Scarlett Johansson is on a roll right now, from emerging as (arguably!) the more sympathetic divorcee in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story to scoring a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for same to getting a strong response to the teaser for her Black Widow solo venture. She’ll ride that wave into SNL this weekend, which she’ll host with Niall Horan as musical guest. And to get people pumped, she spent her token mid-week show promo mocking cast member Beck Bennett’s love for ugly, itchy sweaters.
It’s not as wacky as past SNL ads, a far more modest affair than, say, the recent one (also with Bennett) where alum Will Ferrell was destroying the show’s main set as he dug for alleged treasure. Bennett, his sweater zipped so far up it devours most of his chin, makes small-talk with ScarJo, singing the praises of “sweater weather.” (For the record, it was unseasonably, surreally humid here in NYC before Tueday.) Johansson correctly divines that he’s putting on airs, and that he really can’t wait to strip out of it the second she gives the okay.
This will be Johansson’s sixth go as SNL host, which she first did circa 2006, alongside Death Cab for Cutie. She last played emcee in 2017 with Lorde. Speaking of dramatic music, will she bust out those Sondheim chops and moves she showed off in Marriage Story? One can only hope.
