Saturday night’s musical guest was also the surprise star of host Will Ferrell’s monologue.
Will Ferrell’s much-anticipated monologue for his return as SNL host was hijacked by two music stars: Paul McCartney and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
First up: Chili Peppers’ Smith took the stage posing as Ferrell Saturday night (May 16), in a nod to the longtime consensus that Smith and Ferrell are celebrity lookalikes. (More than decade ago, the two faced their match in a funny drum-off put together by Jimmy Fallon.)
For last night’s SNL season finale, the actual drummer kicked off Ferrell’s monologue — introduced to the crowd as Ferrell.
“I’m thrilled to be back here hosting Saturday Night Live. Thrilled!” Smith (as Ferrell) announced, bringing back the oft-joked about bit that he’s the comedian’s doppelgänger.
“I was a cast member here for seven years, and now I’m hosting for the sixth time. Amazing! It really feels like coming home,” he said before being intercepted by the actual host of SNL‘s Season 51 wrap episode, Will Ferrell himself: “Hey! Excuse me! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Don’t clap for him. Don’t. He’s a bad guy. God. I’m sorry. That was weird, right?” Ferrell quipped of the musician, who’d appear again later in the episode supporting musical guest McCartney on drums.
“You know what? Let’s just do a hard reset, all right?” Ferrell decided, commenting that things just didn’t feel right since “Chad Smith took the wind out of my sails.”
Opting to take questions from the audience at this point, Ferrell landed on none other than Paul McCartney — and the second half of his monologue was essentially stolen by the famed Beatle, who kept the game going by insisting Will Ferrell is actually Chad Smith. McCartney took the stage for the last couple minutes of the monologue time slot, glowing in the applause for the extensive list of hit songs he’s penned (reminding the night’s host he forgot to mention “Penny Lane”), and insisting Ferrell better get his butt behind the drum set.
Watch Ferrell’s May 16 SNL monologue, co-starring McCartney and Smith, below. Tune into McCartney’s trio of performance from the night here — those included “Days We Left Behind,” “Band on the Run” and “Coming Up.”
