Saturday Night Live return date: Charles Barkley hosting; Migos performing

In the midst of tonight’s show there was one question reverberating through our brain: What was the Saturday Night Live return date going to be, and who would host the next all-new episode on NBC? We knew that there would be plenty of interesting candidates out there, especially if a big-name star comes out of the Olympics. Because of that, we actually weren’t sure that NBC was going to confirm a new host for the next show at all tonight.

Nonetheless, that is precisely what they ended up doing as the network confirmed that Charles Barkley is coming back to host. Why bring back Charles? We feel like SNL likes having some athlete representation, but choosing Sir Charles is a little bit strange since he’s already done it and plenty of other athletes have not. We figure that much of that may just have to do with the fact that the show knows, for starters, that he can pull the gig off. Beyond that, SNL got huge ratings with him the last time that he was hosting. We figure that this had to play a role in it. (Granted, the last time Barkley hosted the big ratings were also due to SNL getting a really enormous bump from college football airing beforehand.)

As for what else is happening with this show, Migos is going to serve as the musical guest. We’re not super-familiar with Migos’ music, but it’s at least a pretty fresh choice.

In general, though, there is so much time between now and when this episode of SNL airs that it’s far too early to tell what sort of content is going to be spoofed. We feel like that’s a subject to address come late February, once we get to the other side of the Winter Olympics.

What do you think about this choice in SNL host, and are you bummed you have to wait so long to see new episodes? Share in the comments!

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