For Kristin Wiig, hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend was a big milestone! It marked her fifth time as host — making her one of the few former castmembers to also be a member of the show’s prestigious Five-Timers Club.
However, as Wiig learned during her monologue, getting the iconic Five-Timers Club smoking jacket apparently isn’t the elite honor it used to be.
As Wiig took the stage as host, her monologue was quickly interrupted by fellow Five-Timers Club member Paul Rudd, who called for her attention from the audience, while wearing his own club jacket.
“You know, I heard a rumor you might be doing one of those Five-Timer sketches featuring awesome celebrity cameos. Is there like a script or something I could look at for that?” Rudd asked, with a level of nervous awkwardness.
” Oh, sorry, I don’t think we’re doing one of those,” Wiig replied. “But I’m really excited about getting my jacket tonight.”
However, the excitement was undercut when she took another question from an audience member — specifically from former SNL writer Paula Pell.
“I think it’s so sweet that you’re so excited about getting a Five-Timers jacket,” Pell said. “But, you know, they basically hand those out to everybody like free max iPads.”
As if proving her point, the next audience member to flag Wiig down was Matt Damon — who was also rocking one of the prestigious jackets.
“Wait, Matt, why do you have on a Five-Timers jacket? Haven’t you only hosted twice?” Wiig asked.
“Yeah. But Lorne said the first time I hosted was so good, it counted for three. And then, second time, not quite as good, that only counted for two,” Damon said. “But by my math, that’s five, baby!”
“Well, that doesn’t really seem fair,” Wiig exclaimed. “I mean, I’ve hosted five times. I earned this, right? Doesn’t this jacket have any meaning anymore?”
Turning to look at Lorne Michaels, the iconic SNL executive producer was surrounded by Fred Armisen, Jon Hamm, Will Forte and Martin Short — who go on to explain that, between them all, they’ve hosted at least five times.
While Wiig felt somewhat down about the honor getting diluted by the jackets just getting handed out right and left, Damon took the stage to give her a bit of a pep talk.
“Kristen, you should really feel proud of yourself,” Damon said. “Did you know you’re the youngest member of the Five-Timers club?”
“No, actually, that’s not true. Emma stone was here just a few weeks ago,” Wiig retorts.
“OK, well, the first female member of the Five-Timers club,” Damon suggests.
“No! I just said Emma stone was here,” Wiig says. “By the way, there’s lots of other women!”
Finally, giving up on trying to cheer her up, all the celeb guests came together to serenade Wiig with a song celebrating the many iconic characters she played during her era-defining run on the show.
Although even that song was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Ryan Gosling — obviously rocking his own new Five-Timers Club jacket.
“Are you sure?” he asked Lorne. “I mean, I haven’t even hosted five times yet. It seems unfair.”
To make up for it, Gosling placed his own new jacket around Wiig’s shoulders and dusted it off with a lint roller as she kicked off the show.
ET spoke with Wiig back in March at the premiere of her new dramedy series Palm Royale, and she opened up about returning to host yet again after being a breakout star on the show for seven seasons.
“It’s 90 percent amazing and 10 percent, like, I wish I was still there, you know?” Wiig said. “It’s like bittersweet in that way. [But] mostly sweet… it pulls my heartstrings a little.”
Wiig — who will be joined by musical guest Raye — also reflected on the show’s longevity and why it has the kind of staying power that has led to it being on the air for nearly half a century.
“I think there’s a spirit that’s just living in that studio, that’s just guiding it through these years,” Wiig shared. “I think it’s just special and people always talk about it and want to watch it, and it’s something that you can count on every week that will just bring you joy and make you laugh.”
Saturday Night Live airs live coast-to-coast at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.
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