‘Saturday Night Live’ sets Blake Shelton to be host, musical guest January 24

It looks like “Saturday Night Live” has finally listened to both us and most of the rest of America when it comes to one thing: Signing up Blake Shelton to be the official host of an upcoming show. Not only that, but he’ll be the musical guest to boot.

Blake’s episode of the show is going to come on January 24, and it follows hundreds of campaigns over the past few years. Blake is a naturally-funny guy, and we’ve seen that a number of times over the years courtesy of “The Voice.” This show has turned him into a mainstream superstar; while he was big in the country world before, he is arguably now the biggest male singer save for Garth Brooks out there. This gig is a chance for him to further expand his audience.

If there is one thing we’re afraid of for Blake, it is that most of his humor comes via off-the-cuff remarks, and this could end up almost being too good to be true. Blake’s not reading off of cue cards on “The Voice,” and acting as a character that is other than himself. Hopefully, he can get some advice from fellow coach / friend Adam Levine, who has also hosted a January “SNL” episode.

Still, we are very thrilled to see Blake land this gig on the show, since he seems to be a great fit for bringing new viewers to the show, and for network synergy as a whole. Also, when was the last country artist to perform? We don’t remember off the top of our head, but it feels like it’s been a while.

Happy to hear the news about Blake? Share below, and head over here if you missed the hosting news for the January 17 return of “SNL.” Also, sign up to get some further TV scoop on everything we cover courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)