Reddit Is Ablaze Trying to Figure Out Why Weird Al Hasn’t Been on ‘Saturday Night Live’

u/Mindless_Expert3062 started the boulder rolling down the hill on Reddit this week, and we agree it’s a legit question: Considering all the humorless athletes, singers, and business moguls who have hosted Saturday Night Live over the years, “how is this the closest we’ve come to having Weird Al on SNL? 

One lame Andy Samberg impression in a sketch that Peacock cut from its online streaming service? Surely Weird Al Yankovic, a fixture in the comedy scene since he released My Bologna in 197-freaking-9, should have found his way to the SNL stage by now, either as the host, the musical guest, or both. The r/LiveFromNewYork subreddit can’t figure it out, but that doesn’t mean its users aren’t trying.

The best and most obvious opportunity has come and gone, since a Daniel Radcliffe/Weird Al double-bill in support of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story would have made perfect sense last fall. (u/BobRoberts01 offered the genius idea of Radcliffe hosting and Weird Al as the musical guest -- then switching roles halfway through the show.) SNL fans jumped into a Roku/Weird AMA last year to ask the film’s stars about it -- and both Radcliffe and Weird Al were down.

“S-N-L!!! S-N-L!!!!” chanted u/KO620181. “Would love to see you both on Saturday Night Live!!!! Any chance of that happening?”

“I too agree that Al should host SNL,” replied Radcliffe. So what’s the problem? “I think they'd have to ask me first,” Weird Al chimed in. “That's always been the biggest obstacle.”

This just circles us back to the original question: Why hasn’t SNL asked Weird Al to host the show? Is the problem that Weird Al can’t do sketch comedy? Redditors are quick to shoot that one down. “He spent how many episodes on Comedy Bang Bang?” asked u/kronicfeld. “He can do sketch comedy.” u/kneel_yung reminded everyone that Weird Al actually had his own sketch show on CBS, while u/BloodyRightNostril shouted out his hilarious appearance as Ted Nugent on Reno 911. He’s even appeared on SNL-adjacent 30 Rock, remembered u/kootsiak.

OK, so it isn’t an inability to do SNL-style comedy. That leads u/stan11003 to the only obvious conclusion: “Lorne doesn’t like him. It’s as simple as that.”  Of course! It’s a vendetta!

“Lorne Michaels is to sketch comedy as Vince McMahon is to wrestling; neither invented it but they took their respective niches to international fame and recognition, and are both so old and out of touch that they're now holding what they created back,” sniped u/Granny_Nooooo.

“It’s probably the blood feud between Lorne Michaels and Dr. Demento,” theorized u/ProfCharlesBrainman.

“Lorne is clearly connected to the Columbian death squads,” explains u/dasonk.

Many in the group conclude that there’s only one way to overcome SNL’s reticence -- a full-on, Betty-White-style Internet campaign to force Lorne’s hand. “People. This is our time. The internet needs us,” shouted u/kwixta in a comedy call to arms. “Let’s get Weird Al on SNL or fill up unrelated subreddits trying!”