October 14, 2023 Season 49 episode
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| Episode | 949 |
| Season Episode | 1 |
| Host | Pete Davidson |
| Musical Guest(s) | Ice Spice |
| Song(s) performed by Musical Guest(s) |
First performance: "In Ha Mood" Second performance: "Pretty Girl" ft. Rema |
| Previous Episode April 15, 2023 (Season 48) |
Next Episode October 21, 2023 |
The 949th episode and the season premiere of Season 49 of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 14, 2023, hosted by former longtime cast member Pete Davidson, star of the Peacock's comedy-drama series Bupkis and the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film The King of Staten Island, as well as the hit films Big Time Adolescence, The Jesus Rolls, The Suicide Squad, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Meet Cute, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Dumb Money, The Home, Wizards!, Riff Raff and The Pickup, the animated films The Angry Birds Movie 2, Marmaduke, and DreamWorks Animation's new film Dog Man and his four stand-up comedy specials Pete Davidson: SMD, Pete Davidson: Alive from New York, Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends and Pete Davidson: Turbo Fonzarelli. The musical guest is rapper and songwriter Ice Spice.
Davidson was originally supposed to host on the May 6, 2023, episode of the previous season, with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, a rapper, however, it was cancelled due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike happening that week. Pete Davidson's first-time as host was made, making him the 38th former SNL cast member to return as host this season and this was also the musical guest debut on SNL for Ice Spice.
This marked the first episode for new cast member Chloe Troast.
While not credited as cast members, SNL staff writers and the comedy group Please Don't Destroy (Martin Herlihy, John Higgins, and Ben Marshall) continue to appear in digital videos. For the first time in the series, "A Film by Please Don't Destroy" is announced in the opening credits since "A Cartoon by Robert Smigel" in 2011.
The goodnight speech for Pete Davidson is "Oh, Hey! Many Thanks to Ice Spice, Rema, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelce. (Cheers and applause), Have a Good Night, Thank You Very Much. Hi Mom, Hi Case. Thank You". (Cheers and applause again)
Cast[]
Repertory Players[]
- Michael Che
- Mikey Day
- Andrew Dismukes
- Chloe Fineman
- Heidi Gardner
- James Austin Johnson
- Punkie Johnson
- Colin Jost
- Ego Nwodim
- Sarah Sherman
- Kenan Thompson
- Bowen Yang
Featured Players[]
- Marcello Hernandez
- Molly Kearney
- Michael Longfellow
- Chloe Troast (First Appearance)
- Devon Walker
- Guest musical appearance by Rema.
- Cameos by Travis Kelce, John Mulaney, and Taylor Swift.
- Onscreen appearances by writers Ben Silva and Auguste White.
Sketches and Musical Performances[]
Cold Open Sketch Videotaped Weekend Update Music Performance Other
| Title | Image | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| A Message From Pete Davidson Cold Opening | 
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Longtime former cast member Pete Davidson pays tribute to the victims of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, and talks about his own experiences with his father dying during 9/11. He also says, "Live From New York, it's Saturday Night!" for the 20th time, moves into a tie for 23rd place all time with his former castmate Chris Redd. |
| Opening Montage |   |
The previous season's opening montage returns, and it's retained, but with James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman have been promoted to repertory status and the first credit for new cast member Chloe Troast as a featured player. Please Don't Destroy is now credited for their short films. The background for music guests/hosts clips was changed to light brown and black, only for the season premiere (as opposed to two clips for musical guest Ice Spice and three clips for host Pete Davidson). |
| Stand-Up Monologue by Pete Davidson | 
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Longtime former cast member Pete Davidson makes his triumphant return to Saturday Night Live to host for the first time. He does his stand-up and talks about a girl he had sex with back when he first started doing comedy, and how she would in the future tell her husband when she saw Pete on TV, she would tell her husband that she banged Pete; but in reality, the girl died of an overdose. He also talked about trying to bond with his sister by watching Game of Thrones, Staten Island, and the first time he ever performed stand-up. |
| FOX NFL Sunday | 
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Curt Menefee (Kenan Thompson), Howie Long (Mikey Day), Jimmy Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Michael Strahan (Devon Walker), and Terry Bradshaw (Molly Kearney) try to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles versus the New York Jets without bringing up Taylor Swift. Cameo by Travis Kelce at the end of the sketch. |
| I'm Just Pete | 
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Pete sings about himself and about how the media focuses on everything about his life, except for his comedy and work. With Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson making appearances at the beginning about how Pete came to host so soon. With appearances from Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, and Devon Walker as different versions of Pete. Colin Jost appears as himself. First sketch appearance of Chloe Troast as a cast member, in a silent role as an assistant. Chloe Fineman appears in the end as Barbie. |
| Wired Autocomplete Interview | 
