Next month, SNL and Adam Sandler are giving us the reunion we’ve been waiting for since the 90s.
Adam Sandler is coming home.
After years of ducking chances to host Saturday Night Live, the place where he made a name for himself, Sandler is going to be returning to the place where it all started for him. SNL revealed that Sandler will be returning to his old stomping grounds to make his hosting debut in May.
Specifically, he’ll be hosting the May 4th episode, with musical guest Shawn Mendes (Also making his SNL debut but understandably an afterthought to the headliner).
This comes after decades of Sandler declining offers to host the show, despite the fact that it’s tailormade to his benefit. It’s actually incredible, for all the Big Daddy’s and Waterboy’s, that Sandler has never leaned on a show that he’s so synonymous with to promote his brand.
Perhaps this is more to do with him trying to establish staying power on his own rather than using a pop culture crutch to promote his work. Back in 2014 the comedian somberly admitted that he’s not as quick-witted as he used to be and that was a reason he’d never go back.
“Why should I? I don’t know how good it would be,” Sandler said in an interview with fellow SNL alum Norm Macdonald. “I’m slow now…I did what I could do on that show.”
What this could signal, however, is a “Sandler-aissance”, something that’s not exclusive to him but seems to happen when stars of yesteryear reach a certain point in their careers. Like Matthew McConaughey, who is perhaps the most famous example of this since Pulp Fiction reintroduced us to John Travolta, Sandler is ripe for a comeback.
His films are largely dismissed by the critical community and he hasn’t been laying dormant for most of this last decade — much like Dave Chappelle who used an SNL hosting gig to fully reignite his flame. It’s a cheap shot to say Punch Drunk Love is his best acting performance simply because Paul Thomas Anderson was directing him.
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Sandler is a talent, and using his return to SNL — finally playing that card he’s been holding for over 20 years — is a perfect opportunity to launch the third act of his career.