Adele hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time this weekend, returning to the show on October 24 for the first time since she performed in 2015. H.E.R. was the show’s musical guest, performing her new songs “Damage” and “Hold On.” Watch clips below.
After an opening sketch recapping Thursday’s presidential debate, Adele began her monologue by crediting SNL with her breakthrough in the United States: she made her debut on the show in 2012, on an episode featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. She also joked about needing a giant swear jar, and said that she’s not done with a new album yet.
In her first sketch, the singer played a woman visiting a psychic (Kate McKinnon) in 2019, with the psychic making predictions about outrageous 2020 realities. Next, she played a ghost trying to get a man named Chad (Pete Davidson) to avenge her murder. She appeared as herself in a sketch spoofing The Bachelor and sang parts of her songs “Someone Like You,” “When We Were Young,” “Hello,” and “Rolling in the Deep.” Later, she played a woman making a socially distant visit to her grandmother (Maya Rudolph).
During a sketch with a subtext about how white women move to Africa to have sex with African men, Adele broke character multiple times while trying to hold in laughter. Closing the show, she appeared in a 1980s-style ad with Rudolph for chemically treated “Ass Angel” jeans.