Olivia Rodrigo hosted SNL for the first time and starred in seven sketches that aired on Saturday night (May 2), where she also performed as the musical guest. Following a political cold open and Rodrigo’s monologue, the show kicked off with a delightfully absurd sketch that set the tone for an evening filled with quirky comedy.
SNL‘s writers cleverly incorporated Rodrigo’s musical talent this week: The You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love artist sang in two major sketches, as well as during her monologue. This included her first televised live performance of the upbeat new single “Drop Dead” and her debut of the emotionally charged ballad “Begged.”
Throughout the episode, Rodrigo took on a variety of roles including a soap opera villain, a human teen trapped in a zoo exhibit on Bug Planet, a girl obsessed with her ex at a friend’s birthday party, a lava cake maker blissfully unaware of how her creations appear, the main character in an Isley Brothers “Busted” parody, a witness to the next great white Rasta artist, and a TikToker with an unexpected job. (Dress rehearsal attendees reported on Reddit that the production also tested at least two more sketches with Rodrigo, one about situationships and another featuring her as a guest on a Kenan Thompson-hosted daytime talk show. As of now, no cut-for-time sketches have been made available online.)
Studio 8H can make even the best performers nervous. Naturally delivering late rewrites via cue card isn’t an everyday skill unless you’re part of the full-time cast.
Rodrigo’s previous TV experience — from being a little girl in an Old Navy commercial to a Disney Channel series regular — along with the stage presence she’s developed over countless nights on tour as a musician — served her well in preparing for the chaos of Saturday Night Live. Or “Saturday Night Liv,” as she humorously referred to it in an Instagram post after the show.
The night marked a significant milestone for Rodrigo, who had only appeared as a musical guest before (twice, in 2021 and 2023).
In fact, likely still buzzing from the afterparty, she called it the “best night of my mf life!!!! such a dream come true!!!” She expressed gratitude to Lorne Michaels and the SNL team in her social media update — “for being so welcoming and brilliant. I will remember this forever!!!!”
Here’s a ranking of every sketch Rodrigo participated in during the show that aired Saturday night. Watch all seven sketches from the May 2 episode of SNL below.
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“Home Security Ad”
The pre-taped commercials on Saturday Night Live are always a hit. This one humorously portrays TikTok stars acting as community helpers, receiving their paychecks from a home security company while confronting house robbers about their next mind-numbing reel. Rodrigo plays one of those influencers, although her overall screentime is limited.
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“Edge of Destiny”
Kudos to the set builders and special effects editors of the opening sketch Saturday night, who made it challenging for the performers to maintain straight faces. (Rodrigo managed to get through it mostly.)
Satirizing soap operas is always easy, but the real humor lies in the absurdity of characters tumbling down stairs — every character involved. Rodrigo plays the antagonist and showcases her physical comedy skills, providing an entertaining start to the night.
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“My Ex”
Cue “Get Him Back!” It’s almost as if Rodrigo’s fun Guts track about mixed feelings regarding an ex (“I wanna get him back/ I wanna make him really jealous, wanna make him feel bad/ Oh, I wanna get him back/ ‘Cause then again, I really miss him, and it makes me real sad”) inspired this sketch premise, where this weekend’s star conspires to make her ex jealous — and vice versa — at a mutual friend’s birthday dinner.
Rodrigo convincingly plays her part — perhaps she has been there before — while SNL‘s Ben Marshall (the ex) and Ashley Padilla (the random tablemate Ben asks, who he later regrets asking to pretend to be his date) escalate the awkward situation in increasingly ridiculous ways.
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“Busted”
Whether or not you are familiar with the source material for this spoof — The Isley Brothers’ melodramatic music video for their 2003 R. Kelly-produced single “Busted” — should not matter. Opposite Marcello Hernández, Rodrigo plays the lover of a pajama-clad guy losing sleep over suspicions that she is deceiving him. Busted! Even if she gets home at a perfectly reasonable hour of 10 p.m. The two maintain their characters while keeping rhythm with the 2003 track as they quarrel through song, showcasing impressive musical-comedic timing.
Unexpected appearances by James Austin Johnson as a robber trapped in a closet and Jane Wickline as the robber’s wife hiding under couch cushions enhance an already hilarious bit. Wickline’s very fitting verse might be the line of the night: “I followed him here/ I thought he was cheating; I had suspicions / I got these long-ass legs/ So I be jumping to conclusions.”
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“Shop TV: Lava Cake”
The “Shop TV” sketches on SNL rarely disappoint. This one features Rodrigo as Daisy from Daisy’s Custom Cakes live-selling her creations, including her famous chocolate lava cake that everyone but Daisy seems to view differently. However, the scene doesn’t fully unleash its potential. Perhaps the visual of explosive peanut butter-chocolate lava escaping from the cake’s center was deemed too much for network television.
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“Rasta Driver”
The “Rasta Driver” sketch might have been one of the funniest from Saturday night. It ranks second on this Rodrigo-focused list but deserves applause for Andrew Dismukes. More often cast as the straight character — reliably grounding himself against whatever absurdity unfolds in sketches — Dismukes surprises even himself with an impressive dancehall performance while driving his Uber, leaving two chatty party girls (Rodrigo and Veronika Slowikowska) speechless in his backseat. His dedication to the bit remains strong even when Rodrigo gives her honest review that his song is “kinda trash,” responding: “I wish that was true, sweetheart; I really do. It was next-level and I can’t escape my destiny.”
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“My Room”
Wondering if Olivia Rodrigo’s “My Room” will stand the test of time like Ariana Grande’s “My Best Friend’s House” among SNL fans? The pre-taped Saturday Night Live Midnight Matinee sketch begins with catchy pop melodies, painting nostalgia through lyrics that former teens from a certain generation will appreciate: that purple phone with curly cord, that lava lamp, those boy band posters, that bean bag chair, those glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars, that TV with built-in VHS player in your childhood bedroom…
The twist? That perfect ’90s room exists within a zoo on Bug Planet.
In her song, Rodrigo sings about her daily life: “Every day when the sun comes up/ The bug people come look at me/ They let zoo members come in first/ And older bugs get in free,” describing her everyday experiences and later expressing feelings for her big bug crush as though it were a diary entry. “They watch me through my boy band posters/ Beady eyes all in a row/ They sit on bleachers while I use the toilet/ When I flush, they clap like it’s a dolphin show.”
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