THE OFFICE parody, though. jim and pam were SPOT ON. was a little disappointed in michael. not quite as good as the others, and he didn’t look anything like him. i thought he was creed at first. but i do understand that he was the boss of SNL, so i guess it fits. other than that, rainn was pretty darn good. the writers for SNL just aren’t what they used to be, though.

  87. I loved Rainn. He is fantastic. I liked the beginning, but most of the sketches were really weak.

  88. I really think I might need to check out Arcade Fire on iTunes. They seem really original. Does anyone know which songs they played?

  90. Okay, so the opening monologue (Yeah. I do a lot of things. Answer phones and… paint pictures), the strange boardroom meeting (This is no time for joking Gigantic Turkey Sub!), the crazy architecture couple (You know what, yeah. It’s Hey like the letter Vhuay), and the hippie band (If that’s true, why does Enya have my grammy?!) were hilarious. Sooooo good.

    The rest were incredibly not funny through no fault of Rainn’s. They just weren’t funny, period. I don’t think any actor could have made them work.

  91. i’m guilty to chuckling at the “i never saw my uncle after that” line.
    call me immature.

  93. Wow, Office Fanatic, I couldn’t disagree more about the band, Arcade Fire. I thought they were fantastic. Also, just to mention, that was Lorne Michaels playing Michael. He’s the “Greg Daniels” of SNL, not a performer. He’s very famous and you are suppose to recognise him and make the connection that he is the boss. They aren’t going to put Lorne Michaels in a Michael wig.

  95. I loved the Wolf Blitzer/CNN bit, the monologue, and the boardroom spoof, but the non-Rainn parts were very weak. I miss old SNL. Where oh where have my Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, and company disappeared to??

  96. I love Rainn! The opener was amazing. It had me rolling! Just think about the rest of the Office castmates watching…they were all probably rolling as well. I loved that Rashida was there. Too funny!

    I think Rainn did an excellent job. I usually don’t watch SNL unless someones on that I like. Other than that, I have to say that I loved Rainn tonight. Classic! Now, they just need to get John Krasinski on there. Did you hear that Lorne Michaels??? His name is JOHN KRASINSKI!

    Welp, it was great…and also the trailer for the Last Mimzy and the Dwight Shrute video that I have already watched three times. Great night, overall!

  99. It was a good show and I really do enjoy the cast this year. Not the best, writing was weak at places and the timing was off on-air, even on film. But Rainn was used very well, good range of character choices (the peeper was perfect for him). I liked Arcade Fire’s performance, their arrogant exit from closing was weird though. It was a better show than Carell’s host gig. Seemed like an encouraging spirit in the studio. Rashida’s cameo was nice and economized (coming back to her ex-, Seth Meyers. Not sure what to think.)

    Andy Samberg stole the Prince Harry puke from Will Ferrell’s Ellen commentary. Not cool. Otherwise. Job well done to all.

    Next to host: Jenna.

  102. The Office skit was DEAD on! So funny, oh my god! I love it when they do parodies like that. I think Jim does a better Stanley than Kenan though, haha.

    The rest of the show, well…oh SNL. It makes me cringe about twice as much as it makes me laugh, I think. I thought the Peeper skit was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen and Rainn’s mugging for the camera was the only thing that saved it. Plus I was surprised that they didn’t do anything for the Oscars. They’re doing a good job with the cast they have, but the days are gone when that show was the funniest thing on TV. Andy Samberg’s digital shorts are pretty much the only things that are comparable to “Celebrity Jeopardy” or any of the other skits from the heyday of Will Ferrell/Ana Gasteyer/Molly Shannon. Or even forget that, just give me Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and Chris Parnell. Seriously.

  103. There’s a reason I stopped watching SNL. It’s just not funny anymore. Rain did the best he could with what he had to work with.

  105. I’m actually surprised that a lot of people weren’t into the sketches – I’m one of the few who think SNL has become appointment television again this year. Of course there were a few weaker moments (in an hour and a half long show that’s to be expected I suppose) but overall it was great. I love the cast this year. Rainn was fantastic – some people just don’t seem comfortable hosting a live comedy show and have trouble getting into the “flow” of things. Rainn was amazing – he seemed really at home. (The Office parody – best.skit.ever.)

