We are at the tail end of a Very Glen Powell Fall. His sports comedy series, Chad Powers, finished airing at the end of October, and his new movie The Running Man (co-starring Lee Pace) opened this past weekend. To round out his months-long promo blitz, Glen hosted this week’s SNL. I could have sworn that he’d hosted before but nope. As it turns out, Glen was actually asked to host four years ago, just ahead of one of the many rescheduled release dates for Top Gun: Maverick in November 2021. (The Delta variant of covid caused the movie to be pushed back to May 2022.)
So now, four years later, Glen finally got his chance to host SNL, and he was thrilled to be there. In honor of the occasion, he spent his monologue poking fun at how his face has been everywhere lately. He also told a story about the moment he’d gotten the call about hosting four years earlier. As he and his family were all celebrating, a UPS driver named Mitch pulled up with a delivery. They excitedly told Mitch about SNL and took a selfie. Unfortunately for Glen, Maverick’s release got pushed back and his hosting gig got canceled because that’s showbiz, kid. That selfie has haunted him for four years and on Saturday night, he finally had a chance to close the circle.
Glen Powell had a special guest in the audience when he hosted “Saturday Night Live.”
During his opening monologue, “The Running Man” star revealed that he was originally supposed to host “SNL” four years ago tied to the original premiere date of “Top Gun: Maverick.” He and his family were celebrating when he got that call to host, a moment they shared with a UPS driver who happened to be delivering a package at the same time.
“So we all took a selfie with him, and this is the selfie to mark the occasion,” Powell said before revealing the actual selfie with him, his family, and the UPS driver. “But then my dream got taken away,” he continued. “‘Top Gun’ got delayed because of COVID, so ‘SNL’ had to take their offer back. Lorne Michaels literally called me and said, ‘Without “Top Gun,”‘ and these are his words, “no one will know who the F you are.’”
Powell lamented that, for the past four years, the UPS driver might have thought he was a liar. So when he got the call to host “SNL” again, he and his family decided to make things right.
“My sisters tracked him down. The women in my family are terrifying,” he joked. “They found the cell number of this UPS guy. His name is Mitch. So to prove to Mitch that I am not a liar, I flew him all the way to New York…He thought it was a scam, but he still came, and he’s sitting in the audience tonight.”
Powell then called Mitch onstage, with the two snapping another selfie together to bring things full circle for the driver and the whole Powell clan.
“I had to wait my entire life, plus four years, to be here,” Powell said. “But if I have learned anything, it is that the best things in life don’t happen overnight, and no one knows that better than UPS.”
As far as both SNL monologues and everyday gestures go, I kind of loved this. It was really sweet. SNL’s monologues can really be hit or miss, but Glen’s was short, sweet, and kept me invested. I like that he didn’t do a song and dance or try to awkwardly tell jokes, but instead drew on a real-life experience with a great payoff. I too would probably always remember that unfinished business of the UPS guy who I told about SNL but never got to explain why it fell through. I wonder if Mitch actually remembered Glen and his family telling him about it. I’m sure he’ll give interviews saying that he did, but… did he really?
As for the rest of the episode, it wasn’t bad! Overall, I’ve found season 51 to be a bit hit-or-miss. I think their cold openings and Weekend Updates have been great. James Austin Johnson’s impression of Trump is so spot-on that it brings me back to the Darrell Hammon/Bubba Bill Clinton days of my youth. That said, the guests and sketches themselves have been just okay, but I’ve felt that way for at least a decade. I read somewhere online – I can’t remember where, it could have been in a comment here – that Glen Powell is a character/supporting actor who looks like a leading man. I cannot stop thinking about that assessment because it’s so true, and I think SNL really showcases that.
photos credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Cat Morley/Avalon
I love his little dig at the end about “not everything happens overnight and UPS knows that best”! In UPS’s case it’s so true. I have paid for overnight and actually it came two days later!
The UPS joke made me laugh too. I avoid using them as much as possible haha.
I’m in the UK so we don’t get SNL here (I could probably stream it somewhere but I’m not that invested) but I sometimes check out the recaps they do on Pajiba and this weeks weekend update had me properly laughing a few times. I also enjoyed this monologue and thought the story with the UPS driver was genuinely lovely.
I don’t always agree with his takes but I love reading their recaps every week.
Also the promo pic Glen did with Brisket in a bow tie. Freaking adorable
Same – I love that they recap, but I don’t always agree with Dustin’s ratings, so I watch all the skits just in case they are better than those ratings suggest
I watch bits and pieces on you tube! Weekend Update is the best.
It was one of the better episodes this season and Glen was actually a very charming host.
With Ego and Heidi gone there is a real gap in the casting. Ashley Padilla is filling in and she’s been a standout so far. But they really need to hire more women and especially women of color asap as of right now there are zero. This was practically noticeable during the “I miss my ex Dad” sketch when no one was there to play Kenan’s daughter
Oh my gosh, I didn’t put that together — but definitely wondered why he didn’t have a daughter!!
Love that so much, very heart warming. It is nice to see a celebrity who actually follows through. Mitch was kinda cute, too. I am in awe of Glen’s sisters.
I actually really like Glen Powell – he seems to be a hard worker and pretty down-to-earth. This is a super charming story and a nice, fun gesture.
That was sweet. If he’s adept at comedy, and I know Michael B. Jordan is, I say we demand some kind of cute boy comedy.
Regarding Powell’s position in the movie ecosystem, I really feel like the industry has been floundering lately figuring out what makes a modern movie star. They keep trying to make ensemble stars into movie leads, and they are not the same skill set. Powell has the intense charisma, I’d say, but maybe not the lead presence yet.
I really wonder if it’s because there are so few character driven, limited focus movies these days, the kind where actors really learn to cut their teeth on commanding the screen. For years, there were tons of franchise films, which were so heavily ensemble that they didn’t require as much immediate presence from the actors in them. But it definitely feels like the halcyon days of Hollywood and it’s ability to produce really elite talents like Nicole Kidman or Samuel L Jackson are past.
The shift is so noticeable isn’t it? He’s charismatic, likeable, but there is no getting around that The Running Man is an absolute box office disaster on its budget. Not an underperformance, a total bomb.
Stars only sort of matter. If you don’t get the right actor in the right product these days you are screwed.
It’s also one of those things where the Hollywood ecosystem is eating itself alive in terms of the cost. Everybody wants to bank in, so production costs have exploded. Stephen King does good stories, but his writing can be fairly cerebral and bleak. It’s not big budget blockbuster material because it has a contained audience with an appetite for it.
Part of the reason films like that did so well in the past is that they recognized it and reigned in cost. Every dollar spent is $2 you have to earn back to turn profit. The original running man was made on $27 million, which is about $75 million in today’s money. Why is the same film and premise costing 35 million more to make (and moreso, if you include advertising)? Where is that money going? My guess is Hollywood got addicted to that Marvel peak pop culture film money and can’t handle anything less now.
That sounds like a great opening, tbh— SNL is hit or miss, but this was a cute story.
I’ve been kind of meh on Glen Powell, but I saw the promo (apparently there’s more than one) of him dancing, and I was hooked. I followed up with a couple of YouTube videos of the actual SNL, and it’s official: I like him now. He seems like he can laugh at himself, and that’s a big thing for me.
I love how Glen Powell’s journey to hosting SNL was full of twists and turns, from the canceled gig four years ago to finally making it on the show.