Following a major cast shake-ups, Saturday Night Live returns to the small-screen this week for its 48th season premiere.
The episode featured first-time host Miles Teller, who continues to ride the success of the summer blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. The 35-year-old actor talked about wanting to do impressions and asked his friends who he looked like. He wanted to go for a young Dinero or Paul Newman, but his friends joked that he looked like Rachel Maddow.
Teller also shared what it was like working with his co-star Tom Cruise and preparing for the “Great Balls of Fire” scene. “I even took piano lessons. My instructor was J. K. Simmons. He was surprisingly nice. Thank you J.K.,” he said.
You check out the monologue below.
While rehearsing for his SNL debut, Miles spoke about his experience with the cast and crew, as well as his lifelong fondness for the series.
“It’s really exciting,” he told NBC’s Mark Barger. “You’re working with the absolute best of the best, so you feel well taken care of, but it’s a lot. It’s a whirlwind. I think about how many really funny people there are [on SNL] and how many of them are just as good a writers as they are performers, and I think that’s saying a lot. It’s such a collective effort and it’s nice to be part on an ensemble.”
Miles also dished about the pressures of a live performance, and how he’s simply “trusting the process.”
“You get to kind of let it fly a little bit and enjoy it with the audience,” he explained. “It’s a formula they’ve been doing for a long time. So to steal a phrase from the Sixers, ‘Trust the process.’ I think that is kinda what you’re doing.”
The SNL season premiere also featured musical guest Kendrick Lamar. Next week’s episode will be hosted by Brendan Gleeson with musical guest Willow. Megan Thee Stallion will pull double-duty on Oct. 15, serving as both host and musical performer.
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