“Saturday Night Live” recap: Glen Powell flies his UPS driver out for his hosting debut
- - “Saturday Night Live” recap: Glen Powell flies his UPS driver out for his hosting debut
Andy HoglundNovember 16, 2025 at 5:59 AM
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Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
Glen Powell on 'Saturday Night Live'
Hi — welcome one and all to SNL in Review. Do not adjust your dials, do not click away.
Tonight’s episode is hosted by Glen Powell, who is starring in the latest adaptation of The Running Man as well as the Hulu show Chad Powers. Powell previously appeared on the show last year when Sydney Sweeney hosted. (At the time, I said he should be hosting!)
Former SNL cast member — and star of The French Italian — Aristotle Athari is a fan of Powell’s work. He says: “When I saw Hit Man, I was blown away by Powell’s comedic timing. I love that movie, and honestly, anything [he does].” Top Gun: Maverick with Powell was the first movie after COVID that made Athari “feel like the theater experience was back.” Cast him in Maverick 2, people!
Last week, reactions to Nikki Glaser showed a bit of division in our ranks — more than 20 percent of you loved it, while a quarter of you straight up hated it. Stats! Let’s see if there’s more consensus tonight. Olivia Dean is the musical guest.
Cold Open
White House press briefing with Karoline Leavitt and Trump pic.twitter.com/tgVarzhDrl
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) November 16, 2025
Ashley Padilla is White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and it’s been a quiet news week! But reporters at this press conference mostly want to talk about Epstein!
Eventually James Austin Johnson’s Trump again takes over. I think this was better with Padilla as the focal point. Allowing Trump to monologue and entertain about this topic specifically feels misplaced, as much as Johnson nails it. I kind of preferred Padilla working out the tics around Leavitt, who unctuously claims to “believe women.” I also enjoyed Chloe Fineman and Kam Patterson’s roles here. See what you think.
John Milhiser recently shared Padilla is “very funny. Insane how much she's in now. Go Ashley! She brings a real grounded performance to her sketch characters. I loved how she reacted after she farted in that fart sketch. ‘Ohhhhhh no. Noooo. Ohhhh dear.’ It was an unexpected reaction to farting. She was so disappointed that it happened. Almost like it broke her heart. She's brilliant. I also loved her Two People Who Just Hooked Up with Andrew Dismukes. Loved that these characters had an arc in their scene. They had a beginning, middle and end. They took their time. It paid off. It was refreshing to see. Jealous of those characters. Keep 'em coming.”
Monologue
Glen Powell’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/B8dRNmW82r
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) November 16, 2025
It’s been a wild year for Glen Powell. He knows we are tired of seeing his face. He’s been working for a long time — even directing a student film where he lip-synched to Fall Out Boy!
His big break was in one of the Spy Kids movies. That’s the framing for the bulk of the monologue. Being at 8H means a lot to him and his family. After working for years, he was supposed to host four years ago for Top Gun: Maverick before COVID delayed it. He tells a funny story about his UPS driver he met when he first learned he was getting a chance to host the Christmas show — now, years later, Powell has flown him here, he’s in the audience. This is great! And has a great message about waiting for your dreams. Watch this!
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
