“Saturday Night Live” returns for its third show of the season on Saturday, hosted by Nate Bargatze. And if you’re here, it means you’re not entirely sure who that is. But odds are, you’ve actually seen him before.
Bargatze is a comedian from Tennessee, and he’s appeared on several of the late night talk shows with his standup act. He started out on “Conan” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and went on to be part of Fallon’s Clean Cut Comedy Tour in 2013.
From there, his career expanded. He’s since had three standup specials on Netflix, the most recent one — “The Greatest Average American” — earned him a Grammy nomination last year for Best Comedy Album. This year, Bargatze filmed “Hello World,” released on Prime Video.
That said, even Bargatze himself is getting a kick out of the fact that he’s hosting “SNL” this week. During an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” on Tuesday, Bargatze admitted that he wasn’t sure “if I’m famous enough” for the job. He even joked that he considered turning it down by saying, “I appreciate it, but there’s some other people I think y’all should go after.”
Indeed, It’s been a while since a relatively low profile host led an episode of “SNL.” But, given the current circumstances, the show is using its time to branch out.
The SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing and it remains unclear when a deal will be reached with the studios. Which means, while actors have been given permission to appear on the show — it’s covered under a difference guild contract from the one governing work on movies and scripted television — none of them can promote any of their film or television projects until the strike ends.
As such, former cast member Pete Davidson hosted the first episode back after the end of the writer’s strike, while musician Bad Bunny handled week two. Bargatze will host this week, joined by the Foo Fighters as the musical guest.