Between Emma Thompson’s Mother’s Day Weekend extravaganza and Adam Sandler’s highly-rated return, Saturday Night Live season 44’s final few episodes have proven to be quite memorable. This weekend’s 21st episode, however, may prove to be one of the season’s biggest entries yet. Avengers: Endgame star Paul Rudd is on hand for hosting duties, and DJ “congratulations, you played yourself” Khaled is serving as the musical guest. To mark the occasion, SNL put out a promo featuring Rudd’s efforts to ingratiate himself with the cast.
The sketch sees castmember Beck Bennett cosplaying as a Mission Impossible-esque operative. Rudd plays along, accepting a crayon-drawn note that asks him to host the season finale. Once children’s drawing utensils are dwarfed by Heidi Gardner’s pen (for signing the aforementioned note), the facade quickly disappears. Or, at least it does for Rudd and Gardner. Bennett, meanwhile, attempts to secretly leave the area.
“I thought you were already hosting?” Gardner asks Rudd when the ageless comedy actor returns her pen. “Yeah, I am,” he says. “I just humor him. I think he needs this.” He then takes this as an invitation to strike up a conversation with her, but this quickly goes nowhere when Gardner decides to take her solo lunch elsewhere. Bennett, meanwhile, is still crawling down the aisle.
