Glen Powell’s long-awaited debut as host of Saturday Night Live (SNL) finally arrived on November 15, 2025, capping off a journey that had been years in the making and filled with unexpected twists, celebrity cameos, and even a heartfelt reunion with a UPS delivery driver. The episode, which aired on NBC and featured musical guest Olivia Dean, quickly became a standout moment in SNL’s storied history, blending Powell’s personal narrative with the show’s signature blend of sharp satire and pop culture references.
Powell, best known for his roles in Top Gun: Maverick and the new television series Chad Powers, opened the show by recounting a tale that was as much about patience as it was about Hollywood’s unpredictable nature. According to E! News, Powell revealed during his opening monologue that he was originally slated to host SNL back in 2021, a plan that was intricately tied to the release of Top Gun: Maverick. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the blockbuster’s release to be postponed to May 2022, Powell’s SNL hosting gig was abruptly canceled. The show’s legendary producer, Lorne Michaels, delivered the news with characteristic bluntness: “Without Top Gun—and these are his words—no one will know who the F you are.”
Despite the disappointment, Powell couldn’t contain his excitement when he first received the offer. He shared the news with a UPS delivery driver named Mitch, even snapping a celebratory selfie with his family and the unsuspecting courier. But as the months and years passed with no SNL appearance, that moment became a running joke for Mitch, who, as Powell put it, spent four years “going around saying Glen Powell is a liar.”
In a full-circle moment that charmed both the live audience and viewers at home, Powell and his sisters tracked down Mitch and flew him to New York City for the big night. The two reunited onstage at Studio 8H, recreating their original selfie and putting to rest any doubts about Powell’s SNL credentials. “I had to wait my entire life, plus four years, to be here,” Powell declared, adding with a wink, “but if I have learned anything, it is that the best things in life don’t happen overnight—and no one knows that better than UPS.” NBC News highlighted the moment as one of the night’s most genuine and crowd-pleasing segments.
Powell’s connection to SNL, however, didn’t begin with this hosting debut. In 2024, he made a cameo appearance during Sydney Sweeney’s episode, a playful nod to their onscreen chemistry and swirling romance rumors. Sweeney, during her monologue, joked, “Me and my fiancé produced the movie together, and he was there the entire shoot. He even came here tonight to support me. Can we cut to him?” Cameras then panned to Powell, sitting in the audience with a knowing smile. Sweeney quickly added, “That’s not my fiancé. He’s in my dressing room!” The bit underscored Powell’s growing stature in Hollywood and his easy rapport with the SNL cast.
But this November’s episode was more than just a personal milestone for Powell. As The Guardian reported, the show kicked off its Thanksgiving episode with a politically charged sketch lampooning President Donald Trump and his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, referencing a fresh batch of Epstein-related emails released by Congress earlier that week. The sketch featured Ashley Padilla as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and James Austin Johnson’s pitch-perfect Trump impersonation. Trump, in the sketch, tried to downplay his relationship with Epstein, quipping, “As evidenced by the thousands of pictures of us together dancing and grinding our teeth at various parties, always leering and pointing at something just off camera—probably a book we’re excited to read.” The show’s writers didn’t pull punches, weaving in references to current events and satirizing media coverage of the scandal.
The episode also delivered a series of memorable sketches that played to Powell’s comedic strengths. One standout involved a group of siblings using an AI-powered app to animate old family photos, only for the technology to hilariously misinterpret the images. Another sketch saw Powell and Kenan Thompson as ex-girlfriends’ dads in a pop-country ballad, lamenting the loss of their favorite “sons-in-law.” Yet another featured Powell as a Swedish actor in a parody of Scandinavian relationship dramas, showing off a surprisingly convincing accent and comic timing.
Fans of recurring SNL characters were treated to the return of Will Forte’s MacGruber, who found himself entangled in the Epstein files in a series of escalatingly absurd sketches. The show’s “Weekend Update” segment, led by Colin Jost and Michael Che, kept the political satire rolling, riffing on the week’s biggest headlines and poking fun at both sides of the aisle.
Powell’s episode joined the ranks of other unforgettable SNL hosting moments, as E! News noted in its retrospective of the show’s most iconic MCs. The list includes Kim Kardashian’s headline-grabbing appearance, Tom Hanks’s ten hosting stints—including the pandemic-era remote episode—Jon Hamm’s comedic tour de force, and Melissa McCarthy’s fearless physical comedy. Justin Timberlake, Steve Martin, Scarlett Johansson, Betty White, Dwayne Johnson, and Alec Baldwin have each left their mark on Studio 8H, blending celebrity, satire, and surprise in ways that have defined SNL’s enduring appeal.
The November 15 episode’s blend of personal storytelling, topical humor, and classic SNL irreverence struck a chord with audiences and critics alike. NBC News and The Guardian praised Powell’s “ace hosting” and the episode’s willingness to tackle the week’s most controversial news head-on, while also celebrating the lighter, more human moments that set SNL apart from other late-night fare.
For Powell, the night represented not just the culmination of a four-year wait, but a testament to perseverance and the unpredictable magic of live television. By bringing Mitch the UPS driver into the spotlight, Powell reminded viewers that behind the glitz and glamour, show business is still full of ordinary people, serendipitous encounters, and dreams that sometimes take a little longer to come true.
As the credits rolled on Studio 8H, it was clear that Glen Powell had not only proven himself to the world—and to one skeptical delivery driver—but had also joined the pantheon of SNL hosts whose stories and sketches will be remembered for years to come.
