Ariana DeBose, Saturday Night Live, and Oscar Campaigns
Friday, January 14, 2022 at 11:00AM by Nathaniel R
As you may have heard Best Supporting Actress Oscar hopeful Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) will be hosting Saturday Night Live when the show returns tomorrow, January 15th. That's just 12 days before the Academy starts voting on nominations. Which got us to thinking: How often is Saturday Night Live used as a campaign stop for Oscar hopefuls and is it successful? Let's do a little research. We're only going back five years for time constraint reasons but we do wonder when this became a thing or if it's always been thus? I have only ever been a casual SNL viewer but perhaps there are Saturday Night Live experts reading who could shed some light...
Before the 93rd Oscars (honoring the films of 2020)
This Oscar ceremony was held unusually late on April 25th. Two major hopefuls hosted earlier that month
- Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) April 10th, 2021
There was no skit about her buzzy movie but there was however a skit that poked fun at prestige movies with "Lesbian Period Drama" which went viral. Carey lost to Frances McDormand in the Best Picture winner Nomadland.
- Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) April 3rd, 2021
He talked about his Globe winning speech in the opening monologue and he would go on to win the Oscar as expected.
Before the 92nd Oscars (honoring the films of 2019)
- Adam Driver January 25th, 2020 (Marriage Story)
For movie skits they stuck with his Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise. But he talked about making out with Scarlett Johansson in the opening monologue and poked fun at his intensity as an actor. He lost the Oscar to Mr Intensity himself, Joaquin Phoenix as Joker
- Scarlett Johansson December 14th, 2019 (Marriage Story/Jojo Rabbit)
Among her sketches in her sixth (!) time hosting the show, Johansson plays a marriage counselor talking to a husband and wife on what they love about each other, a riff on the excellent opening of her movie.
She secured a double nomination at the Oscars the month after this show but lost both prizes.
Before the 91st Oscars (honoring the films of 2018)
Emma Stone hosted an episode of SNL this season but after the Oscars
- Claire Foy December 1st, 2018 (First Man)
The Crown gets all the referencing in her episode but she does name-check First Man in her opening monologue when she jokes that nobody else wanted to be Ryan Gosling's wife. Unfortunately she didn't land the nomination when awards season turned a very chilly shoulder on the underappreciated austronaut drama, which was also a surprisingly effective marital drama.
- Adam Driver September 29th, 2018 (BlacKkKlansman)
In one figurative reference to his current movie at the time, there's a skit set at the Neo-Confederate Meeting where his first-time attendeethrows off the meeting by continually referencing that Vermont is just like the all-white new society they're proposing which upsets the meeting leaders who consider it a "Yankee commune". Driver soon landed his first nomination for that excellent Spike Lee joint.
Before the 90th Oscars (honoring the films of 2017)
Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) hosted an episode this season of SNL but his episode was after the Oscars
- Jessica Chastain January 20th, 2018 (Molly's Game)
She made for a truly excellent and game host -- we've long mantained that she should do more comedy -- but she missed the Oscar nod in a competitive year.
- Sam Rockwell January 13th, 2018 (Three Billboards)
He had just won the Globe before this episode and made fun of his steady but arguably unspectacular career up until then "Just last week, the worst thing that can happen to a character actor happened to me — I won an award” He went on to win another even bigger one, the Oscar. (Well loved character actors began a theme of the episode since Stanley Tucci made a guest appearance in a short called "Tucci Gang")
- James Franco, December 9th, 2017 (The Disaster Artist)
A month or so after this gig he was a mildly surprising snub given lots of precursor attention for his movie abotu the making of legendary bad movie The Room.
- Saoirse Ronan, December 2nd, 2017 (Lady Bird)
It was a very Irish episode of SNL since the musical guest was U2. Saoirse brought along her director Greta Gerwig in one prerecorded sketch. Saoirse received the nomination but lost the Oscar which was a pity given that another Frances McDormand (Three Billboards) had another win right around the corner and Lady Bird remains THE BEST
- Tiffany Haddish, November 11th, 2017 (Girls Trip)
Somehow she was the first black comedienne to ever host. (How is that possible? Had, say, Whoopi Goldberg never done the show in her heyday?) She scored points with critics and audiences that year for her big star breakthrough in Girls Trip but the major awards bodies ignored it. That said she did win an Emmy for hosting this episode!
- Kumail Nanjiani, October 14th, 2017 (The Big Sick)
His opening monologue was all about his movie The Big Sick. He scored a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this autobiographical dramedy and also a collective SAG nomination for Outstanding Cast.
