Saturday Night Live
Dakota Johnson & Justin Timberlake
January 27, 2023
Dakota Johnson (and not Fanning as I attempted to call her throughout this recap) has returned to host Saturday Night Live for the first time since 2015 — which I did recap, but it was so long ago, it was before this website existed. Thus the recap has long ago vanished, along with any trace of Tubular.
R.I.P. Tubular.
But somehow, more remarkably, it’s been even longer than eight years since musical guest and former SNL regular, Justin Timberlake has been on the show. Timberlake, who has hosted five times (separate from the other two times he was only the musical guest and the EIGHT times he made a cameo), hasn’t set foot in Studio 8H (at least not on air) since 2013. SINCE 2013.
That’s right: neither the host nor the musical guest have been on Saturday Night Live since OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT. If that doesn’t make you feel old, I don’t know what will. In any event, despite having to brush off a few cobwebs, both Johnson and Timberlake were up to the task and performed well last night. If anything, Johnson seemed worlds more confident and mature than the last time she hosted, and she was the best thing about the episode.
