Pedro Pascal Takes on Clickers in ‘SNL’ Hosting Prep

Saturday Night Live has constantly given me great performances from some of my favorite comedians, and now, one of my favorite actors is taking to the SNL stage. Pedro Pascal is taking over Studio 8H and he’s ready to protect the writers and cast of Saturday Night Live, no matter the cost—including protecting them from themselves.

In a new promo for Pascal’s hosting gig, airing on February 4 with musical guest Coldplay, we get to see Pascal in his truest form: protective dad mode. He’s looking around Studio 8H, talking about how wild it is that little Pedro Pascal from Santiago, Chile is hosting Saturday Night Live. But as he’s doing it, he hears a noise somewhere off in the studio.

Looking around for Lorne Michaels, Pascal finds a flashlight, searches the area, and finds a clicker live and in the flesh. His Joel Miller instincts from HBO’s The Last of Us kick in, and he is about to take a hammer to the clicker until Sarah Sherman and Molly Kearney stop him from hurting their new coworker Matt.

It’s such a simple play on Pascal’s role in The Last of Us that it’s cute to see them tying it into his first promo for Saturday Night Live, and it’s great to see the show embracing that in moments like this—even if Pascal did try to kill Matt with a hammer. But the promo did a great job at getting me excited for Pascal’s turn as host!

The charm of Pedro Pascal

One of the things that has excited me the most about Saturday Night Live and Pascal’s hosting is how the show uses its hosts’ talents to its advantage. While Pascal is an incredibly talented actor, he’s also naturally funny and charismatic in a way that I think will greatly benefit his hosting. His interviews are always so much fun to watch because he knows how to carry them, and that’s sometimes what is lacking from a host. They get too bogged down in getting the lines right and forget to just go with the flow of Saturday Night Live, but I think Pascal is going to do great.

The ad is just a play on what people are currently talking about with Pascal’s career, but with Pascal’s career, could we have sketches about The Mandalorian or Game of Thrones? And what else will they put Pascal in?

Personally, I love when Saturday Night Live gets a little weird with their sketches, and I do hope we get to see some odd musical number or situational sketch towards the end of the night. Point is, I think this is going to be a great episode to watch!

(Featured image: NBC)