    And to those who thought the Arcade Fire sucked – are you sure your ears a working properly?!?!?! They were unbelievably great! I can’t wait for their new album to be released – I loved the songs they performed last night.

  106. #94- “k”

    The first song was called Intervention, as you said, and the 2nd song was called “Keep the Car Running.” I may be wrong, but I think its the first two tracks off of Neon Bible, their next album.

    They’re one of my favorite bands. They’re unique. I guess some people just don’t get that.

  107. Aww the monologue was dead on with The Office. i think that was a good lead in to making fun of the show. I think that was probably m favorite part.

  109. I kept dozing off while I was watching it, but I was able to see most of it. I liked the opening with the parody of The Office and I liked the weird singing/gun/confession skit at first. The peeper skit was weird, but funny. Rainn is great.

    It was all right. Without Rainn it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.

    Andy Samberg is hysterical. I LOVE the digital shorts. Most of SNL’s cast is forgettable. However, I love Bill Hader, Will Forte, Amy Poehler, and Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen and Darrell Hammond. Maya Rudolph has her moments. Sudeikis is forgettable, as is Kenan. I don’t find Seth Meyers funny.

    One of my favorite skits this season featured Dane Cook in the skit “Cubicle Fight”, but Justin Timberlake was possibly one of the best. hosts. ever!

    JKras next!

  110. It was decent. Rainn was funny. The Arcade Fire was amazing. But overall, it reminded me why I don’t bother watching SNL anymore.

  114. Everyone said that the show wouldn’t survive when Chevy Chase left. Then they said the same thing with Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, & Adam Sandler’s departure. Then Norm MacDonald. Then Will Ferrell.

    The show comes in waves. It’s an institution in that building and on NBC. It’s been taking hits quite frequently as of late and after seeing it last night, I’m not so sure why. I thought it was wonderful. I really did.

    I don’t know what people are expecting when they sit down and watch this show. There were plenty of sketches that bombed over the thirty plus years that SNL has been on the air. Even from their most memorable characters.

    Sure, the network has cut the show’s budget considerably over the last several years, but it doesn’t mean it’s not worth backing. I’m really curious as to why opinions of this show are always so polar. What about it is so unwatchable?

    This current cast is made up of a lot of fresh faces that still need some getting used to. And I am by no means saying that there’s another Belushi or Chase or Hartman or Ferrell among them. But they aren’t awful. There have also been drastic changes to the writing staff; mostly in hiring a great number of writers in their mid-twenties. It’s trying to adapt.

    And obviously, I was super-impressed with Rainn. I thought he did a great job. And Arcade Fire, obviously, was fantastic. I still have faith in this show. I really do and I ultimately enjoyed last night’s episode.

  115. Rainn was awesome. I agree the opening skit was great. Lorne Michael’s with his “World’s Funniest Boss” mug….too funny.

    I have never heard of them, but thought the band was scary and not in a good way. The news was pretty funny. And while it was cute seeing Rashida for a millisecond in the Office skit, I didn’t think she needed to be front and center at the end of the show with the goodbyes. But Rainn rocked and his movie looks like it will be good.

    SNL should be just an hour. 90 minutes is too long.

  116. The writers on SNL take a premise and beat it over the head. Some of the jokes are funny, but often times it goes on for far too long.

  117. I think Rainn was awesome considering the skits he had to work with!!!! SNL should had BJ Novak guest as a guest writer!!!!!!!!!!

  118. I agree #120. The opening skit was funny, but it kinda dragged out. Rainn was great though! The funniest SNL I’ve seen since Justin Timberlake hosted.

  119. 119 | not Karen

    agreed, snl can be condensed into an hour, and nbc can give the extra half hour to another show that needs it…i think we all know which one.

  120. Re: 124:

    Not every band in the world has to be liked by everyone. It’s the beauty of choice.

  121. Loved Dwight (Rainne) in office. Love the old SNL. Why has SNL got so perverted, I shut it down Feb 24th. I haven’t watched SNL for a while, but was excited that Rainne was going to host. Wonder if I will enjoy Dwight anymore in office, or even watch office. Does SNL realize that some of the oldtimers would still like to watch but are disturbed by the rude content, very rude content (don’t the babyboomers outnumber the college kids now, aren’t we the majority?).

  122. The office is what i live for, if it was canceled i would throw myself infront of an oncoming train (haha, office pun)

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