‘West Side Story’ Star Ariana DeBose to Host First ‘SNL’ Episode of 2022
“Saturday Night Live” has set “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose as its first host for 2022. DeBose, who stars as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic musical, will helm the Jan. 15 episode with Roddy Ricch as musical guest.
It will be the first time on the Studio 8H stage for both. Along with “West Side Story,” DeBose has appeared in Netflix’s “The Prom” and Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!” DeBose was part of the original cast for “Hamilton” and can be seen in the filmed version for Disney+.
Ricch’s sophomore album “Live Life Fast” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
“SNL” has two more January shows on the 22nd and 29th, with hosts and musical guests to be announced.
“SNL’s” last episode of 2021 was heavily altered by Omicron surge, with many in the cast reportedly testing positive. Paul Rudd hosted a stripped down episode that also featured Tom Hanks and Tina Fey. The episode ended up being a mix of sketches recorded earlier in the week and other classic “SNL” holiday sketches.
NBC will live-stream the remaining episodes on Peacock as well as the NBC broadcast.
Other hosts this season have featured almost exclusively first-timers, including Billie Eilish (who pulled double-duty as the musical guest), Kim Kardashian West, Jonathan Majors, Simu Liu, Rami Malek and Kiernan Culkin. Jason Sudeikis also made his long-awaited return as the host for the first time since he left the sketch comedy show.
“Saturday Night Live” is executive produced by creator Lorne Michaels. The NBC sketch show is produced in association with Broadway Video.