Kristen Wiig is finally a member of the Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club, even if she wasn’t presented with a jacket from past honorees.
“I am so happy to be back and I am so excited because it is my fifth time hosting, so I’m officially in the Five-Timers Club and, really quick, I realized I haven’t had a chance to say ‘hi’ to the band. Do you mind if I just do that real quick?” Wiig, 50, began her opening monologue on Saturday, April 6. “I have to say, as a former cast member it is very special being here as a Five-Timer.”
Wiig’s intro was quickly interrupted by fellow Five-Timer Paul Rudd, who sat in the audience in his membership jacket.
“Hey, Kristen! I mean, right? It’s exciting, aren’t you excited?” Rudd, 55, chimed in. “Tonight you’re getting your Five-Timers jacket. Look at mine, huh? I also heard a rumor that you might be doing one of those Five-Timer sketches featuring awesome celebrity cameos. So, is there, like, a script or something I could look at for that?”
Wiig tried to let Rudd down gently, noting that she doesn’t “think [the show is] doing one of those” skits during the episode. Wiig then used the remaining time of her monologue to field questions from other celebrity attendees.
“Hi, I used to be a writer here but tonight I’m playing an audience member so she’s going to pretend like she doesn’t know me,” Paula Pell joked. “I just think that it’s so sweet that you’re excited about getting a Five-Timers jacket, but you know they basically hand those out to everybody like free maxi pads.”
Wiig was taken aback by Pell’s remarks, wondering if the once-coveted Five-Timers blazer has become a consolation prize to anyone who hosted the show at all. Enter: Matt Damon.
“Hi Kristen. First off, big fan [and I] just wanted to let you know I grew up watching you on SNL,” Damon, who previously starred with Wiig in Downsizing, joked while wearing a Five-Timers coat despite only hosting the show twice.
He explained the reasoning for his coat, adding, “Lorne [Michaels] said the first time I hosted it was so good it counted for three and then the second time, not quite as good, that only counted for two. But by my math, that’s five baby!”
Wiig, still, looked dejected that her fifth time hosting the variety show was not as special as she envisioned it would be.
“OK, but that doesn’t seem fair,” she said. “I mean, I’ve hosted five times. I earned this. Doesn’t this jacket have any meaning anymore?”
The camera then panned to Michaels, the show’s longtime executive producer, standing beside Martin Short, Will Forte, Jon Hamm and Fred Armisen all wearing Five-Timers coats.
“Wait, are you all getting jackets, too? None of you even hosted five times!” Wiig lamented, before Forte, 53, explained that they met the quota collectively.
As the Bridesmaids actress tried to hide her disappointment, Damon, 53, wanted to make her feel better.
“You know what, you’re right, I feel bad. I should probably give you my jacket,” Damon added. “I mean I came back and did a bunch of cameos. I did the [Brett] Cavanaugh thing, remember the Cavanaugh thing? That was … no really?,” he continued as he was handed another “5” robe. “Oh my God, I get a jacket for that? Just for a cameo. That’s excessive, I don’t even want it; I’ll give it to one of my kids.”
He added, “Look, Kristen, you should really feel proud of yourself. Did you know that you’re the youngest member of the Five-Timers Club?”
Wiig corrected Damon, noting that Emma Stone is actually the youngest member and received her jacket “just a few weeks ago.”
Damon, Rudd and the rest of the guests then joined Wiig on stage to sing a cover of “This Is Your Night,” tweaking the lyrics to fit her iconic SNL characters of Gilly and Target Lady. Forte stopped the number abruptly when he noticed Ryan Gosling standing beside Michaels, 79.
“Are you sure? I mean, I haven’t even hosted three times yet, it seems unfair,” Gosling, 43, said after the prolific SNL showrunner handed him a robe.
Gosling promptly took the stage with an additional jacket and placed it around Wiig’s shoulders, dusting off the fabric with a lint roller.
Elsewhere in Saturday’s episode, featuring musical performances by RAYE, Wiig reprised her “Weekend Update” character of Aunt Linda to recap Barbie, Oppenheimer and The Bear.
Rudd, Hamm, 53, and Wiig’s Palm Royale costar Kaia Gerber later made separate cameos in various sketches.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
