Paul Rudd Gets Properly Inducted Into SNL's Five-Timers Club With John Mulaney
On the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live," host John Mulaney joined a very exclusive club. And we're not just talking about the elite group of people that have opened for LCD Soundsystem. With this latest hosting gig, the comic and former writer for the long-running late night sketch comedy show entered the illustrious Five-Timers Club, a collection of people that have hosted SNL five times or more. Mulaney joins beloved entertainers in this club such as Christopher Walken, John Goodman, Drew Barrymore, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and inaugural member Tom Hanks. However, his induction also doubled as a proper welcome to another member as well: Paul Rudd.
Mr. Sexy Five-Timer
Back in December 2021, Paul Rudd was scheduled to join the Five-Timers Club during the show's annual Christmas episode. Although, thanks to a coronavirus surge due to the Omicron variant, the "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" star's big night was limited to a skeleton cast and crew with no audience in attendance out of an abundance of caution since a number of cast members had tested positive.
Fast forward to this weekend. Rudd appeared alongside other Five-Timers Candice Bergen, Elliott Gould, Tina Fey, Conan O' Brien, and Famous Steve Martin to welcome Mulaney into the club. The SNL vets playfully ribbed this week's host with delightfully corny jokes before bestowing the comedian with his very own royal blue smoking jacket with a golden five emblazoned on the breast.
Much to Rudd's surprise, rather than bringing out a brand new one, the jacket that they were giving Mulaney was the very one that he was wearing. Bergen revealed that the club was getting too big and that someone needed to retire. When Martin observed that it was too bad that no one there was retirement age, Mulaney pointed out that the "Only Murders in the Building" star is 76. Undeterred, Martin and company decided that the last one in was unceremoniously the last one out. Dejected, Rudd passed his jacket along to the evening's host.
In retrospect, People's Sexiest Man Alive should've seen this coming. During his fifth hosting appearance, Keenan Thompson jokingly said that Rudd only hosted 4.5 times due to the circumstances. Maybe Lorne Michaels will invite him back to co-host the show when "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" comes out next year with one of his co-stars — like Jonathan Majors, Bill Murray, or Michael Peña — to make up the difference. Until then, it looks like John Mulaney will be keeping the Marvel Cinematic Universe star's jacket warm for him.