‘Saturday Night Live’: Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck to host final two shows of the season

“Saturday Night Live” will officially return with new episodes a week from Sunday, and rather than making us wait for this show (hosted by Zach Galifianakis) in order to find out the lineup for the rest of the season, NBC is throwing us a bone a little bit early.

On Friday, the show announced that Kristen Wiig will be hosting the for the first time after years of performing on the show on May 11, and will be joined by Vampire Weekend. With this in mind, we expect a number of her classic characters to show up, as well as 90 minutes that pleases “SNL” fans of the past several years. (If only Andy Samberg would show up for a Digital Short to add to the 2012 feeling.)

Meanwhile, the May 18 season finale will be hosted by Ben Affleck, who has hosted the show a number of times before. However, the big difference here is he is clearly in a different place in life versus some of those past hosting gigs. He’s now an Academy Award-winning producer thanks to “Argo,” and is one of the most respected directors of his entire generation. On some of his past appearances, he has been mostly forced to poke fun at some of his box-office bombs and critical disappointments.

Speaking of people in different places in their lives, this show will feature a performance by Kanye West, who has graced the “SNL” stage many times before. However, this is the first time since his relationship began with Kim Kardashian, who has been one of the show’s favorite targets of ridicule over the past several years.

What do you think about this news, and do you think that Wiig and Affleck are the right choices to round out the season? If you want to watch some video highlights of the last episode hosted by Vince Vaughn, be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: NBC