Live from New York, it’s…an unexpected choice for host.
Saturday Night Live made waves in April when the show announced that eccentric Tesla CEO Elon Musk would be making his way to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center to serve as guest host for season 46’s Mother’s Day show on May 8. The decision was met with raised eyebrows, as Musk isn’t the usual actor promoting a project or musician looking to prove they can do more than just sing. After all, the South African centibillionaire’s celebrity has nothing to do with the performing arts whatsoever.
However, Musk is hardly the first unorthodox hosting choice Lorne Michaels has made since the late-night show debuted on NBC in 1975. The show’s not only made a habit of letting sports stars flex their funny bones—so much so that we’ve chronicled that list in another post—but its seen politicians, business tycoons, journalists and even an 80-year-old grandmother with zero claim to fame serve as host over the years.