Lorne Michaels Wishes This Hollywood Star Hosted Saturday Night Live

“Saturday Night Live” has been around for a full half-century at this point. The venerable sketch show has gone through multiple eras and ages, but has always given a mainstream platform to subversives, representing something truly unique in the process. In the internet and social media age, its influence and relevance might not be quite what it was, but the show has never struggled to attract the biggest and best talent when it comes to hosts — a testament to its standing as a great American institution.

Season 50, for example, is set to feature hosts such as Jean Smart and Michael Keaton, and will no doubt see an impressive range of celebrities, friends of the show, and former cast members popping in to celebrate the impressive milestone. But it seems there are still a few white whales who have thus far eluded the producers.

Ahead of the show’s 50th season, writers and Weekend Update hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost spoke to The Hollywood Reporter. They were joined by legendary impresario Lorne Michaels, with the trio revealing a slew of behind-the-scenes details about the long-running sketch show, including the celebrities they’ve been wanting to host for literally decades.

At this stage, Lorne Michaels seemingly has very little left to accomplish with his celebrated sketch show. The man has shepherded the series since its inception, and was there to oversee the very first broadcast in 1975 — something chronicled in Jason Reitman’s outstanding “Saturday Night” movie. Since then, the show has seen esteemed figures, from movie stars to presidential candidates, visit the hallowed halls of Studio 8H. But for Michaels, there are still a few hosts that got away.

In his THR interview, Michaels revealed that he’d “tried very hard for Clint [Eastwood], particularly in the seventies.” Unfortunately, the producer was never able to convince the legendary star to host. He continued:

“Movie stars in that period did not do television. Occasionally they did with us, but there was a real chance of being humiliated in front of millions of people and we don’t pay anything, so you’d have to do it because you were game for it.”

Still, it seems Michaels remains grateful for his impressive run, adding that, “In the end, pretty much everyone has [come on], so there’s no one out there where I go, ‘Oh, if that person would just do it, my life would be complete.” Still, Eastwood would be a real coup for the series, especially since he’s now a nonagenarian. 

The days of movie stars staying away from TV are well and truly behind us at this point. But at this stage, Clint Eastwood is 94 years old, so it seems unlikely he’ll be hosting any time soon. He’s also busy gearing up to release his latest directorial effort and hopeful Oscar contender, “Juror No. 2,” not to mention overseeing whoever’s running his social media accounts and their 24/7 job of mocking up an ungodly amount of authenticity stamps to plaster all over his Twitter posts. With this in mind, while there’s a faint possibility that the Hollywood vet will show up at some point in season 50, it seems unlikely — making him the one that got away for Lorne Michaels. 

Meanwhile, Michael Che chimed in on the subject, explaining how he’s been “fortunate enough to have had a lot of white whales come through — [Adam] Sandler, [Eddie] Murphy, [Dave] Chappelle.” Che’s white whale is, however, much more realistic than Michaels’ pick. The “Weekend Update” host revealed that he would love to see Denzel Washington host, adding, “He’s kind of our Brando, and it would be amazing to just see him be silly and funny.” 

That it would — and at 69 Washington is much more likely to accept than the human fossil that is Clint Eastwood (sorry, legendary human fossil). What’s more, Denzel is set to star in the upcoming “Gladiator II,” so the “SNL” host/movie promotion synergy is right there. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the next season of “SNL” has in-store, aside from dropping one of the most promising featured cast members.