Prince Harry Was Very Close to Hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’
Which statement is more surprising – that Prince Harry very nearly hosted Saturday Night Live during the massive media blitz ahead of his book release, or that there was a single major platform that didn’t provide the renegade royal with a spotlight during his publicity rampage?
According to Page Six, industry insiders reported that the Duke of Sussex was in serious negotiations to host SNL in promotion of his explosive memoir Spare at the end of last year. The hosting gig was all but assured before talks stalled “at the eleventh hour” for unknown reasons, but Lorne Michaels is apparently eager to revisit the royal collaboration and “would still love to have Prince Harry on the show.”
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A foreign prince with no acting experience has an open invitation to host SNL but homegrown heroes like Bob Odenkirk can’t swing it. What a royal pain.
One of Page Six’ sources said, “I know that Harry was all in, he was really serious about doing it — and it would have been great fun as promo for the book,” adding, “SNL producers have been after Harry for a while. Everyone on the show was really into the idea, and people would definitely have tuned in.” It’s utterly believable that SNL would court a major figure in the news who has shown absolutely no artistic or comedic capabilities simply for the clout – Elon Musk's horrible Wario impression is still burned into our brains.
Other industry insiders corroborated the story of the potential collaboration, though they seemed less sure that the prince was a shoe-in for the hosting job – “There’s always lots of names in the mix, but Harry was definitely a name being discussed,” one said.
Though none of the sources quoted in the piece could reveal exactly why the prince never made it onto Studio 8H, they noted that Michaels and his producers have left the door open – “I could also see Harry coming on as a surprise in a sketch,” one insider speculated.
You know what would be really surprising? If SNL only hired hosts who had any actual business performing live comedy (such as Jennifer Coolidge) instead of trying to convince us that Prince Harry can play any character other than “rich guy who's only famous for being born.”
