Caitlin Clark Made a Surprise Appearance on This Week's "SNL"

There’s no guarantee that a given week’s host will be the only celebrity to put in an appearance on an episode of SNL. The last few weeks have made that epically clear, with Glen Powell appearing during Sydney Sweeney’s monologue, Matt Damon putting in a few appearances during Kristen Wiig’s episode last week and Emily Blunt making a cameo for Ryan Gosling’s monologue this week. Blunt wasn’t the only surprise guest this week, either — Kate McKinnon reprised her alien abductee character for this week’s cold open.

They weren’t the only big names to show up on this weekend’s episode, however. During Weeekend Update, Michaal Che alluded to Iowa retiring Caitlin Clark’s number in one joke, only for Che and Colin Jost to be joined by Clark herself. The premise of the segment was, essentially, a skewing of the persona Che has established for himself on Weekend Update, which could be described as “ironically sexist.” It was a roast not unlike what Sarah Sherman has been doing to Jost numerous times since her arrival on the show.

As for Clark’s comic chops, she showed solid timing in the bit, with a couple of deftly used pauses for effect. Plenty of athletes have appeared on the show over the years — some memorably, others not so much. Clark’s performance placed her respectably in the “athletes who understand how to do comedy” category.

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Clark is in New York for Monday’s WNBA Draft, set to take place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Could she become the first WNBA player to host SNL in the not-do-distant future? If this appearance was any indication, it doesn’t seem out of the question — and it would probably be one of the better SNL episodes hosted by an athlete.