Natasha Lyonne

The season finale of Saturday Night Live is airing tonight and it will see Natasha Lyonne taking on the hosting duties alongside musical guest, ...

"Paired with the acting genius of Natasha Lyonne, this series will be entertaining and addictive." I dunno how many times I have to tell you all that the only person for that job is @nlyonne," @BrndnStrssng tweeted. The season finale of Saturday Night Live is airing tonight and it will see Natasha Lyonne taking on the hosting duties alongside musical guest, Japanese Breakfast. In a new promo for the episode, the two guests are joined by longtime cast members Kenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon who poke fun at Lyonne's voice.

Natasha Lyonne tonight hosted her first episode of 'SNL', speaking in her opening monologue about her Netflix show 'Russian doll' and more.

Lyonne admitted that she went “to hell and back” at that time, and that life was once rough. Oh, and a cult favorite called But I’m a Cheerleader.” We then cut to a clip of Lyonne as Opal in a 1986 appearance on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which she joked is her “best work” to date. “We’re the only couple with a sex tape nobody wanted to buy,” she joked, then transitioning back to discussing her love of SNL. “Here’s a clip of me from one of my earliest roles.” Lyonne went on to say that she’s “genuinely humbled” to be hosting NBC’s sketch series and that the truth is, she feels “a cosmic connection” to it.

Former "SNL" cast members Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen joined Natasha Lyonne's monologue admitting a "cosmic connection" to the show.

"So, I got myself a house with a pool out in Los Angeles. So that’s the real scandal." "We love each other just about as much as two people can love each other and we’re still talking all the time, but Freddy doesn’t like a swimming pool. And Rudolph delivered her best attempt while squinting her eyes and making hand gestures while saying "how are ya?

Natasha Lyonne is hosting Saturday Night Live on Saturday, May 21 at 11:30 p.m. There are several ways to watch with a free live stream.

How to sign up? How much does it cost? What movies and TV shows does it have? How much does it cost? “SNL” also holds the title for the most nominated television show in Emmy history with 285 nominations, not including specials and digital series. “Saturday Night Live Season 47″ continues on Saturday, May 21 at 11:30 p.m. on NBC, with Natasha Lyonne hosting and Japanese Breakfast musical guest.

The Russian Doll star supplied comic heft and real poignancy in an episode of goodbyes that will have some verklempt.

Lyonne was great here as someone outside the New York metro (as she was in “Final Encounter”), and the show should’ve given her a chance to stretch more in place of the Nine to Five parody. (But are they ever?) Some have suggested (the very talented) correspondent Sarah Sherman might be a good fit, but I think she works best for the show as an intermittent agent of chaos. She got a little choked up on at the end, and it was poignant when she said “Thanks for letting me stay awhile.” McKinnon’s been a key part of the show for a decade and won two Best Supporting acting Emmys for it (the only cast member to do so). This pitch to the artistic/eccentric elder was precisely observed and landed a number of LOLs. Choice lines: “You never stopped smoking pot—so why should your hair?” and “I look how incense smells.” The sketch was also somewhat of a goodbye showcase for Mooney (nice catch there), who brought SNL an adult-pigtailed misfit energy that was unique and real. Jost and Che are the longest-running anchor team in SNL history, but several uninspired weeks this season (including tonight’s) indicate it may be time for a change. The repeat “Weekend Update” segment “Trend Forecasters” only ranks among the show’s best in a reminder of the reliability and dimension Aidy Bryant brought to the show. Here, he commemorates himself as “white … and became hugely successful despite never showing up to work,” and a symbol for SNL hopefuls as proof “literally anyone can be on that show.” His goodbye leveled some good burns at Fox News and Colin Jost, and was partly a valentine to executive producer Lorne Michaels, who Davidson considers a father figure (and will be producing his upcoming sitcom Bupkis). As the host of “50s Baseball Broadcast” who’s been prescribed meth to quash a cold, Lyonne worked overtime to sell this one—her physicality, energy and delivery made Mikey Day (master of the disbelieving reaction) seem almost snoozy. It’s a good comic setup and structure, always circling back to Rachel Finnster (Lyonne), a never-ending source of trouble, up to and including homicide. The show has mined this dark millennial Borscht Belt territory successfully before (see “Maid of Honor”), and this was equally amusing. Lyonne zinged her current starring role on Netflix’s Russian Doll (“Two things you definitely want to be associated with right now—Russia and Netflix”) and SNL itself (“I love … people who’ve done the same thing since the ‘70s). Bonus points for Armisen (with whom she starred in a sex tape “no one wanted to buy”) and Rudolph showing up to do their impressions of her distinctive voice. It not only ran through her extensive résumé (from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse to the cult favorite But I’m A Cheerleader) but went to revelatory places about her life.

'SNL': Natasha Lyonne Hosts, Gets Impressions By Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph · 'Russian Doll' star and co-creator hosted the Season 47 finale of 'Saturday Night ...

And there’s always a reason to get back in the ring and fight another day.” On cue, Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph materialized beside Lyonne to give her the ultimate gift: impressions of herself. “Two things you really want to be associated with right now are Russia and Netflix,” Lyonne said right away.

Natasha Lyonne hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time and was joined by a familiar face: Her ex, former cast member Fred Armisen.

"I had been [in Los Angeles] living with Fred and during COVID. I honestly think we broke up because I wanted a swimming pool," she told the outlet. "The people here are my real-life chosen family," she said. "I've been coming here since I was a teenager.

"Russian Doll" star Natasha Lyonne dropped by Studio 8H to host the season finale of "Saturday Night Live."

