Zach Laws
2026-01-25 04:30:00
It’s been a wild week for Teyana Taylor. Fresh off snagging her first Oscar nomination for One Battle After Another, Taylor made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut with musical guest Geese. To prepare, she channeled the spirit of another Oscar-nominated actress, Angela Bassett, from her iconic role in Waiting to Exhale:
In the lead-up to her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Taylor won the Golden Globe and reaped SAG Actor Award, Critics Choice, and Gotham Awards bids for her performance as a revolutionary leader in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s political satire. Her breakthrough role in the 2023 film A Thousand and One brought her notices at the Gothams and Independent Spirit Awards. Taylor also earned her first Grammy nomination this year for her album Escape Room, so if things go her way, she might be halfway to an EGOT by the first quarter of 2026 (and given SNL‘s track record with winning Emmys for their guest hosts, perhaps a third of the way by September).
Taylor is the 10th person to host SNL during this 51st season, following Bad Bunny (with musical guest Doja Cat) on Oct. 4; Amy Poehler (with musical guest Role Model) on Oct. 11; Sabrina Carpenter (who was also the musical guest) on Oct. 18; Miles Teller (with musical guest Brandi Carlile) on Nov. 1; Nikki Glaser (with musical guest Sombr) on Nov. 8; Glen Powell (with musical guest Olivia Dean) on Nov. 15; Melissa McCarthy on Dec. 6; Josh O’Connor (with musical guest Lily Allen) on Dec. 13; Ariana Grande (with musical guest Cher) on Dec. 20; and Finn Wolfhard (with musical guest A$AP Rocky) on Jan. 17. Saturday Night Live recently added 11 Emmy Awards to its shelf in September, bringing its overall tally to 112.
Here are Taylor’s best moments from her first SNL hosting gig.
COLD OPEN
The Oscar nominations announced this week, and President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) was predictably snubbed in every category. No matter, because this week the President held the 1st Annual Trump Awards, with categories including Best Photo (of Trump) and Best Kiss, presented by “icons of horror” Aunt Gladys (Sarah Sherman) and Stephen Miller (Andrew Dismukes). Although that award went to Kristi Noem (Ashley Padilla) for kissing Trump’s ass, Trump pulled a Kanye and accepted the award from her. Elon Musk (Mike Meyers) also showed up to present a tribute to everything that was destroyed this year, including the East Wing of the White House, D.E.I., civil rights, and Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s congressional career.
OPENING MONOLOGUE
Donning an “I Heart NY” T-shirt with puffy red sleeves, New York native Teyana Taylor talked about receiving her first Oscar nomination. “I found out the way every girl dreams of finding out,” Taylor said, “getting fitted for a bald cap next to Mikey Day.”
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ACTION FIGURES
This awards season, there’s one movie every kid can’t get enough of. No, it’s not KPop Demon Hunters… it’s One Battle After Another! That’s why Mattel now has a line of action figures and play sets from Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically-acclaimed film, including one of Perfidia Beverly Hills (Taylor) complete with attachable pregnancy belly and machine gun. Now kids can recreate all of their favorite scenes from the movie, including the motel room romp between Perfidia and Col. Lockjaw (well, maybe not that one).
NFL ON ESPN
It’s football season, so everyone is watching the NFL on ESPN. Since ESPN is owned by Disney, there was some cross-promotion for a new series premiering on another House of Mouse streaming service, Hulu: Quefs, a new romantic drama about queer chefs getting it on in the kitchen. Not exactly the best title given the subject matter.
Worth a look