Pete Davidson and John Mulaney: Oscar-Winning SNL Hosts Tank Their Monologues 8 Times Out of 10
For decades, Saturday Night Live has presented a seamless image of Hollywood confidence with celebrities striding to the Studio 8H microphone, landing their jokes, and walking off to thunderous applause. What happens when that doesn't go according to plan turned out to be something two of the show's most familiar faces had been sitting on for years.
On Friday, John Mulaney appeared on The Pete Davidson Show, Davidson's new Netflixpodcast, where the two comedians opened up about their shared experience handling one of SNL's most open secrets. Namely, celebrity hosts often have opening monologues that fall flat in front of a live audience. Both men described a ritual they each performed independently, and nearly identically, of reassuring hosts after performances that plainly hadn't landed.
'When I was 25, I'd tell Oscar-winning hosts, I'd write their monologue and be like, 'You're gonna say all that, it's gonna go great,' Mulaney said on the podcast, before adding, 'They'd tank eight times out of ten.' When those same hosts finished and looked to Mulaney for a verdict, he wasn't always honest. 'They'd be like, 'Hey, was that good?' And you'd be like, 'No. Do you have ears?' Davidson admitted he ran a nearly identical routine. His standard line was telling a visibly troubled host, 'You're really performing for the people at home.' If that didn't help, he had a backup. 'I always would go, 'They're tourists. They wait outside and try to win a lottery. Half of them probably don't even speak English.' They do. They're big fans of the show; they camp outside.'
The exchange was funny, but it also revealed something about the distance between SNL's polished broadcast version and the stressful live experience behind it. Mulaney spent four seasons as a staff writer on the show from 2008 to 2012, working alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood as they navigated a format few actors are trained for. Davidson joined the cast in 2014 and spent eight seasons watching the same dynamic play out from the other side of the cameras. Together, they've logged more SNL time than almost anyone outside Lorne Michaels.
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Mulaney, who has hosted the show six times and is one of a small number of non-cast members to become a member of the Five-Timers Club, was particularly candid about the psychological tricks involved. He described one instance where 'a very big comedy star bombed' and, when asked how it went, Mulaney told him, 'It's bad acoustics,' despite Studio 8H being one of the best-miked sound stages in television history.
SNL recently wrapped its 51st season, with the finale featuring host Will Ferrell and musical guest Paul McCartney. The Davidson-Mulaney conversation was recorded in early May at the Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles and released Friday. It's the kind of story that is probably best told once the hosts in question are likely too successful to remember which week their monologue went sideways.
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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 8:14 AM.