Before the 89th Oscars (honoring the films of 2016)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) hosted an episode this season but after the Oscar ceremony
- Casey Affleck, December 17th, 2016 (Manchester by the Sea)
He won the Oscar for a very depressing drama but the most popular skit was about Dunkin Donuts
- Emma Stone, December 3rd, 2016 (La La Land)
Her third Hosting gig at SNL was to promote her blockbuster musical. She won.
- Emily Blunt, October 15th, 2016 (Girl on the Train)
Her movie, then in theaters, netted her a surprise SAG nomination a few months later. But as everyone knows she's still waiting on her first Oscar nomination all these years later. She's come close so many times!
We'd be here all day if we kept going backward in time but out of curiousity we looked at SNL's first year to see if Oscar hopefuls had always hosted. And... they have if less often at the start.
Before the 48th Oscars (honoring the films of 1975)
- Lily Tomlin, November 22nd, 1975 (Nashville)
Lily was both the host and the musical guest in her episode on the 1st season, which arrived inbetween the now-classic movie's release (summer) and the Oscars (spring). Sadly she lost her one and only Oscar race but really that Robert Altman classic could have hogged the entire Best Supporting Actress category that year and it would have been all right and it would still be sad if anyone had to lose. You can see this entire SNL episode online and her opening monologue is great stand-up comedy. Lily hosted the show twice more, again in 1976 and then in 1983, though she didnt have a movie to promote in either of those years.
Ariana DeBose, Oscar Trivia, Oscars (21), SNL, comedy
Reader Comments (10)
I hate SNL and all those underserved Emmy noms.
While I think it's sort of a campaign stop, most of these contenders are also just doing the work of promoting the film. I think it feels like a campaign stop because so many Oscar-contending films are released during or right before voting.
That being said, since Debose is a pretty low-profile celebrity, her hosting really does feel like it's about her campaign, since I don't think she would normally be a host. But, I wonder if they've had difficultly getting massive names promoting projects during this stage of COVID?
It's enjoyable seeing these Oscar contenders hit the SNL stage even if not everyone works well with the nature of the show.
The best one recently has got to be Eddie Murphy's return to SNL for Dolemite is My Name (2019). The Oscar nom didn't happen, but at least he got an Emmy for that guesting. One of the best episodes, if not THE best, in recent memory.
I know we like to be award-centric around here but often these appearances are to promote the actor / the movie as much as to "campaign" for an Oscar, so I'm not sure I'd exclude appearances that take place after the Oscar ceremony. Often actors host SNL when they are promoting non-Oscar movies as well of course.
Nevertheless now you have sent me down a rabbit hole... A couple others from further back:
Jennifer Lawrence hosted in Jan 2013
Christoph Waltz in Feb 2013
Jesse Eisenberg in Jan 2011
Jeff Bridges in Dec 2010
Forest Whitaker in Feb 2007
Hilary Swank in Feb 2005
Christopher Walken in Feb 2003 (frequent host but this was Catch Me If You Can season)
Ian McKellen (!) in March 2002
Gwyneth Paltrow in Feb 1999
Helen Hunt in Dec 1997 (was also on NBC's mad about you then of course)
Peter beat me to it!
Came here to mention my fave SNL / Oscar campaigning has got to be Ian McKellen in 2002.
His impression of Maggie Smith predicting who will win just kills me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQhJ40QM6zc&t=125s
... and I still say "such a clever little Judi Dench" when referring to her.
The Jennifer Lawrence Monologue in 2013 was all about the Oscars basically (pretty funny I thought) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNvqIXRXkE
I kind’ve find the SNL Oscar campaign stop to be embarrassing & shameless. Didn’t WSS around run it’s course? SNL should ban certified nominees from monopolizing their set during the initial nomination reveal date & the final voting weekend or, at least, offer the platform to ‘almost there’s’ like Marlee Matlin, Mike Faist, A. Haim/Licorice Pizza, the cast of MASS or even Rita Moreno…
I bet we'll see a few more stars in the running host in the run-up to the Oscars.
I distinctly remember Miranda Richardson hosting right before the '92 ceremony, which was probably too late to garner votes, but was definitely connected to her nomination.
The hosting gig I remember most is Jeremy Irons in 1991. https://youtu.be/GDQvPgpgU8U
Here are some others:
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons, Feb 1989
Tom Hanks, Big, Feb 1990 aka The first Wayne's World sketch
Miranda Richardson, Damaged, March 1993
Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights, March 1998
Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love, Feb 1999