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The cast (Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, and Marcello Hernández) of a new show answer the most popular Internet-searched questions about themselves. |
| Next Episode Commercial Bumper | Bad Bunny will do double duty on Oct. 21 for his SNL hosting debut and second musical guest appearance. | |
| Secretary | 
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A lawyer (Pete Davidson) takes on a new client (Bowen Yang) with the help of his secretary (Heidi Gardner). With James Austin Johnson as Jim and Kenan Thompson as associate. |
| Please Don't Destroy Film - The Original Princes of Comedy | 
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The boys (John, Martin, and Ben) show Pete Davidson that they used to do edgy comedy when they were younger. John Mulaney makes a pre-taped cameo in this one. Michael Che and his mother appear at the end. |
| Ice Spice performs "In Ha Mood". | 
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For the song "In Ha Mood," Ice Spice was accompanied by two female dancers. The dancers provided more energetic choreography, while Ice Spice herself was more laid-back. |
| Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che | 
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Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Congressman George Santos getting hit with new Federal charges and dog owners questioning the rabies vaccine. With guests, Christopher Columbus (Bowen Yang) arrives at Weekend Update to discuss whether to take down statues of himself and brag about the things he discovered, and University of Colorado Boulder football coach Deion Sanders (Kenan Thompson) stops by Weekend Update to explain his team and career, which shows a clip of the real Sanders performing on the show in 1995. |
| A Message After Weekend Update | After Weekend Update, a title card encourages viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee in light of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. | |
| Spaceship | 
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Two former coworkers (Pete Davidson, Bowen Yang) reconnect while their spaceship is under attack. With Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, and Marcello Hernandez. Longtime former cast member Pete Davidson also reached his 400th milestone sketch on SNL. |
| Ice Spice performs "Pretty Girl" with Rema. Taylor Swift introduces Ice Spice's second performance. | 
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The appearance was the first time Ice Spice and Rema performed the song together live, having released it the day before. |
| Beach | 
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A guy (Pete Davidson) finds out his ant farm had been destroyed; meanwhile, another guy (Andrew Dismukes) spent the whole day getting his friends (Marcello Hernandez, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Troast, and Devon Walker) to bury him in the sand. With Ego Nwodim as Pete's character's girlfriend. |
| Glamgina | 
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Things get out of hand when a gynecologist's (Pete Davidson) patient (Sarah Sherman) tries out a new product. Also features Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Troast, Punkie Johnson, and Kenan Thompson. |
| Cheesecake Factory | 
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A father-son duo (Pete Davidson, Andrew Dismukes) make a ton of money by selling feet pics online and convince a person (Kenan Thompson) to do the same. With Michael Longfellow as the bartender. |
| Goodbyes and Closing Credits | 
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Ice Spice, Rema, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelce, and everyone of SNL are all thanked by Pete Davidson for bringing him back home. Several of the cast point to Chloe Troast, as this was her first episode in the cast. |
Trivia[]
- Pete Davidson is the fifth longtime former cast member to host a season premiere of Saturday Night Live after Chevy Chase in (Season 8), with musical guests Queen, Amy Poehler in (Season 36), with musical guest Katy Perry, Tina Fey in (Season 39), with musical guests Arcade Fire, and Chris Rock in (Season 46), with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion.
- Also, for the season 49 premiere of SNL, Davidson and Ice Spice are making their respective Host and Musical Guests debuts and joining the all-rookie lineup.
- Instead of a cold open, Davidson shares some reflections on the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
- Davidson also says ""Live from New York, it's Saturday Night"" for the 20th time, moves into a tie for 23rd place all time, with another longtime former cast member Chris Redd and he even reached his 400th milestone sketches on SNL.
- Pete Davidson is now the 3rd host in SNL history from the borough of Staten Island.
- Davidson did not reprise his characters and impressions in the season 49 premiere.
- After Weekend Update, a title card encourages viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee in light of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
- Ice Spice is also the second female rapper, after Megan Thee Stallion, as well as the ninth rapper to serve as a season-opening musical guest following Public Enemy, Eminem, Nelly, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Stallion and Kendrick Lamar.
- With “in ha mood” having a duration of 2:09, it is the shortest musical performance in SNL history.
- This is also marked the fourth time that the latest SNL season premiere has started since October 17, 1987, which is the season premiere of Season 13, hosted by comedian, actor, producer, writer, composer, and musician Steve Martin, with musical guest Sting, an English music legend, singer, songwriter and musician.
| Preceded by: April 15, 2023 (Season 48) |
Saturday Night Live episode | Followed by: October 21, 2023 |