Billie Eilish, Paul Rudd, Charli XCX, and Billie Eilish to guest on SNL next month
Charli XCX will also serve as Rudd's musical guest on the show's December 18 installment
Saturday Night Live is set to go all-in on Billie Eilish next month, with the NBC sketch series announcing that one of the show’s December installments—specifically, the one scheduled for December 11, which will be its first after this weekend’s Simu Liu/Saweetie bill—will feature the Happier Than Ever superstar as both host and musical guest.
SNL typically pulls the double-bill trick once a year or so; recent host/musical guest hybrids include Nick Jonas earlier this year, Halsey and Chance The Rapper in 2019, and Drake in 2016. (There’s also the even-rarer star/star’s alternate persona double bill, known in SNL purist circles as “Pulling a Chris Gaines.”)
Eilish previously appeared on Saturday Night Live back in September 2019, serving as the musical guest for the show’s 45th season premiere opposite Woody Harrelson. Now audiences will get to see if her sketch comedy chops are equal to her Grammy-winning musical talents. (Probably not is our guess, but Eilish seems like the sort who’ll at least be game enough for the show to get a little fun and weird, so that’s good.)
Meanwhile, the series also announced its line-up for its final episode of the year, set for December 18. We’re on some slightly more familiar ground here: Paul Rudd will be hosting the show, marking his entrance into the venerable 5 Timer’s Club, and also reminding us of the apparently unavoidable existence of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Charli XCX, meanwhile, will serve as the musical guest; this’ll be her second time on the series, after guesting opposite Martin Freeman back in 2014. Charli XCX recently released a new single, “New Shapes,” earlier this month; she’s got her fifth studio album, Crash, set for an early 2022 release. She also referred to Rudd as “zaddy” in her tweet promoting the SNL booking, so that is also a thing that occurred.
SNL has had a decidedly mixed 47th season; performances from new hires Please Don’t Destroy and Sarah Squirm have drawn attention and positive reviews, while the occasional questionable choice of host and subject matter—most notably October’s Kim Kardashian West-led installment—have been less encouraging.