Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Mitt "Showtime" Romney Reportedly Mulling Offer To Host Saturday Night Live
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 15, 2012
Modified Apr 15, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 15, 2012
Modified Apr 15, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Saturday Night Live has had some serious problems trying to make presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney funny—after all, he has the personality of a saltine cracker in a glass of room-temperature water. So SNL has decided to go straight to the source: executive producer Lorne Michaels told the Times that he has offered Romney the hosting gig on SNL, and Romney is considering it. Because Romney has such a deft hand with comedy.
The casting scoop was reported by Maureen Dowd, in an op-ed all about how much SNL wishes Sarah Palin was running for president instead of Romney. “I don’t think it’s going to be as much fun as 2000 and 2008,” said SNL writer and satirist Jim Downey. "I wish there could be a crazy brokered convention with someone we’ve never heard of to keep it fresh. But you don’t get a gift like Sarah Palin very often, and I’m sure it’ll never happen again.”
The writers have been stuck desperately trying to convince themselves there are funny things about Romney: “There’s a creepy youth minister kind of squareness to him, especially combined with that goofy eagerness to please,” said Downey. Seth Meyers thinks it's funny Romney has grown children. Read that again: the head writer of SNL thinks one of the funniest things about Romney is that his children are adults.
While writers twiddle their thumbs hoping "disconnected salesman" Romney grows a personality and takes one of the two open hosting slots left for this season, they announced another surprise host: Giants QB Eli Manning will host on May 5th. We don't think we'd be going out on a limb assuming there'll be skits making fun of the Jets and Tim Tebow, and a whole lot of Manningface. Maybe we'll even get a sequel to brother Peyton Manning's classic "United Way' sketch:
Tagged
comedy
Eli Manning
hosts
mitt romney
saturday night live
snl
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
"Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger," says the co-owner of Art of Play.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 13, 2026
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Arts & Entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .