This Controversial "SNL" Host Just Confessed She'd Never Seen a Single Episode
"I knew what it was. I knew it was so iconic."
All sorts of celebrities have hosted Saturday Night Live over the years, from actors and musicians to politicians and athletes. But, regardless of their backgrounds, there's one thing that you'd probably expect from all of them: that they've seen the show before. Apparently, that's not the always the case. In a new interview on The Tonight Show, Kim Kardashian revealed that she had never watched SNL before hosting the show last October. In fact, she shared that she didn't even know which big stars had been on the long-running sketch series, including Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon himself.
Kardashian's reveal comes after she received backlash for being chosen to host at all, so maybe it's a good thing she kept this information to herself until months after she completed the gig. Read on to see what the reality star had to say about her lack of SNL knowledge, including how her famous boyfriend has now "schooled" her on everything about the show.
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Kardashian had never sat down to watch an episode.
During her appearance on The Tonight Show on Tuesday, June 21, Kardashian dropped the bomb that she had somehow never seen the sketch comedy show, which has been on the air since 1975.
"I was nervous for a second, because, I have to be honest, I had never seen SNL before," Kardashian said. She did clarify that she had gone to the taping when Eddie Murphy hosted in 2019 and had been backstage before. But she never tuned into an episode.
"I knew what it was. I knew it was so iconic," she continued. She added to a surprised Fallon, "I gotta be honest, I had no idea you were on." Before becoming a talk show host, Fallon was an SNL cast member from 1998 to 2004.
Her boyfriend filled in the blanks.
Kardashian admitted that Fallon wasn't the only person she didn't know came to fame on SNL. But, she said she's since gotten some lessons on Saturday Night Live history from her boyfriend, Pete Davidson, who recently announced he was leaving the series after eight seasons.
"Even a month after, I was at dinner, and Will Ferrell was sitting right next to me—the show had just aired, when I was on—and he mentioned he had seen it," Kardashian said. "And I literally had to text Pete and be like, 'Wait, was Will Ferrell on SNL?' And I was so embarrassed. I've been schooled. I know everyone that's been on now. I know everything."
She was worried about "embarrassing" herself.
In April, Kardashian appeared on the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat and talked about the lead-up to her SNL appearance.
"I didn't want to go and embarrass myself and get up there and not be funny," she said (via Entertainment Weekly). "But I had never seen an episode, really, of SNL. I had gone and watched parts obviously, because [ex] Kanye [West] performed so many times. So I'd been there in the audience, and then I'd seen a full show in person once, but as far as watching the show, I didn't really know what the monologue entailed."
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There was backlash when she was announced.
When it was announced that Kardashian would be hosting SNL, there was backlash on social media from people who thought she didn't deserve the guest spot. One of these people was actor Debra Messing, who tweeted, "Why Kim Kardashian? I mean, I know she is a cultural icon, but SNL has hosts, generally, who are performers who are there to promote a film, TV show, or album launch. Am I missing something?"
Messing explained her comment during an appearance on The Tamron Hall Show and said she thought Kardashian ended up doing an "amazing" job.
Kardashian addressed the controversy on her show.
Kardashian's SNL experience was documented on her family's Hulu reality show, The Kardashians. During one episode, the 41-year-old opened up about the backlash.
"Everyone just thinks I'm a ditz," she said (via Yahoo!) "The girl from Will and Grace came out and said she has no idea why I would be chosen as a host. But it's like, why do you care? I don't comment to tear people down, especially another female … If that's what you think, dude, then cool, tune in."
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