Saturday Night Live's 15 best double-duty hosts

Show date: November 7, 2009When Taylor Swift hosted SNL in 2009, she was just beginning to take over pop music. Her musical monologue reflects the public perception of her at the time—a young, talented singer whom it was basically impossible not to like. Throughout the episode, Swift dives into her roles, including a surprisingly on-point impression of Kate Gosselin. She also appears in nearly every sketch, which is a pretty good sign the writers and cast were impressed with her. Though Swift has come back as a musical guest several times since, she’s never hosted again, which is a shame. She performed “You Belong With Me” and “Untouchable” on her one double-duty showcase. [Jen Lennon]

Show date: April 2, 2011In Elton John’s first appearance on SNL in nearly 30 years, he came back to host and perform. It was a step up from his previous appearance, when he was just the musical guest. The really wonderful thing about John’s 2011 double-duty performance is that he knows exactly who he is, and there’s none of the performative gamesmanship that you sometimes get with younger hosts who feel like they need to prove themselves. He leans into the dad jokes in his opening monologue, and he even holds his own in the sketches where he performs with Tom Hanks, who showed up for a guest cameo. He probably could’ve sung nursery rhymes for his musical portion and gotten away with it, but instead, he performed excellent renditions of “Hey Ahab” and “Monkey Suit.” [Jen Lennon]

Show date: October 20, 2012In his opening monologue, Bruno Mars confesses that he’s nervous about his role as host, then breaks into an upbeat, confident musical number that sets the tone for the rest of the episode. If that insecurity was real, he got over it pretty quickly. His likable persona translates well from the concert stage to the comedy stage, and he seems to have a blast taking on a number of characters, including a Pandora intern who can do spot-on singing impressions of everyone from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong to Michael Jackson. In a surprisingly touching digital short he gets a chance to act opposite Jason Sudeikis as a sad guy in a patriotic mouse costume wandering around Times Square. In his segment as musical guest he performs his hits “Locked Out Of Heaven” and “Young Girls,” reminding us of his day job as a superstar singer/songwriter, in case we’d forgotten. He was just that good. [Cindy White]

Show date: November 16, 2013Lady Gaga had already been the musical guest on SNL twice before she was asked to host and perform in 2013. She’d just had a small part in Machete Kills the month before, but hadn’t yet taken on any major acting roles, so it was a surprise to see her pull off a pretty spot-on impression of Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. Gaga didn’t appear in many sketches, but she nailed the ones she was given. She also performed “Do What U Want” with R. Kelly (she later apologized for the collaboration) and “Gypsy.” [Jen Lennon]

Show dates: January 18, 2014; May 14, 2016Drake got a chance to be both a host and musical guest twice within two years, a feat accomplished by only one other performer so far (that would be Britney Spears in 2000 and 2002, of course). The show used him sparingly, but effectively. Many of his sketches involved music or rap, and he pulled out a few pretty good impressions of other rappers, but he was also funny playing characters like a goofy dad, a talk show host, and a contestant on Black Jeopardy! That’s not too surprising, considering the Canadian performer got his start as an actor on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He even pokes fun at his own image. In his second monologue he sings a hilarious song about how he’s “More Than A Meme.” His numbers during the official musical segment include “Started From The Bottom,” “Trophies,” “Hold On We’re Going Home,” and “From Time” (a duet with Jhené Aiko) in his first outing, and “One Dance” and “Hype” in his second. Killing it once would have been enough, but by coming back and doing it a second time Drake proved it wasn’t just a fluke. [Cindy White]

Show date: March 12, 2016Ariana Grande’s standout “Tidal” sketch might just be Bruno Mars’ “Pandora” with a slightly different skin, but it’s hard to get mad about the semi-recycled material when she’s so damn good at impressions. She’d shown off her vocal talents on late-night shows before, but something about this environment really amps up the difficulty level—and she absolutely rises to the challenge. As with other musicians who got their start acting (like Drake), it wasn’t too much of a surprise that Grande adapted to sketch comedy so well. But the energy she brought made her one of the best double-duty SNL hosts—and it didn’t even throw her off when Larry David flubbed her name as he introduced her performance of “Dangerous Woman.” Later in the show, she also performed “Be Alright.” [Jen Lennon]

Show date: May 5, 2018Unlike many of SNL’s musical guest hosts who were musicians first and comedians second (sometimes a very, very distant second), Donald Glover was already a well-established actor before he hosted SNL. His musical persona Childish Gambino was less well known, but he was given the opportunity to show both sides in this episode from 2018, timed to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story. It was a full-circle moment for Glover, who had auditioned for the show twice in the past and been rejected both times. If he was out to prove what a mistake it was not to hire him back then, mission accomplished. He spoofs his Star Wars role as young Lando Calrissian, asking “Where the hell are all the Black people in space?” There are also a handful of superb digital shorts, including “A Kanye Place,” based on A Quiet Place; “’80s Music Video,” in which he played R&B singer Raz P. Berry; and “Friendos,” a sendup of Glover’s pals Migos that featured a cameo by A$AP Rocky. But his savviest move of the night was using the show as a platform to debut two powerful new Childish Gambino tracks, “Saturday” and “This Is America.” In the wake of those past rejections, it was Glover who got the last laugh. [Cindy White]