Miley Cyrus is in New York, seen here getting back at her hotel after Saturday Night Live rehearsals yesterday. She arrived in town with her mother, Tish, because it’s the Mother’s Day show and The Kid LAROI is there with her too so they’re obviously performing “Without You” during one of the musical guest segments.  

 

Miley has become a familiar figure at SNL. Because she’s down for anything, yes, but also because she’s reliably good on that stage, some might say great. She’s an excellent live performer, her vocals are strong, they can depend on her to deliver. There’s no question that Lorne Michaels really likes her and word is she’s pretty popular among the cast. Miley has a solid reputation at SNL and with the SNL-adjacent community. One of my favourite Miley anecdotes is how Bill Murray credited her with saving A Very Murray Christmas a few years ago when she stepped in and learned a brand new song (it was “Silent Night”, LOL) at the last minute and killed it without any preparation. This is the kind of story that circulates around town. Bill couldn’t stop talking about it when he was promoting the special.  

Much of the spotlight around SNL this weekend, however, is not on Miley. Because Elon Musk is hosting and there’s been all kinds of debate about whether or not he should, considering all his controversies. Well, that’s why they pulled this stunt. People have been arguing about this for two weeks which has only generated more intrigue about what he’ll be like – and what will the consequences be if he’s actually good.  

 

Will he be good though?  

It’s one thing to be a troll on Twitter and we’ve seen what happens when, ahem, rich Twitter trolls guest on SNL, but “Live from New York!” is not Twitter, it’s sketch comedy, it’s chemistry, it’s personality that has to come through the screen into your home. For years now people have tried to convince us that Elon Musk is actually a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” but does Elon Musk have a personality beyond “billionaire”? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow night, but the promos aren’t doing it for me:  

Maybe I’m just bitter because for months now I’ve been wondering when Steven Yeun will be invited to host SNL. He started his career in improv! He can do this! Also, Keegan-Michael Key and Anya Taylor-Joy are the final two hosts of SNL season 46 and you know what that means? An entire season will go by and not a single Asian host. Or Latinx host, for that matter. It’s not like there aren’t options.