NBC Is Using the Olympics to Hype ‘SNL 50,’ and Viewers Aren’t Happy

As if going for a gold medal in corporate self-promotion, NBC is packing its 2024 Olympic coverage with the stars of its flagship late-night sketch show Saturday Night Live, hence why the surfing competition in Tahiti is being covered by Weekend Update co-anchor, and “serious sports reporter,” Colin Jost. 

In addition to shoehorning comedians into correspondent roles, NBC is churning out even more blatantly synergistic SNL content, airing segments specifically hyping the show’s upcoming 50th season and, of course, the three-hour SNL 50 prime-time special.

The first of what will apparently be several SNL-focused segments on “Primetime in Paris” opened with an SNL-style montage of Parisian streets, all while the show’s house band jammed in Studio 8H, approximately 3,600 miles away. Sportscaster Mike Tirico then chatted with John Mulaney about a bunch of random topics, including the men’s beach volleyball game between Chile and Norway, which Mulaney claimed was like “two lifeguards from the public beach … playing two lifeguards from the rich country club and whoever wins is king of the beach for the summer.”

Mulaney also complained that he bet on Chile, and lost “about $175,000” — at which point Tirico questioned, “Stefon would bet against Norway?” presumably because he thought he had been interviewing Bill Hader the whole time.

When the subject finally turned to Saturday Night Live, Mulaney revealed that one of his favorite memories from the show was the reason that he and fellow SNL writer Simon Rich were attending the Olympics. Apparently, when Charles Barkley hosted the show during the pair’s tenure, they quizzed him about what it was like to play in the Olympics, and he responded, “If you ever get the chance to go, do it. People love their countries.”

Even though the segment didn’t even total four minutes in length, a not insubstantial number of viewers seemed to be pretty ticked off by the fact that NBC’s Olympic coverage paused to showcase Mulaney’s musings.

Sure, Mulaney shared a few funny stories, including the revelation that he refused an invitation to meet Tom Cruise at the opening ceremony because the star was wearing an undignified rain poncho at the time, but the whole thing was still pretty awkward. 

On the sports side of things, Mulaney predictably didn’t provide any real insight about the Olympics except for his confession that he had bet and lost large sums of money on the games. And he also didn’t really have that much to say about Saturday Night Live turning 50, beyond offering that one anecdote that only slightly explained why he decided to make the journey to Paris.

Had Mulaney been allowed to take over the show and field viewer phone calls, à la Everybody’s in L.A., NBC might have actually had something.

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