John Mulaney Is About To Join The 'Saturday Night Live' Five Timers Club

Writer John Mulaney has been tapped to host “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, February 26. Musical guest LCD Soundsystem has been scheduled as the musical guest that night.

This will mark the stand-up comedian’s fifth time as hosting, and officially make him part of the legendary Five Timers Club, which includes comedic greats such as Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore, and Paul Rudd.

Mulaney has served as a writer for “SNL” over the past four years and has occasionally appeared on their “Weekend Update” segments. He also co-created the character Stefon with Bill Hader. Mulaney is the fourth SNL writer to host the show despite never being an official cast member. Preceding him are comedians Conan O’Brien, Louis CK, and Larry David.

Mulaney first hosted “Saturday Night Live” in April 2018. He returned to the stage in March 2019 and then again in February 2020, right before COVID-19 related shutdowns began. He returned for a fourth time a few months later, in October 2020.

Although he didn’t host the show in 2021, Mulaney still had an eventful year. After getting out of rehab for a drug addiction, he announced that he was going to be divorcing his wife, artist Anna Marie Tendler, whom he married in 2014. Mulaney officially filed for divorce in July, but the divorce was not finalized until earlier this month.

In an interview with Seth Meyers, he said that he had started dating “X-Men” actress Olivia Munn “in the spring,” although many have questioned the timeline of their relationship, as Munn and Mulaney welcomed their first child together, a son named Malcolm, on November 24, 2021.

Since that time, Munn and Mulaney have been sharing snaps of their newborn son on social media. Most recently, Malcolm was also spotted with “Uncle” Pete Davidson, who is another “SNL” alum.

After “SNL” made the official announcement, John Mulaney shared the news with his Twitter followers, saying, “And just like that…”

“I thought Twitter Cancel Club was going after him a couple months ago?” one fan asked. “Guess they forgot about whatever it was, ehh, Well he makes for a good show, so I’ll be watching!”

“Who asked for this?” another asked. Another user replied, “Him. To wash his image after using his wife for material to make his career then disposing of her like a paper napkin.” They later added, “He got someone he was cheating with pregnant, then lied to her and the public about the timeline.”

“The best modern episodes have John Mulaney hosting,” another fan said. “Can we just get a Mulaney Show already?”

“They really need to find new hosts and musical guests,” another user commented. “This is stale.”

“I’m still kinda p---ed at you John! Ya dirty dog!” said another. “Have you managed to get anyone else pregnant this month or are you taking a break from all that to do your show?”

“It seems we need to start measuring the pandemic off of John Mulaney’s SNL appearances,” another fan quipped.

“It’d be cool if fellow Five-Timer Paul returned,” another added. Another fan replied, “After that well-meaning but ultimately depressing episode last December, Rudd getting another *solo* episode beside the end of the season is what he deserves.”

Unfortunately, “SNL” was on the verge of canceling its very last show of 2021 before the start of the new year. First, “SNL” decided to cancel its live audience out of an abundance of caution due to the spread of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant. Then, musical guest Charli XCX dropped out of the show, saying she could not perform with a limited crew.

In the end, “Forrest Gump” actor Tom Hanks opened the episode by walking out into a nearly empty studio.

“Tonight, everyone at ‘Saturday Night Live’ planned to do our big Christmas show, but COVID came early this year,” Hanks joked.

“In the interest of safety, we do not have an audience,” he continued. “And we sent home our cast, most of our crew… but I came here from California. And if you think I was going to fly three thousand miles and not be on TV, well, you have another thing coming.”

Hanks then brought out Tina Fey, who joked, “This is not the smallest audience I’ve ever performed for. I have done improv at Macy’s.”

Both were wearing robes emblazoned with the number “5” on them to celebrate Paul Rudd’s induction into the Five Timers Club.

“Thanks for coming,” Rudd joked. “I’m extremely… disappointed.”

“SNL” alum Kenan Thompson came out to congratulate Rudd for hosting “4.5 times,” explaining that the episode would consist of new sketches taped earlier in the week as well as some popular sketches from the past to make up for the limited cast and crew.

“It’s going to be a little bit like a new Beatles documentary,” Rudd joked. “Lots of old footage, but enough new stuff that you’re like, ‘Okay yeah, I’ll watch that.’”

Although some fans are glad to see Mulaney join the Five Timers Club, others want to see Rudd receive a proper celebration to mark his fifth time hosting!