It seemed like Will Forte never looked back once he departed Saturday Night Live more than a decade ago, but that changes with his upcoming hosting debut. NBC has announced that the MacGruber star will be hosting the Jan. 22 edition of the sketch comedy series with Måneskin serving as the musical guest. This also marks Måneskin's first appearance on the program.
Longtime viewers of Saturday Night Live will remember that Forte spent many years as one of the show's funniest performers. He came onto the series in 2002 and spent about eight years there, ultimately walking away in 2010. Forte's MacGruber character is what he is particularly known for from his SNL run, and it's a role that he's revisiting on Peacock.
Forte is also known for creating and starring in the Fox comedy series The Last Man on Earth. It ended in 2018 after running for four seasons on the network. Recently, he was seen in the Netflix series Sweet Tooth along with the films Booksmart, Good Boys, and The Laundromat. Forte has also been doing voiceover work with notable roles in Scoob! as Shaggy Rogers and America: The Motion Picture as Abraham Lincoln.
Will Forte Can Also Be Seen in MacGruber on Peacock
In December, the new series MacGruber was released on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock. It brings back Forte as the titular character after previously appearing on Saturday Night Live and in his own MacGruber movie. The series also stars Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, and Billy Zane. The eight-episode series was pretty well-received by critics and fans of Forte.
“I think it’s truly funny, but it’s not something any legitimate critic is going to praise,” Lorne Michaels, SNL creator and MacGruber producer, says of the character, per the New York Times. “It pushes so far beyond the acceptable. It embraces dumb in a way that most people are embarrassed to admit they like. People like better-behaved comedy, but comedy is disruptive and can be annoying. It’s freeing. Maybe it’s adolescent boy stuff. It can’t be justified, so it needs somebody to speak up for it.”
MacGruber writer John Solomon added of Forte's performance: “It is the perfect outlet for him to get everything out. Will really cares about listening to people and making them feel comfortable and heard. There’s a lot of intense stuff going on in his brain, and MacGruber is opening a valve. He loves to commit, and he feels comfortable with the positions that MacGruber has to take.”
If you haven't watched the new MacGruber series, you can find it streaming on Peacock. Meanwhile, fans of Forte can also catch him making his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on the Jan. 22 episode of the show. This should be an episode that's not one to miss as Forte always brought a certain charm to his SNL sketches. Let's hope if turns out to be the first of many times he comes back to host.