The camera work ends up being framed in a way that you’ll never really see the host’s reactions until the last bits — which was the case here, with McKinnon really trying to get Lyonne to break, which wasn’t as successful as in the “Mr. Dooley” sketch — despite it being the supposed point of the sketch. In fact, this sketch succeeded as soon as it revealed that its “political” premise was a bait and switch. The low point was Armisen (doing a guest sketch appearance, perhaps for familiarity reasons) and Mooney’s characters easily figuring out Lyonne’s character (her second male character of the episode was dead), because it led to the window-jumping ending that suggested “SNL” had no idea how to end it. Call it a riff on “The Wonder Years,” call it a riff on the teen comedies of the ‘80s or ‘90s, the pre-tape sketch “After High School” hit on all fronts. “PSA” had the task of being about “stupid” people — who, in case you missed it, also vote — and it succeeded, partially because it made it clear none of this was about mental health or learning disabilities. Armisen proved that it’s always funny to say “tickle” as you tickle someone (that’s where the familiarity came in, with the aggressive tickling) — which was ultimately the point of the sketch. (If they’d done all Bryant and McKinnon sketches this episode, it would’ve been okay.) The concept of “grey adult pigtails” (and “Richard” — Kyle Mooney) has made for sketch premises all by themself, so again, it was a delightful send-off So naturally, “SNL” decided to do a mash-up of the two movies, with Heidi Gardner’s Dolly Parton-inspired character killing Lyonne’s Coleman-inspired character to kick off the “Weekend at Bernie’s” part of the bit. In this sketch, it was all about Thompson, Lyonne, and even Cecily Strong — as well as the audience members played by Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang. (It’s worth noting it was never about Kyle Mooney, who was the keyboard-playing part of Henderson’s group, even when Strong’s character’s bit was just that she dances off to the side.) Fineman and Yang provided the tiny twist on the bit, with him being “gay” and her his “sidekick” who just happened to be a psychic. The point was her final beat, which was that, “There’s always hope in despair.” Considering how the world is going as this season wraps up, it’s something good to remember; and on a superficial level, with four cast members leaving after this episode (Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson), it was quite an optimistic and triumphant way to close things out. But it was also a sketch that just relied on us all enjoying these performers, as there wasn’t more there to it than Lyonne playing harmonica in between her and Thompson’s conversations. And also despite Lyonne being a capital-a “Actress,” it was an interesting choice that — after Armisen and Rudolph gave their Lyonne impressions, which Rudolph truly excelled at, that is — she ultimately went the stand-up tight five route for her monologue.

Natasha Lyonne was a first-time SNL host, but it's tough to imagine anybody being nervous about her being in the building for this last episode of Season ...

And if Kyle didn’t get the same sort of center stage farewell as the rest, well, that sort of fits his whole niche on the show. (From the start, its role as a live weekly affront to the medium of television—and entertainment more generally—was much more powerful.) But the worst and most dangerous times are when satirists make their bones. Kenan’s self-proclaimed dumb voter goes out of his way to say that he’s voted for both the elephants and the donkeys before, just so nobody can possibly come away thinking that SNL is taking some sort of position concerning—just as an example—the majority-white, resentment-motivated, misinformation-gorging bloc that voted to put a cartoonishly corrupt demagogue and greed-headed conman in the White House. Well, with SNL signing off for the summer and the working life of a freelancer being about as guaranteed as a featured player who got about one sketch every six weeks (good luck, Aristotle and Punkie, I’m rooting for you), here’s one last bit of analysis concerning Saturday Night Live’s satire. (Tonight it’s a knockoff Bottega Veneta fanny pack.) The show would have made a bigger deal about a Kenan departure, and, truthfully, I am in no way troubled at the thought of Kenan Thompson staying at SNL for as long as he wants. She even tells the dirtiest old joke I’ve heard on SNL in a long while, and urges listeners stuck in traffic to “just slam the gas and see what happens.” But worry not, everybody, as the sketch pairs her with Mikey Day in the booth, and a Mikey Day character is bound and determined to put a stop to any given sketch’s shenanigans. But this was really a last taste of Davidson’s signature “what am I doing here?” shtick, with a genuinely affecting helping of gratitude to the show that gave him his now-flourishing (if strange) career. Nobody’s in the mood for another rant about what does and doesn’t make for a good repeating sketch, but, you know, it’s sort of what I get paid for. The Best: Just to get it out of the way, this was the last show for a formidable list of veteran cast members, with Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney all announcing this week that they were leaving. That results in Gardner, Ego Nwodim, and Cecily Strong trying to pull off a Weekend at Bernie’s bit for the benefit of Kyle and Armisen’s visiting board members, complete with all the body-molesting, drink-spilling, and awkward tickling that entails. Even if she weren’t already a backstage favorite, though, Lyonne would fit right in at Saturday Night Live. With her brash New York demeanor (described by the actress as “a Little Orphan Annie type who talks like Dee Dee Ramone”) and seen-it-all unflappability, Lyonne was a fine choice to bring this season in for a landing. Natasha Lyonne was a first-time host, but it’s tough to imagine anybody being nervous about her being in the building for this last episode of Season 47.

"We're the only couple who had a sex tape nobody wanted to buy," Natasha Lyonne joked of ex Fred Armisen as she made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut ...

After shooting him dead, Cecily Strong, Heidi Gardner, and Ego Nwodim propped up his body, Weekend at Bernie's-style, to get him through a meeting with some shareholders (Armisen and Kyle Mooney). The sketch ended with Armisen tickling Lyonne on the floor to confirm his death. The segment ended with Yang and Michael Che carrying out a new trend at Bryant's behest, "My best guys kissing me." "I appreciate SNL always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow. She boarded a spaceship with bright lights and fog, as well as some small inflatable aliens. Yang, 31, added: "In: a friend I couldn't have done this without." "It might seem like a mundane reason for a breakup, but during that pandemic, you've got to get your laps — I'm like Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer."